Talbot ready for 'bizarre' game

PHILADELPHIA -- Maxime Talbot said when he left Pittsburgh for Philadelphia this summer, he circled a few days on his calendar. One of them was tonight, the first time Talbot will face the team he spent his first six NHL seasons with.

With the Penguins' roster pretty much in place from last season when Talbot was there, he still knows "pretty much everyone," he told NHL.com. "Lot of these guys I've been playing six years with."

One of those former teammates he's closest with is Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, a relationship that goes back to the 2004-05 season, when they were teammates with the Penguins' AHL team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

"'Flower' (Fleury) is going to be pretty fun to shoot on," Talbot said. "Hopefully I get one past him."

Talbot said it won't be the easiest night for him, starting with when he takes the ice tonight for pre-game warm-ups.

"I think warm-ups are going to be a little bizarre, but at the same time, it's a challenge," he said. "It's exciting and it's something new."

It's also Talbot's first chance to experience the Keystone Clash from the other side of the rivalry.

"I don't know if there's words that can explain (the rivalry)," Talbot said. "It's going to be exciting for me personally. But this rivalry this year, you look at the game tonight, it's one point difference, so the team that wins tonight will be first in the East. It's a pretty big game. It's nice to see these two teams battle. … These two teams have a lot of respect for each other. It's going to be fun."

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

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