Flyers Topple Kings, 4-3

As much as Wednesday night's win over Anaheim was good for the Flyers' soul, last night's win over Los Angeles was absolutely huge in getting this team on the road to respectability. Despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead, the boys in Orange and Black played sloppy, tired hockey most of the game and found themselves trailing 3-1 with just 10 minutes left. A few minutes and good bounces later and the Flyers were once again leading by a goal, 4-3. Last night's win was the sort of gutty effort that had been missing all season long. Primed for a letdown after a big win over Anaheim on Wednesday, the Flyers came out looking like they were going to give the game away. Despite scoring the first goal of the game, they played with almost no energy for about 50 minutes. To their credit, they found a way to push through and take advantage of the opportunities they were presented. Today will be a much needed day off before tomorrow night's game against San Jose -- another top Western Conference team boasting star players, solid goaltending, and a balanced attack. Pylon Update Derian Hatcher has strung together five consecutive even or better games (even vs Isles-11/9; +1 vs Buffalo-11/11; even vs Pens-11/13; +1 vs Anaheim-11/15; +3 vs Los Angeles-11/16; total of +5) raising his total on the season to minus-12 through 19 games. He is now on pace to finish the season at minus-52, a far cry from October 31 when he was on pace to finish at a staggering minus-104. The truly amazing part, however, is that Hatcher no longer has the worst plus/minus rating on the team. That honor now belongs to Joni Pitkanen, with a minus-14 through 19 games -- a projected total of minus-60. Pitkanen is contributing on the scoresheet, though, registering 11 assists on the season against Hatcher's zero points. See: Daily News See: Inquirer See: L.A. Times See: Yahoo/AP