TORONTO – Auston Matthews scored three times in a span of eight minutes in the second period Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a late collapse to win 4-3 in overtime over the Flyers from Philadelphia.
William Nylander scored the victorious net after 54 seconds to give the Leafs (28-16-8) a smile, despite the fact that they ruined a two-goal priority in the last ten minutes of play.
With his fifth hat trick of his season, and 12th of his career, Matthews now has 45 goals on his record.
The 26-year-old American is only 76 nets behind Mats Sundin, top scorer in the franchise’s history. Matthews, however, has played 448 fewer games than the Swede.
His priority over Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers is now six goals atop the NHL scoring column.
After a discreet start to the game in front of their fans, the Leafs put their foot on the accelerator in the second half of the middle period.
Between the 11:06 mark and the 18:55 mark, Toronto’s No. 34 completely changed the game. Mitch Marner was an accomplice to his first two goals of the evening.
He beat Samuel Ersson with good wrist shots from the glove side for his first and third goals, while his second came on a powerful slap shot with the man advantage.
Marner and captain John Tavares were back in the Leafs lineup, two days after missing the duel against the St. Louis Blues due to a virus.
Defender Travis Sanheim allowed the Flyers (29-20-6) to take the lead in the first period while shorthanded, thanks to a turnover committed on his offensive blue line by Max Domi.
The team led by John Tortorella had won its previous four games.
Garnet Hathaway and Travis Konecny - during a power play – moved the strings 61 seconds apart to force an overtime period.
Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves, while his opposite number Ersson was tested 28 times.
