ATLANTA (AP) -- The slumping Philadelphia Flyers found out only

minutes before Saturday night's game against the Atlanta Thrashers

that star center Peter Forsberg would be held out because of a knee

injury.

That was not exactly the pregame pep talk Philadelphia coach Ken

Hitchcock planned.

Goalie Antero Niittymaki helped fill the leadership void, making

25 saves and helping turn back eight of nine Atlanta power-play

opportunities in the Flyers' 4-2 victory over the Thrashers.

"For any other team to lose their best player in pregame

warmup, that's emotionally draining and these guys really

responded," Hitchcock said.

Forsberg suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his

right knee in the third period of Friday night's game against Tampa

Bay. He expected to play Saturday night but suffered more

discomfort than expected in the pregame workout.

"We didn't have a morning skate so I wanted to go out in

pregame and test it out and see how it felt," Forsberg said.

"Unfortunately it just didn't feel good enough to play."

Hitchcock said Forsberg likely would return for Tuesday's home

game against New Jersey.

"The doctor here cleared him to play but it was a little sore,

so we did not take a risk," Hitchcock said. "We'll have our own

people look at him."

The Flyers, only 4-5-1 since the Olympic break, are fifth in the

Eastern Conference standings, and two points behind the New York

Rangers in the Atlantic Division.

Atlanta, a point behind eighth-place Montreal for the final

playoff spot in the conference, has fallen from the top of the

NHL's power-play rankings by scoring on only four of 37

opportunities with an advantage in its last six games.

The loss to the Flyers prevented the Thrashers from passing

Montreal, which lost to Pittsburgh 5-4 Saturday night.

"We came out flat and it cost us in the end," Thrashers center

Marc Savard said.

"We were not the best team," said Thrashers coach Bob Hartley.

"We missed some chances. There were some loose pucks around the

net. This was an important time and we just could not cash in."

Mike Knuble, Jeff Carter, R.J. Umberger and Nicholas Dimitrakos

scored for Philadelphia, and Bobby Holik and Marian Hossa countered

for Atlanta.

With the game tied 1-1 after one period, Niittymaki made two

strong saves in the opening minutes of the second period.

Niittymaki denied Atlanta's Brad Larsen in front of the net less

than 2 minutes into the period. About 3 minutes later, the goalie

made a glove save to stop Slava Kozlov on a breakaway.

"I guess the goalie is the best penalty killer," Niittymaki

said. "We're taking so many penalties here, we have to get

better."

The Flyers took a 3-1 lead in the second period. Thrashers

goalie Kari Lehtonen couldn't stop Carter's shot from deep in the

left circle less than 5 minutes into the second period. About 10

minutes later, Umberger scored on a rebound of Lehtonen's stop on

Knuble's shot for the 3-1 lead.

After Niittymaki helped kill three power-play opportunities for

the Thrashers, Hossa finally scored on Atlanta's fourth power play

of the period, cutting the lead to 3-2.

The Flyers pushed the lead to 4-2 less than 6 minutes into the

third period on a slap shot from the right circle by Dimitrakos.

Knuble's power-play goal gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the

opening period. Holik answered with a tip-in for the Thrashers.

Joni Pitkanen and Eric Desjardins each had two assists for the

Flyers.Game notes
Atlanta C Serge Aubin needed help leaving the ice after

suffering a sprained right knee midway through the opening period.

He did not return. Hartley said Aubin was "doing much better"

after the game. ... Philadelphia RW Turner Stevenson (hip) returned

after missing four games. ... Atlanta F Scott Mellanby was held out

with flu-like symptoms.