Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of Burnaby, British Columbia recorded his third career National Hockey League hat trick on Tuesday as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 8-4 at Rogers Place. Nugent-Hopkins was one of two Oilers to record hat tricks during the evening as Leon Draisaitl also scored three goals.
Nugent-Hopkins scored all three of his goals in the first period. He notched his first goal at 3:32 of the first period from Alex Chiasson of Montreal, Quebec to tie the game at one goal apiece. Nugent-Hopkins then put the Oilers up 4-1 at 14:18 of the first period from Chiasson and Darnell Nurse of Hamilton, Ontario. Then with 12 seconds left in the first period, Nugent-Hopkins scored from Connor McDavid of Richmond Hill, Ontario and Oscar Klefbom.
Nugent-Hopkins was one of four Canadians on the Oilers to register a multi-point game. The others were McDavid, who had one goal and three assists for four points, and Nurse and Chiasson, who had two assists each. Meanwhile, Zack Kassian of Windsor, Ontario registered a career high in goals with 15 when he scored from Klefbom and Mikko Koskinen at 4:36 of the first period.
After shutting out the Calgary Flames on Monday night by a score of 3-0, the Kings gave up five goals in the first period to the Oilers. Edmonton meanwhile is five points back of the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
