TAMPA, Fla.Its only about a five-hour drive from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, but for Max Talbot, the two cities represent two different worlds.
Talbot, whos already ingratiated himself with Flyers fans, spent six seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Before signing with the Flyers as a free agent this summer, the Penguins were the only NHL team hed ever known.
On Thursday, Talbot will get his first chance to play at the CONSOL Energy Center as a member of the visiting team, an occasion thats always strange, no matter how at-home a player has become with his new team.
Of course, the Pittsburgh game was a game that, starting here in the summer, obviously I marked in my calendar, Talbot said.
The Flyers and Penguins already squared off once this season, a 3-2 Flyers victory at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 8. But Thursdays game marks the first time the two teams meet in Western Pennsylvania this year.
Im glad that we played once already against them, so I could see all the guys and talk to them and everything, so thats out of the way, Talbot said. The second part is playing in the building in the city where I was for six years. But I dont know what the reception will beIm sure Ill get some positive ones, and maybe a little bit of a negative one.
Talbots teammateanother former PenguinJaromir Jagr said he already is prepared for the reaction hell get in Pittsburgh, and he cant imagine itll be a positive one. Jagr was a Penguin for 11 seasons.
NHL
As for Talbot, though, hell likely receive a milder reaction from the crowd in Pittsburgh, the city he once considered home.
Yeah it was home, but I sold my house, Talbot said. I was there six years, so obviously I still have a lot of friends in town and stuff like that.
E-mail Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com