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Kubina nets pair as Maple Leafs rally past Flyers

Mar 12, 2008 - 4:04 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Defenseman Pavel Kubina scored his second goal of the game with 54.8 seconds remaining in overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, on Tuesday.

Captain Mats Sundin had a goal and an assist, Jeremy Williams also tallied and All-Star defenseman Tomas Kaberle recorded two assists for Toronto (31-30-10), which finished with a 55-25 edge in shots and climbed within seven points of eighth-place Philadelphia (35-26-9) in the Eastern Conference.

"We knew with 20-30 games to go, we were going to be in a tough position," Sundin said. "There's nothing we can do about it other than look at the next game and see what happens from there on. "I really like the way we've been coming on, especially on home ice. That was really nice to see us come back like that."

The Maple Leafs travel to Philadelphia to complete the home-and-home series Wednesday.

Defenseman Braydon Coburn had a goal and an assist and Scottie Upshall and Daniel Briere also scored for the Flyers, who fell to 5-1-2 in their last eight games but pulled within one point of the Boston Bruins (36-26-8) for seventh place in the East.

In overtime, Kubina gained possession of the puck behind the net and banked a shot off the skate of defenseman Randy Jones and past goaltender Martin Biron for his eighth goal of the season.

"It's a great victory for the team, it doesn't matter who scores the goals," Kubina said. "We were desperate, we were in a tough spot and we wanted to win in regulation. After we were down by three goals, we never gave up, and it shows the character of this team that we got it done in overtime."

With the game tied at 3-3 with 72 seconds left in the third period, Toronto elected to pull netminder Vesa Toskala in favor of an extra attacker. The Maple Leafs, however, were unable to score, and the game went into overtime.

"(Toskala) was coming out, regardless," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "I didn't want to take the goalie out at five minutes, but it was something I was thinking about. You'd rather have it in your own hands, going for it."

After Briere scored to give the Flyers a 3-0 advantage just 72 seconds into the third, the Maple Leafs turned up the intensity.

Sundin finally got Toronto on the scoreboard at 4:48 of the period, when he blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle past a screened Biron for his 32nd goal of the campaign.

Kubina halved the deficit with 6:44 remaining, accepting a feed from Kaberle and blasting the puck it past Biron, and Williams tied the game with 3:41 to go.

After Jones failed to clear the puck, Williams corralled it and wristed a shot from the right circle past Biron for his second goal of the season.

"For me to be able to tie the game with that little time left, it's a great feeling," Williams said.

Biron was not feeling great after the game.

"We can't let a team dictate how to play a game when we're up 3-0, and that's what happened out there," Biron said. "That's the reason it turned out that way."

Upshall opened the scoring with 6:34 remaining in the first period, deflecting a centering feed from Vaclav Prospal past Toskala.

With Philadelphia on the power play, Coburn gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead with 55 seconds remaining in the second session by blasting a shot from just inside the blue line by the Finnish goalie.

"We're ahead of them and they want to try to catch us, and they didn't want to let us get any more points," Coburn said.

Biron finished with 51 saves, while Toskala turned aside 22 shots.