Hartnell scores in OT to lift Flyers over Kings

The Flyers almost gave in to human nature last night.

After a series of intense matchups against Eastern Conference rivals, followed by four days off during a weekend break for the All-Star Game, the Flyers might have been a little too happy to have the bottom-dwelling Los Angeles Kings come to town looking like a soft spot on their schedule.

So things were in place for the Flyers to be caught off guard.

But teams on a roll often find ways to win on nights when the gears aren't meshing. And no doubt, the Flyers are on a roll.

There was more evidence of that when Scott Hartnell scored with 28.5 seconds remaining in overtime to give them a 3-2 win at the Wachovia Center.

The puck that Hartnell put past Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera never touched his stick. Hartnell was streaking toward the net and took a pass from Mike Richards with the Kings' Lubomir Visnovsky draped on him. Hartnell went down, the puck went into the net, and the Flyers had to hold their breath while the play was reviewed.

But when referee Kerry Fraser announced that the goal counted because Hartnell did not deliberately kick it in, the Flyers had two points and sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division. They are 12-2-1 since Christmas.

"I was just going to the net and Richie made a great pass," Hartnell said after scoring his 17th goal of the season. "I was falling down and it hit my feet and went into the net. It doesn't matter how pretty they are. It's just a matter of winning games and getting the two points.

"We're having fun right now," he added. "This is a good dressing room to be in right now."

The overtime win was the first for the Flyers since they edged Carolina on Oct. 20. Including shoot-outs, the Flyers are 2-5 in overtime.

The Flyers received solid goaltending from Martin Biron, who made 29 saves, and got a power-play goal from Simon Gagne that gave them a 2-1 lead early in the third period. Gagne tipped in a shot from the point by Kimmo Timonen. It was the 11th consecutive game in which the Flyers have scored with the man advantage. Their power play is ranked No. 1 in the league.

"We've done a good job all year of taking advantage of our opportunities to shoot the puck," coach John Stevens said.

The lead didn't hold, though, as Matt Moulson answered with a tip-in of his own with 7 minutes, 2 seconds left in the third after the Flyers twice failed to clear the puck.

For much of the first two periods, the Flyers played like a team trying to dust off cobwebs that formed during their four idle days. But they got stronger as the game went along, and they tilted the ice in their favor during the overtime.

"I think we can play better," said Biron, who added that the layoff showed. "I think it was hard for the hands and the speed and the puck handling to be there. But I think we dominated in overtime."

Defenseman Braydon Coburn ran his point-scoring streak to five games by giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the second period. Coburn's shot from just inside the blue line appeared to change course when it deflected off a Kings player and scooted past LaBarbera, who was named the AHL's outstanding goalie last season.

No sooner had the Flyers finished celebrating when Anze Kopitar beat Biron with a high shot that went over the diving Timonen, who had gone down in an attempt to block the shot. Kopitar's 20th goal came 53 seconds after Coburn's, and it clearly inspired his teammates, who carried the play but failed to cash in on two power plays.

Loose pucks. Peter Forsberg seems optimistic about returning to play either in the NHL or for Sweden's national team. Forsberg, who is training in Sweden, said that so far his troublesome right foot is doing fine. "It feels good, and it's absolutely going in the right direction," Forsberg told reporters in his hometown of Ornskoldsvik. Forsberg had surgery in November. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, who traded Forsberg to Nashville last season, has said he would be interested in bringing the 34-year-old center back to the team. The NHL trade deadline is Feb. 26, after which rosters must be frozen. . . . The Flyers' game at Pittsburgh on Feb. 10 will start at 1 p.m. The starting time had not been determined because of NBC's flexible scheduling option for national broadcasts. The network decided to make Detroit-Anaheim the NHL game of the week at 3:30 p.m.EndText