Penguins Pummel The Flyers

Alexei Kovalev had the biggest offensive night of his career, and it may have been because he was asked to concentrate on ... defense?

Kovalev had three goals in his first career five-point game and Jaromir Jagr had two goals as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored in flurries to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 9-4 Wednesday night.

Mario Lemieux added a goal his 17th in 17 comeback games and an assist as the Penguins scored three goals in the opening 3:54, then five consecutive goals in slightly more than 10 minutes to start the second period.

Kovalev scored quickly and often, getting goals 28 seconds into the first period and 1:01 into the second. He completed the hat trick with his 30th goal in the third period, and also had two assists.

"Our snipers were sniping," defenseman Bob Boughner said.

Jagr's goals were his 30th and 31st and came only hours after he was cleared to play. He sat out the All-Star game Sunday with a slight concussion and neck pain resulting a hard check into the boards by Todd Fedoruk in Philadelphia's 5-1 victory in Pittsburgh on Jan. 31.

"We played greaat the start, and then we said we needed to come out and start the second period the way we did the first," Kovalev said. "We had a lot of jump and a lot of energy. It's when we stop skating that we get into trouble."

Coach Ivan Hlinka changed his matchups, asking the Lang-Martin Straka-Kovalev line to take on the Keith Primeau line that dominated the Penguins the week before.

"We were prepared for a physical game," Hlinka said. "The Lang line did a great job. We told them we wanted them to play the Primeau line, and to play like we play them on the road - to think defensively."

Still, the story was the Penguins' offense. As they opened the 8-3 lead barely halfway into the game, a fan yelled, "This is like the All-Star game," a reference to North America's 14-12 victory over the World team Sunday in Denver. Kovalev had a goal and assist in that game.

The Flyers, 1-3 against the Penguins this season, played their second road game in as many nights after some difficult travel - because of snow, they had to travel to and from Boston on Tuesday - and they looked it.

"We let them play their game, obviously," Flyers coach Bill Barber said. "We tried to play their way and we can't play that way. They had a week off and they were ready to play."

Flyers center Kent Manderville said, "We can't play river hockey with this team. That was abundantly clear."

After rallying on goals by Rick Tocchet, Manderville and Mark Recchi to briefly make it 3-3, the Flyers quickly gave the lead away as Kovalev and Jagr scored 38 seconds apart early in the second period.

Kovalev began the five-goal flurry by scoring off Martin Straka's drop pass, and Jagr made it 5-3 at 1:39 by batting in his own rebound. Jagr scored again on a power play tap-in at 6:56, prompting Barber to replace All-Star goaltender Roman Cechmanek with Brian Boucher.

"He (Cechmanek) came over to the bench and snapped after it was 3-0, and it was the first time I've seen that," Primeau said.

Boucher, criticized by Barber for allowing the game-winning goal in the 4-3 loss in Boston on Tuesday, promptly gave up goals to Lemieux and Straka on two of the first three shots he faced.

Manderville's short-handed goal in the first period was his first goal in 122 games since he scored in Carolina's first game of the 1999-2000 season.

"I was just relieved," Manderville said. "That's one word, and it's overused, but it was a great relief."

Penguins goalie Garth Snow aggravated a groin injury that kept him out of the previous two games and left after the first period. Jean Sebastien-Aubin was credited with the victory, allowing one goal in two periods.

Notes