Matthews’ 5th hat trick lifts Maple Leafs to OT victory against Flyers

Nylander took a pass from Timothy Liljegren and shot between goaltender Samuel Ersson’s pads from the slot.

Matthews scored three straight goals, a natural hat trick, in 7:49 in the second period. 

Mitchell Marner had two assists, and Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for the Maple Leafs (28-16-8), who are 6-2-0 in their past eight games.

Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist, Travis Sanheim and Garnet Hathaway scored and Ersson made 24 saves for the Flyers (29-19-7), who had a four-game winning streak end. 

Philadelphia played their final game before they face the New Jersey Devils in the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, TVAS-D, SN1).

Hathaway cut the lead to 3-2 at 14:14 of the third period, jamming in a rebound after a point shot by Nick Seeler. 

Konecny tied it 3-3 just 1:01 later on the power play when he took a chip pass from Owen Tippett during a net front scramble and shot past a sprawling Samsonov.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period when Sanheim took a pass in the slot from Scott Laughton and slid a shot past the outstretched right pad of Samsonov for a short-handed goal. It was Philadelphia’s League-leading 13th of the season. 

Matthews tied it 1-1 at 11:06 of the second period with a wrist shot past the glove from the top of the left circle. 

He made it 2-1 at 14:20 of the second period when he one-timed a pass from Marner at the right face-off dot on the power play.

Matthews completed the natural hat trick to make it 3-1 at 18:55 when he shot glove side through a screen from the high slot. 

Philadelphia defenseman Cam York left the game in the third period after taking a hit from Simon Benoit in the corner. He did not return.