Toronto Maple Leafs beat Flyers, 5-2, with help from a John Tavares hat trick

TORONTO — Flyers coach John Tortorella is finding out that for his team, it’s much harder to protect a lead than it is to come back from a deficit.

Going into their Wednesday night game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena, the Flyers had plenty of experience playing from behind, having relinquished the first goal in eight of their first nine games of the season. But after jumping out to an early 1-0 lead against the Leafs on the second night of a back-to-back, the Flyers failed to preserve their margin, as the Leafs scored three straight to help themselves to an eventual 5-2 victory. The Flyers’ effort, according to Tortorella, was inconsistent.

“I’m really, really happy about how some guys, their effort tonight, how they handled certain situations,” Tortorella said. “But on the other side, there’s some situations that absolutely disgust me. Those are the things we have to work through.”

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The Leafs gave the Flyers a gift in the first two periods, handing them five power-play opportunities with the potential to score or carry momentum into five-on-five play. But the Flyers couldn’t do either, generating just five shots total on the man advantage and handing control right back over to the Leafs.

Finally, the Flyers managed to capitalize on their sixth power-play opportunity of the night in the third period, as winger Owen Tippett’s wrist shot beat goalie Ilya Samsonov clean from the left circle to pull the Flyers within one, 3-2.

But in the third period, center John Tavares put the game out of reach for the Flyers, as he stickhandled around defenseman Travis Sanheim to score on goalie Felix Sandström and then notched a power-play goal less than three minutes later to complete a hat trick.

After missing preseason action while working his way back from artificial disk replacement surgery this offseason, Joel Farabee has been relatively quiet from an offensive standpoint to start the season. Going into Wednesday’s game, Farabee had two goals and three assists in nine games. He had been held off the scoresheet entirely for the last two games.

Farabee made a statement in the first period, scoring on a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Samsonov to pull the Flyers ahead, 1-0. He wouldn’t have had the scoring opportunity without the help of his teammates, as center Kevin Hayes and winger Travis Konecny won a wall battle earlier in the sequence, and Konecny later hit Farabee with a perfect pass off the wall to tee him up for the goal.

“It’s not really any systems, it’s just kind of just going out there and playing,” Farabee said. “So, definitely, really nice play by TK, but I think the other guys on the ice worked really hard to get the puck.”

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The Flyers’ penalty kill has taken a massive leap under assistant coach Brad Shaw, jumping from a 75.74% success rate (26th in the league) in 2021-22 to 82.76% (seventh) this season. But regardless of the Flyers’ early man-disadvantage success, they didn’t want to test the skilled players on the Leafs’ 10th-ranked power play on Wednesday night.

However, the Flyers struggled with penalties in the first period. The Flyers were called for three minor penalties, giving the Leafs three prime opportunities in their own zone. Although the Flyers killed the first two successfully, the third time was the charm, as 2021 Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews cleaned up his own rebound to tie the game, 1-1. The Leafs harnessed momentum after scoring on the man advantage, as Tavares ripped a one-timer from the point past Sandström to go up, 2-1, within the last two minutes of the first period. Through three periods, the Leafs went 2-for-5 on the power play.

“We take three penalties in the first, take a couple more,” forward Scott Laughton said. “Good offensive team and gave them a little bit too much time with the puck.”

Sandström got the nod in net against the Leafs, marking his third start of the season. All three of those starts have come on the second night of a back-to-back, so the Flyers haven’t always been the sharpest in front of their 25-year-old netminder. Sandström was tested early and often, as the Leafs racked up 17 shots to the Flyers’ six in the first period. Two of those attempts, the Matthews rebound and the Tavares one-timer, beat Sandström.

The Flyers looked sloppy for a stint in the second period, as poor puck protection and turnovers led to opportunities off the rush for the Leafs. Early in the second period after winger Pierre Engvall shot the puck from a distance, Sandström made a diving pad save to deny center Calle Jarnkrök of a chance to score on the rebound. In total, Sandström denied 39 of 44 shots.

The Flyers finish their three-game road trip on Saturday when they face off against former captain Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators at 7 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia).