Tavares has hat trick, assist to help Maple Leafs top Flyers, end skid

TORONTO-- John Tavares scored a hat trick and had an assist to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to their first win in five games, 5-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

It was Tavares' 11th NHL hat trick and first since March 25, 2019, when he scored four goals against the Florida Panthers.
"It's good, it's been a little while I think, so it's always nice to get it and you take them all," Tavares said. "It was a little bit of a different one there on the third one, but any time you have nights like this, it's a team effort, so many guys contribute and I'm just getting rewarded for finishing plays off.
"The process in our game was a lot better. I think we were set up much more because of the way we were playing throughout the night, so [we had] our ability to just stay with it and just grab the momentum of the game back."

Auston Matthews scored for the second game in a row, and Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs (5-4-2), who went 1-2-2 on a five-game road trip that ended Sunday with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
"It was a tough game, a little bit hard for me," Samsonov said. "I don't like it when [there's] not a lot of shots. It's really hard because all the time 3-on-2, 2-on-1 and confidence [is] a little bit lower, but the result is great. This is what we needed."
Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett scored, and Felix Sandstrom made 39 saves for the Flyers (5-3-2), who lost 1-0 in overtime against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
"For the most part, I thought our guys had a lot of 'try,'" Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "Some guys, no. That's where some of my frustration is, not so much in the result, but how guys, the effort that is put in sometimes.
"It hasn't come together. It's still a ways away, and that's part of our job as a coaching staff, to bring it together. It's going to take some time. We've found a way to win some games with some really good goaltending that's given us an opportunity. But we still have a ton of work to do to be considered a team that's come together."
Tavares put Toronto up 2-1 at 18:37 of the first period when he one-timed a pass from William Nylander over Sandstrom's glove from just inside the blue line.
Samsonov made a sprawling left pad save on Tony DeAngelo's shot from the top of the goal crease on the power play seven seconds into the third period to keep Toronto up 2-1.
"This was a tough game for a goalie to play in," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Not only were there not a lot of shots, but there was not a lot of activity on our half of the ice. Sometimes in games when you're not getting shots, you're still in your own end having to track the puck and move, but he was kind of standing in the net waiting for the next save. So, for him to make a big save at a key time and so early in a period, that shows us he was sharp and ready. Those are the kind of things we talk about, owning each moment that comes your way."

Zach Aston-Reese scored his first goal of the season at 2:49 third period to make it 3-1, but Tippett cut the lead to 3-2 at 7:01 on the power play when he shot short side on Samsonov from the left face-off dot.
Tavares made it 4-2 at 12:42 when he got around Travis Sanheim, cut across the goal crease and shot past Sandstrom's left pad.
"He was on it tonight for sure," Matthews said. "He made some pretty incredible plays and obviously his second one was just special, so just a great game by him. He was just leading the way for us in a game we obviously wanted to have a good bounce back in."
The Maple Leafs went up 5-2 at 15:23 when Tavares completed the hat trick, taking a pass from Matthews on the power play and shooting past Sandstrom's blocker from just inside the hash marks at the right face-off circle.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 13:09 of the first period when Farabee one-timed a pass from Sanheim.
Matthews tied it 1-1 at 16:40 on the power play when he took a pass from Tavares, who was behind the net, and put his own rebound in at the top of the goal crease.
Toronto went 2-for-5 on the power play.
"Just too many penalties especially against that team," Farabee said. "They have so many skill guys, you put them on the power play for that long and they're probably going to score eventually. We definitely have to clean that up. A few positives, but definitely not happy with the loss."
NOTES: Sandstrom is 0-7-1 in eight NHL games. ... Forward Pontus Holmberg played 10:01 and had two shots for Toronto in his NHL debut. ... Matthews passed Dave Keon for fifth in Maple Leafs history in power-play goals (66).