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Flyers rally for three late goals to stun Kings

Nov 17, 2006 - 6:10 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The resurgent Philadelphia Flyers skated into the "City of the Stars" and wrote their own Hollywood ending.

R.J. Umberger scored two goals in the third period as the Flyers tallied three times in the final seven minutes en route to a wild 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Antero Niittymaki made 23 saves for the Flyers, who have won two straight following a franchise record-tying six-game losing streak.

They were coming off Wednesday's surprising 7-4 victory over Western Conference-leading Anaheim and won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"I thought it was great last night," Flyers captain Peter Forsberg said. "We had a good start and we got some confidence back. I think it showed tonight. ... It's a big road trip for us. With the record we had coming into this road trip, it was kind of deciding of where the team was going to go. I thought the last couple games, we showed that we have the capacity to win the games.

"Getting a big win against Anaheim just gets that winning feeling, its contagious and you want to just keep building from that. I think two in a row here can really push our team in the right direction."

Alexander Frolov scored his second goal of the game with 10:36 remaining to give Los Angeles a 3-1 lead. Philadelphia appeared headed for its league-leading 13th loss but instead rallied for three goals in just over three minutes to take control.

All three of the Flyers' third-period tallies involved some type of mistake by the Kings.

"We are not the type of team that can sit back and just hope, and then we started making mistakes," Kings goaltender Dan Cloutier said.

Los Angeles messed up a line change with just under seven minutes left, allowing Simon Gagne to sneak behind the defense for a breakaway goal that drew Philadelphia within 3-2.

Umberger tied it just 40 seconds later as he stripped Dustin Brown of the puck in his own zone and unleashed a spinning wrist shot that beat Cloutier inside the right goalpost.

Umberger netted the game-winner with 3:37 to play after three Kings got caught in their offensive zone. Geoff Sanderson emerged up the right side and tried to pass across to Mike Richards, but the puck caromed to the slot for the trailer Umberger, who flipped a backhander past the glove of a stunned Cloutier.

"The last two weeks we've put in a good effort," Umberger said. "To win back-to-back games is a big building block for our team and I think we are starting to come around."

Geoff Sanderson also scored for Philadelphia, which won despite going 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

"I thought our guys showed a lot of resolve there and it was a huge win for us," Flyers coach John Stevens said.

Sean Avery and Craig Conroy had two assists apiece and Brian Willsie also scored for Los Angeles, which has dropped five of its last seven games.

"It was certainly a disappointment," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "You don't like to give up a two-goal lead in your own building. We were guilty of getting a little bit ahead of the play tonight. When you get a two-goal lead, you should be able to close it out, especially with the group that we've got. We didn't tonight and we have ourselves to blame for it."