Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario recorded his first National Hockey League career hat trick on Sunday as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks 8-5 at the PPG Paints Arena. It was actually one of two hat tricks in the game, as the other was recorded by Bryan Rust of Pontiac, Michigan.
Rodrigues opened the scoring at 1:03 of the first period to put the Penguins up 1-0. Danton Heinen of Langley, British Columbia and Marcus Pettersson picked up assists. Rodrigues then put the Penguins up 3-0 on a goal by Heinen and Dominik Simon at 4:11 of the third period. Then with two minutes and one second left in the hockey game, the Penguins went up 8-5 with a goal from Kris Letang of Montreal, Quebec, and Rust.
The Penguins had a huge 6-1 lead after the first period, only to see the Sharks pull within one goal with 15 minutes and 51 seconds left in the game. Rodrigues has been very effective for the Penguins this season as he has 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points.
Seven Penguins had a multi-point game. In addition to Rodriguez’s hat trick, Rust had three goals and two assists for five points. Jake Guentzel had one goal and one assist for two points. Meanwhile Canadian Olympic gold medalist Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Letang, Heinen, and Marcus Pettersson had two assists each. Crosby won a gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
The Penguins have now won eight games in a row. They have a record of 18 wins, eight regulation losses and five losses in extra time for 41 points.
