Flyers maintain their excellence on the road

The Flyers have not gone more than two consecutive games this season without having their victory song - Mac Miller's "Knock, Knock" - blaring through their locker room.

Consistency has been their trademark, especially on the road, where they own a league-best 13-3-2 record.

Led by Claude Giroux's four-point return from a concussion, they snapped a two-game skid with a methodical, 4-1 win in Dallas on Wednesday.

Cue the music.

The Flyers (21-8-4) next take their vaunted road show to Madison Square Garden, where they will face the New York Rangers (20-8-4 after Thursday's victory against the Islanders) on Friday in a preview of the Jan. 2 Winter Classic.

"These games are always fun," said winger James van Riemsdyk, who was a Rangers fan while growing up in Central Jersey. "It's another buildup to the [Winter Classic] game."

The Flyers will be trying to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Rangers in New York on Nov. 26. Right winger Jaromir Jagr, still productive after all these years, did not play against his former team because of a groin injury.

After the victory over Dallas, Jagr playfully complained about coach Peter Laviolette's playing him less than usual, particularly in the final period.

"What does he think I am, 50?" he said with a laugh.

Jagr, 39, is playing much younger than his age. He scored his 11th goal of the season Wednesday, moving into sole possession of 11th place on the all-time NHL list. It was his 657th career goal, breaking a tie with Brendan Shanahan.

"Who's next?" said a smiling Jagr after the game. That would be Luc Robitaille, who is 11 ahead of Jagr with 668 goals.

"I can't do it with 10 minutes of ice time," Jagr kidded. (For the record, Jagr actually played 14 minutes, 6 seconds on Wednesday.)

Jagr played the previous three seasons in Russia. If he had averaged, say, 25 goals a season during that span, he would now be fourth on the all-time NHL list with 732 goals - behind only Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801), and Brett Hull (741).

"It's too bad I left for three years in Russia, or it would probably be different numbers right now," Jagr said. "But maybe if I wouldn't leave for Russia, I wouldn't be playing now. I don't look at the numbers. Maybe after my hockey career I'm going to look back and see what I accomplished, but right now I just want to play every game like it's my last."

Lavy-Ott incident. The NHL has yet to announce a decision on whether to discipline Laviolette or Dallas center Steve Ott for having words and pushing each other as they walked through the Stars' tunnel after the first period Wednesday.

After the game, Ott said Laviolette should have taken another exit off the ice, claiming the coach showed "disrespect for our building" and "arrogance."

Laviolette obviously didn't appreciate Ott's first-period hit on Giroux, who was returning from a concussion.

Pronger still silent. Chris Pronger is still absorbing the news that his season is over because of severe post-concussion syndrome.

He notified the Flyers' public-relations department last week that he would address reporters when ready. As of Thursday, there was still no word when the hard-luck defenseman would speak.

The Flyers are 13-5-2 in games Pronger has missed this season, and 8-3-2 in games with him.

"Playing without him last year prepared us a little bit more for what's going on this year," defenseman Matt Carle said. "Certainly, we'd love to have him back in the lineup . . . and just to get healthy for everyday aspects of life."

Breakaways. Giroux's four-point game was his third of the season. No Flyer has done that since Mark Recchi in 2000-01. . . . In the second episode of HBO's 24/7, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov - teammates are calling him "Universe" - raved to teammate Harry Zolnierczyk about his Siberian husky, calling her "basically blond girl with blue eyes. . . . Basically, she's a hot girl, man." . . . The Flyers are in the middle of a stretch in which they play seven of eight games on the road.