Flyers rally for OT win, hand Maple Leafs fourth straight loss

PHILADELPHIA -- Sean Couturier scored 18 seconds into overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
Travis Konecny carried the puck into the Maple Leafs zone and passed across to Couturier, who scored his 26th of the season.

"Lately, it seems like every time I shoot the puck it seems to find the back of the net," said Couturier, who has 11 goals in his past 12 games. "That's what I'm trying to do, keep shooting the puck every time I can get it off, get it on net and try to get a goal, and things are going my way."
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Flyers highlights]
Nolan Patrick and Wayne Simmonds scored in the third period for the Flyers (21-16-8), and Michal Neuvirth made 29 saves.

It was Philadelphia's fourth straight home win and fifth in six games. The Flyers had a four-game winning streak end with a 5-1 loss at the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Connor Brown and Frederik Gauthier scored for the Maple Leafs (25-17-5), and Frederik Andersen made 34 saves. It was Toronto's fourth straight loss (0-1-3), all by one goal.
"We've got to regroup, we've got to figure out who wants to commit to playing as a team," Andersen said. "... We've got to look at the attitude. We played well enough for two periods, but we've got to find a way to keep the foot on the gas the whole game. We can't be satisfied with two periods."
The Maple Leafs led 2-0 entering the third period, but the Flyers scored twice early in the period to tie the game. Toronto was 15-1-1 when leading entering the third, and Philadelphia was 1-12-2 when trailing.

"It's huge for us," Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. "Coming off a loss like that (against the Rangers), going down 2-0 (against the Maple Leafs), it was huge for our team to get back and have a huge third period and finish it off in overtime."
Patrick started Philadelphia's rally when he stripped the puck from forward Mitchell Marner to the left of the Toronto net and beat Andersen to the far side at 1:33 to make it 2-1. It ended a 24-game goal drought for Patrick.
"Slumping for a while there," Patrick said. "I tried to forget how many games in a row and just play. Thought I've been playing good hockey lately."
Couturier said it was good to see Patrick get the goal that started the comeback.
"It was huge, especially early in the third," he said. "Gave us some wings, gave us a chance to get back in the game. Especially coming from him. Kind of got that monkey off his back. Nice to see him contribute ... especially lately, he's been working pretty hard, playing well. It's nice to see him rewarded like that."

Simmonds finished a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush with Valtteri Filppula to tie it 2-2 at 3:25.
Brown made it 1-0 after Gostisbehere failed to hold the puck in the Maple Leafs zone. Brown broke in alone on Neuvirth and scored between the goaltender's legs at 12:57 of the second.
Gauthier's first of the season gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead. Jake Gardiner got the puck on left side of the Flyers zone and threw it into traffic in front of the net. The puck popped in the air, and Gauthier found it and scored at 13:25.

Goal of the game

Couturier's goal 18 seconds into overtime.

Save of the game

Neuvirth stopping Patrick Marleau with his right pad with 2:48 left in the third period.

Highlight of the game

Patrick's goal 1:33 into the third period.

They said it

"We got a game two days from now so we should all walk out of here feeling terrible, but we'll get through that. Let's get up in the morning, let's go to practice. We're in a great spot in the League, we like our team, so let's play the best we can." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"Our mindset is they can score two in a minute, why can't we? We had a full period to do it. It's a big comeback win for us." -- Flyers forward Nolan Patrick

Need to know

Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov played his 300th NHL game. ... Toronto's four-game losing streak is its longest since it lost five straight Feb. 23-March 3 (0-2-3). ... Simmonds has four goals and two assists during a six-game point streak. ... Prior to the game, the Flyers retired No. 88 to honor Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros, who played his first eight NHL seasons with the Flyers (1992-2000) and played for the Maple Leafs in 2005-06.

What's next

Maple Leafs: At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, CITY, TVA Sports 2, NHL.TV)
Flyers: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NBCSP, MSG+, NHL.TV)