Montreal Canadiens left winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard of Saguenay, Quebec notched his first National Hockey League career hat trick on Saturday. He scored thrice in an 8-2 Canadiens win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
All three of Harvey-Pinard’s goals came in the second period and on all three Harvey-Pinard goals, Canadians picked up the assists. He broke a 2-2 tie with the game-winning goal at the 13 second mark in the middle frame. Defenseman Mike Matheson of Pointe-Claire, Quebec and captain Nick Suzuki of London, Ontario notched the assists. Harvey-Pinard then put the Canadiens up 4-2 from Mike Hoffman of Kitchener, Ontario and Suzuki at 7:13 of the second period. Then the hat trick came on the power-play with three minutes and 18 seconds left in the second period. Hoffman and Matheson had the assists and put the Canadiens up 6-2.
Suzuki led the Canadiens in scoring with four points (one goal and three assists). Other Canadians on the Canadiens with multi-point gams were Harvey-Pinard (three goals), Hoffman (one goal and two assists), Matheson (three assists), Brendan Gallagher of Edmonton, Alberta (one goal and one assist for two points), and Jonathan Kovacevic of Niagara Falls, Ontario (two assists). Alex Belzile of St-Eloi, Quebec also scored for Montreal in the six-goal rout.
In 2022-23, Harvey-Pinard has 12 goals and five assists for 17 points in 29 games. He is a +9 with eight penalty minutes, three power-play points, one shorthanded point, one game-winning goal, 47 shots on goal, 52 blocked shots, 52 hits, nine takeaways and 14 giveaways.
