Wayne Simmonds, Flyers defeat Sharks in overtime

PHILADELPHIA --Wayne Simmonds scored in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 2-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
Simmonds stole the puck from Sharks defenseman Brent Burns at center ice, raced in alone and beat Sharks goalie Aaron Dell at 1:04.

"I think Burns] lost it at the start and then I just inched up on him and luckily it went off my skate and I was away to the races," Simmonds said.
**WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Flyers highlights**
In the first period, Simmonds deked around Burns to create a scoring chance but Dell made a glove save.
"Dell played great," Simmonds said. "Some huge saves for them. He almost got that last one too. I just stuck with it and it went in the net and we got the two points."
Ivan Provorov scored for Philadelphia (27-22-7) and Michal Neuvirth made 23 saves. The Flyers had lost three straight (0-2-1).
Patrick Marleau scored a power-play goal for San Jose (33-18-5) and Dell made 33 saves. San Jose has lost four straight games (0-1-3).
The Sharks played without center Logan Couture who is day to day because of an upper-body injury.
"Something that just kind of came out of left field for the most part," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "We didn't anticipate [Couture] wouldn't be able to play but those things happen, especially this time of the year. We had the guys here so the guys that went in did the job."

Provorov scored at 6:22 of the third period when he pinched in to get to the rebound of a shot by Andrew MacDonald that went off the goal post. Provorov dragged the puck around a sliding block attempt by Sharks forward Melker Karlsson and scored.
It was the Flyers' first 5-on-5 goal in 232:29, dating to the third period against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 2. They had been shut out in two of the past three games.
The Flyers have stressed being better in the defensive zone but haven't used the resulting turnovers or transition opportunities to score. They have 15 goals in 11 games.
"I think after the second period coming back in the room and not having any goals against it's frustrating," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. "But it was positive in the room. We told ourselves if we have to win the game 1-0, that's good enough for us. We're playing some tight hockey. We're paying responsible, playing a team game. We're still working on our game, trying to get better. But we're playing some good hockey right now."
Marleau tied the game 3:01 after Provorov's goal on a power play. Joe Thornton got the puck down low to Kevin Labanc. Labanc's pass in front bounced off the skate of Sean Couturier and onto Marleau's stick in the slot. His shot went off MacDonald's stick and fluttered over Neuvirth for his 20th of the season to make it 1-1.

Goal of the game

Simmonds converted on his breakaway, stuffing the puck inside the right goal post. The goal was upheld after a review showed Simmonds did not interfere with Dell.

Save of the game

At 4:53 of the second period, Neuvirth dropped to his knees to block Tomas Hertl's shot from in front, then quickly covered the puck.

Highlight of the game

At 9:02 of the first period, Simmonds made a great fake to get around Burns and get a 1-on-1 chance with Dell, but the Sharks goaltender made a glove save.

Unsung performance of the game

At 3:58 of the first period with the Sharks on the power play, Provorov dove to get his stick on Labanc's attempt from the post.

They said it

"We've lost three (of the past four) games in overtime or shootouts. Those are coin flips. I don't feel we're in a rut, no."-- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"It's really hard to stand up here and say our team's playing pretty good hockey when the results aren't coming. But our team's been playing pretty good hockey. We had to win a tight, close one today, 2-1 in overtime. Maybe that's the way it's going to be. We had good opportunities tonight. Their goaltender played well and I thought we played pretty solid 200-foot hockey throughout the 60-plus minutes." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol

Need to know

The Flyers successfully used a coach's challenge to overturn a Sharks goal at 3:44 of the first period. After review, it was ruled that Labanc had interfered with Neuvirth. … Marleau's goal was his 501st in the NHL, moving him past Lanny MacDonald into 44th place on the all-time list. … Thornton is five assists from becoming the 13th NHL player with 1,000.

What's next

Sharks:At the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; SN360, SN1, MSG+, CSN-CA, NHL.TV)
Flyers:At the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN360, SNW, TCN-PH, NHL.TV)