Steven Stamkos notched a hat trick with two assists, Martin St. Louis added a career-best five helpers and Nate Thompson's goal early in the third period was the difference as Tampa Bay outgunned the Flyers, 8-7.
Stamkos potted his NHL-leading 17th, 18th and 19th goals of the season while raising his league-high point total to 35.
Adam Hall, Brett Clark, Steve Downie and Ryan Malone also lit the lamp for the Bolts, who notched a new franchise high for goals in one contest against the Flyers.
The Lightning, who took the first game between these clubs in Philly back on October 14 by a 3-2 count, erased three two-goal deficits to win their second straight game and third in the last nine. Tampa Bay snapped a five-game road losing skid Wednesday against the New York Islanders.
Mike Smith took over in net after Dan Ellis gave up four goals on 10 shots in the first period. Smith made 19 saves the rest of the way to pick up his first win since October 22.
Nikolay Zherdev scored two goals and set up another for Philadelphia, which had won seven in a row at home. The Flyers had gone 10 games (9-0-1) without a regulation loss prior to Tuesday's 3-0 setback in Montreal.
Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell, Danny Briere, Andreas Nodl and Andrej Meszaros also tallied for Philadelphia, which scored its most goals in a loss since a 9-7 setback at Hartford on February 25, 1984.
Rookie netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, making his 12th consecutive start for the Atlantic Division leaders, was lifted after yielding four goals on 11 shots through the first period. Brian Boucher took the loss after he allowed the game-winner, his fourth goal surrendered on 22 shots.
Thompson picked up the rebound of a Dana Tyrell backhander and beat Boucher from in close at the 5:19 mark of the third period, breaking a 7-7 tie and handing the visitors their first lead.
Meszaros almost killed any chance of a comeback when he received a double-minor for clipping and unsportsmanlike conduct with 3:23 remaining. Despite being down one skater, Philadelphia's aggressive play in pursuit of the equalizer drew an interference penalty by Tampa Bay rearguard Pavel Kubina with 69 seconds left.
Boucher was pulled to gain a 5-on-4 advantage and nearly tied the game in the waning moments, but Briere's wraparound bid in the final seconds was turned away by Smith.
The teams combined for nine goals in a wild first period, from which Philadelphia emerged with a 5-4 lead.
Nodl and Zherdev scored 42 seconds apart to stake the Flyers to an early edge. Nodl buried a rebound after a great save by Ellis on Zherdev, who then one-timed a Matt Carle pass at 5:03. Tampa Bay got goals from Stamkos and Hall in a span of 16 seconds to tie the game as Stamkos' league-leading eighth power-play goal put Tampa Bay on the board at 8:20, and Hall slipped a rebound past a prone Bobrovsky.
Carter restored the lead briefly for Philadelphia midway through the frame before the Bolts evened it up on a two-man advantage at 13:59. Malone hammered a St. Louis pass behind Bobrovsky with eight seconds left on the 5-on-3.
Hartnell then redirected Braydon Coburn's shot from the point 1:35 later to give the Flyers a 4-3 advantage, and Briere lit the lamp with 1:56 remaining to make it 5-3. The Lightning answered 14 seconds later when Brett Clark's slap shot from the middle of the left circle not only beat Bobrovsky, but went through the netting. It was upheld following a video review.
The nine-goal frame tied a Flyers franchise record for most combined goals in a period. It had been done four times previously, the most recent occurring in that 1984 contest against Hartford when the Whalers led 5-4 after 20 minutes.
Stamkos took a drop pass from St. Louis and beat Boucher on the short side over the glove hand to even the score at the 4:11 mark of the second period. It took the Flyers only 48 seconds to reclaim the lead, as Zherdev tapped in a nifty between-the-legs pass from Darroll Powe into a half-empty cage.
Then, Meszaros gave Philadelphia its third two-goal lead at 9:27 of the middle stanza, but Steve Downie tickled the twine just 14 seconds later for Tampa Bay, and Stamkos' sizzling one-timer made it 7-7 with 1:01 remaining in the second and Flyers captain Mike Richards in the penalty box for high-sticking.
Notes: Stamkos recorded his third career hat trick and first five-point game...Fifteen different Flyers had at least a point, while 14 different Tampa Bay players picked up at least a point...The last time there were nine goals scored in the first period of any NHL game was December 17, 1992 -- Montreal 6, Quebec 3...The 15 total goals were the most in one Flyers game since Philly's 8-7 victory over the Canadiens on February 21, 1994...The Flyers had won 41 consecutive games when scoring five or more goals...Only three other rookie goaltenders have started more consecutive games in Philadelphia history -- Pelle Lindbergh (16), and Tommy Soderstrom and Antero Niittymaki (both 18)...Defenseman Chris Pronger appeared in his 100th game as a Flyer...Coburn registered his 100th point...The NHL suspended Tampa Bay center Mattias Ritola two games for hitting Islanders left winger Matt Moulson from behind on Wednesday.
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