Wayne Simmonds collected a goal and an assist and Ilya Bryzgalov won for the ninth time in 11 decisions as the Philadelphia Flyers moved into first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 home triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

Scott Hartnell netted his fourth goal in as many contests, Danny Briere also tallied and Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots for Philadelphia, which has won four in a row and six of its last seven games.

The Flyers got the early jump on Thursday after having to erase three-goal deficits in two of their previous three contests.

After Briere opened the scoring with a wild shot that caromed off two Penguins and past Marc-Andre Fleury in the first period, Simmonds doubled the advantage midway through the second. With Philadelphia on the power play, Jakub Voracek alertly fed Simmonds on the doorstep for an easy tap-in.

Hartnell followed nearly five minutes later after defenseman Andrej Meszaros skated into the zone. The blue-liner wristed a feed toward the left post which Hartnell deposited into the net for his 13th goal of the season.

James Neal scored a power-play goal with 5:50 remaining in the second to find the scoresheet for the first time in four contests.

Evgeni Malkin trimmed the deficit to one at 8:21 of the third period, but Pittsburgh failed to net the equalizer and dropped its second straight game after winning four of its previous five.