Brandon Hagel of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan notched his second career National Hockey League hat trick on Saturday. He accomplished the feat in a 5-3 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Hagel put the Lightning up 2-1 at 4:50 of the second period from Russians Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev. He then scored the game-winning goal at 5:58 of the third period from Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta and Sergachev to put the Lightning up 4-3, and then scored an unassisted empty net goal to close out the scoring with 44 seconds left in the contest.
Hagel was one of two Canadians to score in the game. The other was Steven Stamkos of Markham, Ontario.
In 2022-23, Hagel has 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points. He was a +23 with 42 penalty minutes, 12 power-play points, three shorthanded points, three game-winning goals, 22 faceoff wins, 51 blocked shots, 57 hits, 79 takeaways, and 40 giveaways.
Hagel’s first NHL career hat trick came as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. It occurred in an 8-5 Blackhawks win over the New Jersey Devils on February 25, 2022.
With the win, the Lightning improved to a record of 42 wins, 22 regulation losses and six losses in extra time for 90 points. They are currently in third place in the Atlantic Division.
