PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers were cooked Saturday afternoon. They trailed 5-1 in the third period. Their penalty kill had been shredded for three goals in four attempts.
The Wells Fargo Center was church-quiet.
But in a comeback for the ages, the Flyers roared back and scored four goals in a 6:04 span to force overtime.
They only picked up a point, however, because Anthony Cirelli spun away from Wayne Simmonds and scored the game-winner with 3:13 left in overtime, giving Tampa Bay a wild 6-5 victory.
In the last half of the third period, Travis Konecny scored twice, and Sean Couturier and Simmonds added goals.
Simmonds tied it at 5 by putting a rebound past backup goalie Louis Domingue. Just 40 seconds later, Domingue stopped Dale Weise on a breakaway to keep the game tied.
The Flyers outshot the Lightning, 45-26.
Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point (two goals) scored two power-play goals 11 seconds apart in the third period to give Tampa a 5-1 lead. Point has five goals in the last two games.
Late power-play goals by Konecny and Sean Couturier got the Flyers within 5-3, and then Konency made it 5-4 by converting a pass by Claude Giroux with 4:02 to go in regulation.
These numbers did not compute: Tampa (14-5-1) was outshot by a 30-11 margin but had a 2-0 lead late in the second period.
The Lightning struck first on Adam Erne's power-play goal with 13:58 left in the second. Erne took a perfect drop pass from Yanni Gourde and beat Cal Pickard from the right circle.
Pickard, in his first start since Nov. 8, was playing because Brian Elliott is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks with what is believed to be a groin injury.
With 7:50 left in the second, Cedric Paquette took a feed from Erne and made it 2-0 by scoring on a one-timer from deep in the left circle.
The Flyers then put together their best power play in weeks, swarming the net and firing five shots, the last a rebound by James van Riemsdyk that cut the deficit to 2-1 with 5:27 to go in the second. It was van Riemsdyk's first goal in his second stint with the Flyers and it ended their 0-for-15 power-play funk.
They had been 2-for-34 in their last 11-plus games, but it was 3-for-5 Saturday. Tampa's power play was 3-for-4.
Giroux collected an assist on van Riemsdyk's goal, the 700th point of his career.
But the Flyers' momentum was short-lived. Just 2{ minutes after van Riemsdyk's goal, Point took a crossing pass from Ryan Callahan and scored from the doorstep as he got position on the still-struggling Ivan Provorov, increasing the Bolts' lead to 3-1. A neutral-zone turnover by Radko Gudas set the sequence in motion.
Tampa had a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes despite being outshot, 34-15.
The Flyers controlled a scoreless first period as they outshot the Lightning, 18-7, but couldn't solve Domingue, who looked like the second coming of Bernie Parent.
Playing because standout goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has a fractured foot, Domingue took a 3.36 goals-against average and .890 save percentage into the game. In the first 20 minutes, he made his best saves on Konecny's spin-around rebound attempt and Couturier's point-blank shot while the Flyers were shorthanded.
The Flyers have not outscored an opponent on special teams since their opener in Vegas on Oct . 4.
