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The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sport
Sam Carchidi

Flyers end home misery, rally past Leafs, 4-2

PHILADELPHIA _ For the first time in more than a month, the Flyers could crank up the music in their locker room after a home win Tuesday night.

Sean Couturier scored with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left as the Flyers rallied past the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, at the Wells Fargo Center and extended their winning streak to a season-high four games.

But it was their first home win since a 3-1 over Chicago on Nov. 9. The Flyers had lost six straight at the Wells Fargo Center before Tuesday.

Couturier took a pass from Claude Giroux and fired a perfectly placed shot past Frederik Andersen (34 saves) and into the right corner of the net to snap a 2-2 tie. It was his 15th goal, equaling his career high _ and the Flyers have only played 30 games.

Scott Laughton's empty-net goal iced the win with 15.6 seconds to go.

The Leafs played without star center Auston Matthews, who is sidelined with a suspected concussion.

The Flyers tied the score at 2 on a goal that was credited to Taylor Leier with 14:24 left in regulation. Travis Konecny's shot appeared to deflect off two Maple Leafs (Dominic Moore and Roman Polak) as Leier battled in front and may have gotten a piece of the puck as well.

Earlier in the period, Andersen made quality stops on Giroux (twice) and Val Flippula from in close.

About two minutes after the Flyers scored the equalizer, Brian Elliott robbed Connor Brown from point-blank range to keep the game tied.

Former Flyer James van Riemsdyk deflected Morgan Rielly's shot past Elliott while the Maple Leafs were on a power play, putting Toronto ahead, 2-1, with 3:10 remaining in the second. It was van Riemsyk's 15th goal (sixth on the power play), tops on the Leafs.

Toronto was on a power play, its first of the night, because of Jake Voracek's tripping penalty on Nazem Kadri.

Elliott, who was brilliant in the Flyers' three wins on their recent Western Canada trip, allowed a soft goal to veteran center Patrick Marleau, enabling the Maple Leafs to tie the game at 1-all with 10:12 left in the first.

Marleau's left-circle drive bounced off Elliott and went under his right armpit and caromed into the net.

It was the 1,100th career point for the 38-year-old Marleau, who is in his first season with Toronto. He played in his 1,525th career game.

Marleau scored just 27 seconds after Giroux had given the Flyers a 1-0 lead on his 13th goal, one shy of his total in the entire 2016-17 season.

After a faceoff win by Couturier, Giroux fired a one-timer from the top of the right circle past goalie Frederik Andersen.

"Having him on the right side there, G is ready for a one-timer if I win it," Couturier said, "and lucky enough the puck ended up right on his tape."

Midway through the second, Elliott kept the game tied at 1 with a glove save on a shot that deflected off Ivan Provorov in front of the net. He made another great save with 6:10 to go in the second, denying Josh Leivo on a semi-breakaway.

The Flyers, who registered a 4-2 victory in Toronto on Oct. 28, finished with a 39-22 shots domination.

They have won four straight games, with all of them against Canadian teams, for the first time in franchise history.

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