John Tavares registered his 11th career hat trick and added an assist as the Maple Leafs snapped a four-game slide with a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in Toronto.
Auston Matthews, with a goal and an assist, and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for Toronto (5-4-2), while Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly had two assists each. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves.
The disjointed and wobbling Leafs — a team that sees itself as a Stanley Cup contender — limped home Sunday following an ugly 1-2-2 road trip accented by overtime losses to the lowly San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.
The pressure on under-fire head coach Sheldon Keefe ratcheted up with every dropped point through the first 10 games of the schedule, including losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes — teams that finished 32nd and 31st, respectively, in last season’s overall standings.
But his players responded with a solid effort that should lower the temperature in hockey’s biggest media market — at least for a few days.
WATCH | Tavares leads Maple Leafs past Flyers:
John Tavares 11th career hat trick gives Toronto a 5-2 win over Philadelphia.
Playing the second of a back-to-back following a 1-0 overtime loss to the New York Rangers a night earlier, the Flyers opened the scoring at 13:09 of Wednesday’s first period when Farabee blasted his third past Samsonov.
Sandstrom, who was looking for his first career NHL victory in his eighth appearance with Carter Hart getting a rest, held the fort on two early Toronto power plays, but Matthews slotted home his own rebound from in close for his fourth on another man advantage at 16:40.
Flyers defenceman Tony DeAngelo hit the post early in the second on a shot that fooled Samsonov from distance before Matthews, Nylander and Aston-Reese had good opportunities at the other end.
Samsonov was forced to make a desperation stop on Konecny during a Philadelphia man advantage later in the period. Scott Laughton then hit the visitors’ second post on an odd-man rush.
The Leafs goaltender made a huge stop on DeAngelo seven seconds into the third right off the faceoff at centre.
Aston-Reese scored his first of the campaign, and first for Toronto, when the puck caromed to the winger with Sandstrom at his mercy at 2:49 for a 3-1 lead.
Reeser’s first as a bud!! 👏 <a href=”https://t.co/LfYCUfq7Mh”>pic.twitter.com/LfYCUfq7Mh</a>
—@MapleLeafs
Tippett got the Flyers back within one on a power-play effort Samsonov should have stopped at 7:01.
But Tavares, who was in the box for that one, provided some highlight-reel insurance at 12:24 when he stepped around Philadelphia defenceman Travis Sanheim before burying his own rebound.
Toronto’s captain then completed his hat trick on a power play with 5:37 left in regulation after Sandstrom lost a skate blade and was out of position.
Konecny and Matthews then got into a jousting match with less than two minutes to go in a brouhaha that saw Leafs defenceman Mark Giordano and Flyers centre Kevin Hayes dropping the gloves.