PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers' playoff hopes are still alive. Barely.
They delayed the inevitable with a wild 5-4 shootout win Wednesday night over Toronto at the Wells Fargo Center.
Sean Couturier scored the game-winner in the fifth round of the shootout. Carter Hart, in the first shootout of his career, did not allow any goals in the penalty-shot competition.
Travis Sanheim scored on a scramble in front to give the Flyers an apparent 5-4 win with 2:26 left in overtime. But the officials ruled a whistle had been blown before Sanheim scored, so the goal was disallowed.
The Flyers, who would have been eliminated from playoff contention with a regulation loss, went 1-2 against the Leafs in the season series.
Auston Matthews' 36th goal, scored when he put his own rebound upstairs and to the short side, tied the game at 3 with 18:17 left in regulation.
But Ryan Hartman converted a slick behind-the-goal-line pass from Scott Laughton to score from the slot, pushing the Flyers ahead, 4-3, with 11 minutes remaining.
Toronto answered. Quickly. After a Shayne Gostisbehere miscue, William Nylander scored on a spinaround shot, knotting it at 4 with 8:27 left.
A 3-0 second period had given the Flyers a 3-2 lead as they got goals from Travis Konecny, Radko Gudas and Couturier.
Konecny took a feed from Travis Sanheim, skated into the right circle and fired a shot over the glove of goalie Frederik Andresen to get the Flyers within 2-1 with 16:21 left in the first. It was Konecny's 23rd goal, and it ended an eight-game drought.
Gudas tied it at 2, scoring on a wrist shot from the point with 11:45 to go in the second.
With 4:14 remaining in the second, Couturier redirected a perfect pass from Sanheim (two assists) past Andersen to give the Flyers their first lead at 3-2. For Couturier, it was his 32nd goal, a career high, and it gave him seven tallies in his last 13 games.
The Flyers fired 18 second-period shots.
"They were kind of letting us come at them," Konecny said. " ... When we come at them with that much speed, that means opportunities for our D-men shooting the puck."
Earlier, Toronto capitalized on two Flyers miscues _ blown coverage by Ryan Hartman and a turnover by Couturier _ to build a 2-0 first-period lead.
Tyler Ennis got away from Corban Knight behind the net and fed a backhand pass to fourth-line right winger Connor Brown, who got behind Hartman and scored from in front with 14:57 left in the opening period.
About seven minutes later, a Couturier giveaway led to a point-blank shot by Nazem Kadri that sailed under Hart's glove, putting the Leafs ahead, 2-0.
The Flyers entered the night with 18 wins and 20 losses (18-16-4) at the Wells Fargo Center. One more defeat would guarantee just their second losing home record in the last 24 seasons _ and only the sixth since the franchise started in 1967-68.
