TORONTO — John Tavares registered his 11th career hat trick and added an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a four-game slide with a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
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.
Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett replied for Philadelphia (5-3-2), which got 39 stops from backup Felix Sandstrom. Travis Konecny chipped in with two assists.
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.
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.
Tavares then ripped a one-timer that hit Konecny’s stick off a William Nylander feed with 1:27 remaining in the period for his fifth and a 2-1 lead.
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.
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.
TORTS BACKS KEEFE
Flyers head coach John Tortorella came to the defence of Keefe during his media availability two hours before puck drop.
And the fiery bench boss took aim at the Toronto media.
“You guys chuck darts at him because you want some results,” Tortorella said. “It’s always the coach that gets the darts chucked at him. But I know in watching (Keefe) and coaching against him, I think he’s a terrific coach.
“And I hope he jams it to you all, quite honestly.”
HOLMBERG IN THE SHOW
Leafs winger Pontus Holmberg made his NHL debut.
Selected 156th overall at the 2018 draft, the 23-year-old played four professional seasons in Sweden before joining the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies at the tail end of 2021-22.
LILJEGREN READY TO RETURN
Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren is expected to make his season debut this weekend.
The 23-year-old, who had hernia surgery in September, put up five goals and 23 points in 61 games last season.
UP NEXT
Leafs: Host the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Capitals: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
