Flyers head to the break on a winning note

Rookie Roman Lyubimov, the Russian winger who signed as a free agent in the offseason, might be the Flyers' most popular player among his teammates, and not just because he scored the winning goal with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

"He's a guy who shows up and works hard. He's a great teammate and he's been all-in since the day he's gotten here, in terms of trying to learn the language and be a good part of the team," coach Dave Hakstol said after the Flyers outlasted Toronto, 2-1, to go into the all-star break with a three-game winning streak.

Lyubimov fired a rebound off the stomach of Toronto backup goalie Curtis McElhinney to snap a 1-1 tie and mark the second straight game that the Flyers used a strong third period to register a hard-earned victory.

It was Lyubimov's first goal since Dec. 14 and it enabled the Flyers to maintain the second wild-card spot.

Lyubimov is part of a fourth line that includes Chris VandeVelde and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

"Just a great, hardworking goal," Hakstol said. "Those guys got in on the forecheck. They won a couple of puck battles down there and did everything the right way. . ..and then [Lyubimov] found a way to bury it."

"I hope there will be more," said Lyubimov, who fired seven shots, including three on goal, in 9:48 of ice time.

Lyubimov added that his family members in Russia get up early so they can watch Flyers games around 3 a.m.

In a battle of backup goalies, Michal Neuvirth made 27 saves to notch the win and hand upstart Toronto its first regulation road loss in its last 12 games (9-1-2).

The Flyers have allowed a total of just three goals in their three-game winning streak. They had surrendered 3.53 goals per game in the 15 games before that, going 3-9-3 in that span.

"I feel like our game is better, especially in our zone," Neuvirth said.

With their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, the Maple Leafs' Nazem Kadri fired wide of an open net in the waning seconds.

With 6:40 left in regulation, Toronto nearly snapped a 1-1 tie when Connor Brown's shot appeared to deflect off Shayne Gostisbehere's skate and off the left post.

An odd defensive sequence enabled Toronto's William Nylander (seven shots) to tie the score at 1-1 with 4:25 left in the second period.

Nick Cousins and teammate Brandon Manning bumped into each other, and Kadri picked up the puck, went behind the net, and fed Nylander in front. Nylander got position on Gostisbehere and knocked in his own rebound.

Earlier, the Flyers used Wayne Simmonds' breakaway goal and superb penalty killing to take a 1-0 lead into the second period.

They killed off 5:57 worth of first-period penalties - one carried over into the second period - and allowed just two shots during that span. Most impressive, they killed a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Ivan Provorov, during which the Leafs - who have the NHL's second-best power play - managed just one shot.

Sean Couturier, Bellemare, and Simmonds were the forwards who did a bulk of the penalty-killing during that stretch, while Mark Streit, Andrew MacDonald, Manning, and Radko Gudas handled most of the work on the back end.

"They have a good power play. We know that; we did a lot of scouting on them earlier this morning," Simmonds said of the team's video work. "Our four-minute kill was huge for us. It got us a little bit of momentum."

Simmonds gave the Flyers the lead, taking a pass from Travis Konecny and beating McElhinney with a slick backhand-to-forehand move with 7:45 left in the first period. The goal was scored a little over a minute after the Flyers killed the four-minute penalty.

"The goalie went down first, and I put the puck over him," Simmonds said after scoring for the third straight game and lifting his goal total to 21, tied for seventh in the NHL at the time.

Simmonds will play Sunday in his first All-Star Game, which will be played in Los Angeles, where he started his career.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull www.philly.com/flyersblog