In Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ John Tavares hit for a hat trick on Wednesday night, in a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
“It’s good, it’s been a little while I think so it’s always nice to get it and you take them all,” said Tavares. “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.”
Philadelphia was coning off a 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Tavares scores twice in the third period to end any chance of a late Flyers’ rally.
Toronto improved to 5-4-2.
Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves in the Maple Leafs win.
“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 a little bit lower but the result is great. This is what we needed.”
Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers in the first period to give them a 1-0 lead.
Auston Matthews hit for a power play goal in the opening frame to tie the game, 1-1.
“For the most part, I thought our guys had a lot of ‘try,'” Flyers 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 scores his first of the night to end the first period with the Maple Leafs up, 2-1.
“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.”
Early in the third period, Zach Aston-Reese put the Maple Leafs up, 3-1.
The Flyers dropped to 5-3-2, and have lost two in a row.
Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia to get back to a one-goal deficit at 2-3.
Tavares put the game away with his two strikes in the period, including a power play goal with less than a minute to go in the game.
“This was a tough game for a goalie to play in,” Toronto 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.”
Felix Sandstrom made 39 saves in the Philadelphia loss.
“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.”
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