Carolina Hurricanes centre Jordan Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario recorded his fifth National Hockey League hat trick on Thursday. He accomplished the feat in a 6-3 Hurricanes win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Staal scored one goal in each period. At 14:15 of the first period, he tied the game at two from Jordan Martinook of Brandon, Manitoba and Andrei Svechnikov. Then at the 35 second mark, Staal put the Hurricanes up 3-2 with a shorthanded goal from Martinook and Jaccob Slavin. Then at the 20 second mark of the third period, Staal put the Hurricanes up 5-3 on an all-Canadian goal from defenseman Brent Burns of Barrie, Ontario and Martinook. Staal was one of two Canadians to score in the game. The other was Seth Jarvis of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Staal’s first three NHL hat tricks were with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He scored thrice in a 6-5 Penguins win over the Maple Leafs on February 10, 2007. Staal also scored three times in a 7-6 Penguins win over the Detroit Red Wings on November 11, 2008, and three times in a 10-3 Penguins win over the Philadelphia Flyers on April 18, 2012 in game four of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Staal then scored thrice for the Hurricanes in a 5-2 Hurricanes win over the Anaheim Ducks on April 10, 2022.
In 42 games this season, Staal has eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points. He is a +9 with 10 penalty minutes, two shorthanded points, one game-winning goal, 62 shots on goal, 417 faceoff wins, 23 blocked shots, 68 hits, four takeaways, and 27 giveaways. Staal’s other shorthanded point was a shorthanded game-winning goal at 3:38 of the second period in a 5-2 Hurricanes win over the Vegas Golden Knights on November 11.
With the win, the Hurricanes improved to a record of 25 wins, 15 regulation losses and two losses in extra time for 52 points. They are in third place in the Metropolitan Division.
