Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta collected his third career National Hockey League hat trick on Friday. He accomplished the feat in an 8-2 Tampa Bay Lightning win over the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a five-point night for Point as he had three goals and two assists.
Point’s first goal came at 5:54 of the second period on the power play from Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman. The goal put the Lightning up 3-1 at the time. Point’s second goal came at 10:41 of the third period from Cole Koepke and Nicklaus Perbix. The goal put the Lightning up 6-2. Point then closed out the scoring with 1:52 left in the game from Steven Stamkos of Markham, Ontario and Kucherov on the power-play.
Point was one of three Canadians to score for the Lightning. The others were Brandon Hagel of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Stamkos. Hagel and Stamkos also had multi-point games as Hagel had one goal and two assists for three points, while Stamkos had one goal and one assist for two points.
In 21 games, Point has 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points. He is a -3 with two penalty minutes, 13 power-play points, four game-winning goals, 62 shots on goal, 98 faceoff wins, 10 blocked shots, five hits, six takeaways, and 10 giveaways.
Point’s first NHL hat trick came on November 15, 2018 in a 4-3 Lightning win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Point’s second NHL hat trick came on November 4, 2023 in a 6-4 Lightning win over the Ottawa Senators.
With the win, the Lightning improved to a record of 10 wins, six regulation losses and five losses in extra time for 25 points. They are in third place in the Atlantic Division.
