Ducks Use Shootout To Defeat Slumping Flyers, 5-4

ANAHEIM (AP) — Jakob Silfverberg and Corey Perry scored in the shootout, and the Anaheim Ducks rebounded from Wayne Simmonds' late tying goal for a 5-4 victory over the spiraling Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.

Simmonds scored his second goal with 2.6 seconds left in regulation for the Flyers, who lost their ninth consecutive road game.

Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for Anaheim, stopping Claude Giroux to end the shootout.

Patrick Maroon scored in the third period for the Ducks, who pulled even with Tampa Bay atop the overall NHL standings with their fifth win in seven games.

Sami Vatanen, Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for Anaheim, which came back from a two-goal deficit while the clubs combined for six goals in an entertaining second period.

Maroon snapped home the go-ahead goal with a quick shot off Perry's rebound with 5:02 left in regulation, ending the Ducks' 0-for-19 power-play drought.

But a few moments after Devante Smith-Pelly fanned on a bouncing puck in the slot right in front of Philadelphia's empty net, Simmonds followed his own shot and knocked it in, celebrating flat on his back.

Michael Raffl and R.J. Umberger also scored in the second period for Philadelphia. Steve Mason stopped 29 shots in the Flyers' sixth straight defeat overall -- and their second straight heartbreaker following a last-minute loss in San Jose one night earlier.

Vincent Lecavalier was a healthy scratch by the Flyers for the second straight game -- and just the second time in his 16-season NHL career. The Stanley Cup champion and Richard Trophy winner with Tampa Bay is in a 12-game goal drought with just two assists since Nov. 1.

After a rare day of steady rain in Orange County, both teams seemed bogged down at the start, managing just four shots apiece in the somnolent first period.

Just 32 seconds after Umberger put the Flyers up 3-1 with his first goal in 18 games since Oct. 22, Getzlaf blistered a wrist shot past Mason. Vatanen then tied it in the final minute, sweeping in from behind with a backhand for his seventh goal.

NOTES: Ducks D Eric Brewer will be out 4-6 weeks after breaking his foot Monday in his second game with Anaheim. The club activated D Clayton Stoner, who missed five games with mumps, and D Mark Fistric, out 15 games with a lower-back injury. ... Igor Bobkov served as Andersen's backup for the second straight game with Jason LaBarbera sidelined by an upper-body injury. The Ducks brought in Ilya Bryzgalov, their backup goalie on the 2007 Stanley Cup title team, on a pro tryout earlier Wednesday. ... Andersen got an assist on Fowler's goal for his first point of the season.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)