ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The Flyers could not have faced the Anaheim Ducks at a more opportune time.
The Ducks were without six regulars who were injured, including big centers Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler and two of their top four defensemen.
They took advantage of it.
They ended an eight-game losing streak against the Ducks, registering a 3-2 overtime win as Wayne Simmonds scored 44 seconds into OT Saturday night at the Honda Center
Leading 2-1, the Flyers (2-1) got a power play early in the third period and had a chance to take command.
Instead, a Claude Giroux turnover near his own blue line led to Cam Fowler's short-handed goal, knotting the score at 2-2 with 16 minutes, 20 seconds left in regulation. Fowler fired a shot from the top of the left circle that went over the glove of goalie Brian Elliott. It was his first goal in 30 games, dating back to last season.
The Flyers had taken a 2-1 lead on a hard-working goal by Sean Couturier with 6:51 remaining in a Philadelphia-controlled second period.
Jake Voracek made a great backhand pass as he was falling down while skating behind the net and found the persistent Couturier in front for his first goal of the season. Giroux, the new left winger, triggered the sequence with a pass to Voracek.
"I just tried to support the play and went to the net," Couturier said after his first goal of the young season. "I got a lucky one through his legs, but I'll take it."
The shots were 6-6 in the second period, but the Ducks didn't get their first shot in the stanza until 13:55 had elapsed.
Earlier, rookie defensemen Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim both got caught on the left side of the ice, enabling Anaheim to tie the game at 1-1 with 7:47 left in the first period.
After the Ducks won a scrum near the right boards, Ondrej Kase fired a pass to an all-alone Vermette in the left circle, and he beat Elliott for his 500th career point.
About four minutes earlier, the Flyers had taken a 1-0 lead as Ivan Provorov scored on a one-timer from the top of left circle just as a Flyers power play had expired. Nolan Patrick, working behind the net, set up the goal for the first point of his NHL career.
Patrick and Provorov were once teammates in the Western Hockey League.
"We ran the power play for two years together in Brandon," Patrick said, "and we're good buddies off the ice, too. So, yes, there's a little bit of chemistry for us."
The goal was scored on a set play as Jordan Weal found Patrick behind the net. "We were kind of working on it this morning," Patrick said.
The Flyers had several other great scoring chances in the first period but couldn't put another shot past John Gibson, who made impressive stops on Patrick, Giroux, and Weal from close range. The best of those saves was a sprawling stop on Patrick after he took a two-on-one feed from Travis Konecny with a little less than 19 minutes left in the first period.
The Flyers had a 15-13 shots edge in the opening 20 minutes.
The Flyers' lineup included rookie defenseman Sanheim, who had an uneven performance Thursday and was minus-2 in his NHL debut in Los Angeles.
"It feels good. I get another opportunity here, and I'm looking forward to bouncing back and play more of the way I did in the third (period)," Sanheim said before the game. "Like I said the other night, I kind of wanted that game to continue."
Samuel Morin was a healthy scratch for the third straight game and will likely be sent to the AHL's Phantoms shortly because general manager Ron Hextall wants his young players playing.
