John Tavares apologized. He was drawing a blank. And it was a very nice problem to have.

He was being asked to go through the particulars of a goal he scored Wednesday night in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, except he scored too many of ’em. He needed more specifics to refresh his memory.

Was it the first? That put the Leafs up 2-1 late in the first period. Tavares was headed for a line change but saw William Nylander opening up a clear passing lane. Tavares stayed on, one-timed a Nylander feed that deflected through traffic and beat Flyers goaltender Felix Sandstrom. The typically stoic Tavares celebrated with a surprising amount of animation.

How about the second? That was one of Tavares’ most memorable goals in a long time. He turned Flyers defender Travis Sanheim inside out with a couple quick dekes, drove low to the goalmouth for a chance and buried his own rebound. That iced the game, putting Toronto up 4-2.

“He was on it tonight for sure,” said Leafs center Auston Matthews. “He made some incredible plays. His second one was just special. Just a great game by him. Just leading the way for us in a game where we wanted to have a good bounceback.”

The third goal? Tavares accepted a feed in the slot from Matthews, pivoted and beat Sandstrom with a quick wrister. That gave Tavares, 32, his 11th career hat trick.