PITTSBURGH -- The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, cross-state arch rivals, have a history strewn with brawls and bad blood, streaks and sore feelings.

Lately, though, losing to the Flyers had nearly become one of those traditions that haunted the Penguins.

So beating the Flyers 4-3 on Thursday had a special feel for Pittsburgh, particularly how and where it happened.

The Penguins erased a two-goal deficit to end an eight-game slide against Philadelphia. And they did it at Consol Energy Center, where the Flyers had been 13-2-1 - playoffs included - since the arena opened.

"You can feel it in the building when these games are going on. It's intense. It's emotional. It's a great environment," said Penguins center Sidney Crosby, who had a goal and an assist. "The crowd, you can really feel it. They're into it. These are the fun ones. They're all fun, but these ones are fun to play in and much better when you win."

The one sour note for Pittsburgh came in the third period, when top-line left winger Chris Kunitz, who had two assists, left after landing hard against the boards in a seated position after colliding with Flyers center Claude Giroux. There was no postgame update on Kunitz.

It was the first meeting of the season and the first taste of the rivalry for several players. One of them was Penguins right winger Phil Kessel, whose second goal of the game was the winner. Another was defenseman Trevor Daley, who opened the scoring for Pittsburgh.

Kessel, though, saw even bigger reasons to celebrate the win. Pittsburgh leapfrogged the Flyers in the tight Eastern Division wild-card race and with 51 points sit just outside the playoff cutoff.

"Obviously, this is a big game for us," Kessel said. "They're a division rival and as much as you can win these games, you need them."

All three of Philadelphia's goals came on the power play, from defenseman Brayden Schenn, right winger Jakub Voracek and center Giroux.

Schenn and Voracek staked the Flyers to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period, but Daley's power-play goal started the comeback. He scored from the left circle with the assistance of an effective screen by center Eric Fehr.

"They got that power-play goal and they got a little bit of life off it," Giroux said. "They had the momentum and we kind of sat back a little bit."

Crosby got an even-strength goal at 7:29 of the second period to tie it. He took a feed from Kunitz and from the bottom of the left circle lifted a severe-angle shot past Mason.

Pittsburgh got its first lead 3-2 on another power-play goal. This time, Crosby set up Kessel near the right post for an uncontested one-timer with Mason pulled to the far side of his crease at 14:06 of the second period.

"I think we had a good start and we kind of got caught flat-footed at the beginning of the second and they scored three goals," Voracek said. "We were almost there again, but a little late."

By the time Giroux scored at 16:35 of the third period to make it 4-3, Kessel had scored what stood as the winner at 6:20 of the third, steering a feed from left winger Carl Hagelin past goaltender Steve Mason.

Mason faced a whopping 45 Pittsburgh shots. Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves.

Fleury survived a scare in the closing seconds as Philadelphia came with a lot of pressure that had the Penguins scrambling and jeopardized the chance to beat a team that had become a nemesis.

"It feels like we don't do it enough, or at all -- beat them here," Fleury said. "It was a good feeling, though. We started not the way we wanted to, and the fact that we showed some character to come back in the game ... I thought we dominated play after that. It's a good feeling to win that game and beat them."

NOTES: Philadelphia C Sean Couturier, who has been highly effective defensively against Penguins C Evgeni Malkin, missed the game because of an upper-body injury. He missed practice Wednesday, but at that time it was said to be a maintenance day. The Flyers recalled C Sam Gagner. ... Pittsburgh D Kris Letang played for a second game in a row despite an apparent right hand/arm injury. He missed practice on Wednesday and said he will need to continue to manage the injury in the coming days. ... Pittsburgh scratched D Derrick Pouliot and LW Sergei Plotnikov. ... C Jordan Weal, acquired by the Flyers on Jan. 6 from Los Angeles, was scratched again and has yet to dress for Philadelphia. The Flyers also scratched D Brandon Manning. ... Although neither team played Wednesday, both held optional game-day skates. ... The Penguins had their 400th consecutive sellout - playoffs included. ... Pittsburgh has an afternoon home game Saturday against Vancouver. ... The Flyers play Saturday night against the Islanders in Brooklyn.