Johnsson hat trick powers Maple Leafs in win against Flyers

TORONTO -- Andreas Johnsson scored three goals in 7:35 in the first period for his first NHL hat trick, and Garret Sparks made 34 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

"Of course I didn't expect this before the game," Johnsson said. "Obviously, nice to score. After (the third goal) the feeling kind of felt unreal. It's kind of hard to explain. I was really happy after the first goal, and then the second goal, and all of a sudden the third goal, I was like, 'What's going on?'"
Patrick Marleau, Josh Leivo and John Tavares scored, and Mitchell Marner had two assists for Toronto (16-8-0), which had lost two in a row, including 4-2 at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, after a four-game winning streak.
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
"Hopefully this means I can just relax and play goalie, and not worry about what anybody is saying," Sparks said of his first shutout for the Maple Leafs since Nov. 30, 2015, in his NHL debut. "They always say don't read what's written about you; I can't not read it, so just hopefully settle in, play hockey, and do what I do best: stop pucks."

Calvin Pickard was replaced by Anthony Stolarz after allowing four goals on six shots for Philadelphia (10-11-2), which is 1-4-1 in its past six games after a three-game winning streak. Stolarz made 32 saves.
"I can't worry about what's going on in front of me," Pickard said. "I've got to find a way to make a save and I couldn't do that. Yesterday, we set the bar, for sure, with a big win at home (4-0 against the New York Rangers) and needed it. The roles were reversed today, and I didn't give our team the goaltending we needed."
It was the first game in Flyers history that neither team was called for a penalty.
Johnsson gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first period when he got around defenseman Robert Hagg and shot between Pickard's pads.
Johnsson scored unassisted on a breakaway 1:34 later to make it 2-0 at 6:19.
Marleau put Toronto ahead 3-0 with an unassisted goal at 7:44. Jake Gardiner carried the puck into the Philadelphia zone on the left wing, but his centering pass was intercepted by Travis Konecny. Marleau knocked down Konecny's clearing attempt and scored from below the right hash marks with Pickard out of position.

Johnsson completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal at 12:20 to make it 4-0. He stole the puck from defenseman Travis Sanheim along the boards and cut to the slot to beat Pickard with a backhand.
"It's great. [Johnsson] and Sparks led the way today," Tavares said. "He got off to a [heck] of a start, and you could see the jump he had early. Just the touch around the net he had was tremendous; all three went five-hole. It was great to see his contributions today."
The Maple Leafs made it 5-0 at 11:07 of the second period when Leivo worked a give-and-go with Marner for a one-timer from the left face-off dot.
Marner set up Tavares at 17:10 to make it 6-0, dragging the puck around two Flyers and spinning around another in the slot before dropping a pass to Tavares.
"With Mitch, I always follow up the play because you never know the tricks that he has," Tavares said.

Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk, who spent six seasons with the Maple Leafs and played his first game in Toronto since signing a five-year contract with Philadelphia on July 1, said a lack of focus early cost them the game.
"Not a good game for us at all. With both teams being on back-to-back games, it's really important not to shoot yourself in the foot and make sure you make smart decisions," van Riemsdyk said. "Early on, we had a couple breakdowns that led to goals, so that is never a good way to start. It was a tough one for us tonight, and we need to find a way to consistently start games better."

They said it

"It's been a whirlwind of just thinking about it. I'm glad we had a game last night so you don't spend too much time dwelling on it. Today during my afternoon nap, memories that you have thinking about some different things over the course of my career here, something like that is pretty cool, so I definitely appreciated the [Maple Leafs] doing something like that." -- Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk on video tribute in first period
"I don't want to put any expectation on him. I just want him to go out there and continue playing hockey and enjoying it. I think that will take care of everything." -- Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks on what he thinks Andreas Johnsson's ceiling could be

Need to know

Johnsson is the first Maple Leafs player to score a hat trick in one period since Tyler Bozak in the third at the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 15, 2015, and the first to do so at home since Bozak in the third against the Ottawa Senators on March 28, 2015. ... Flyers forwards Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier each had a three-game point streak end. ... Marleau had a season-high seven shots on goal. ... It was the fifth game in Flyers history that they were not called for a penalty, including a 6-5 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final .

What's next

Flyers: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Boston Bruins on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN4, NESN, NHL.TV)