Steven Stamkos of Markham, Ontario delivered a memorable hat trick for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their win over the New York Rangers on Monday night. In a 6-3 Lightning win, Stamkos became the third Lightning player all-time to record 700 points. The first two were also Canadian as Martin St. Louis of Laval, Quebec had 953 points with the Lightning from 2000-2014 and Vincent Lecavalier of Ile Bizard, Quebec had 874 points with the Lightning from 1998-2013.
Stamkos scored his first goal on the power play from J.T. Miller and Victor Hedman at 14:09 of the first period which tied the game at one. He then scored again on the power play from Hedman and Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta at 6:19 of the second period which tied the game at two. Stamkos then scored his third goal of the game from Ondrej Palat and Braydon Coburn of Calgary, Alberta at 10:41 of the third period which put the Lightning up 5-2 at the time.
Stamkos currently has 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points in 32 games for the Lightning this season. Tampa Bay meanwhile leads the entire National Hockey League at the moment with 49 points. They have six more points than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who happens to be their divisional rival in the Atlantic Division.
In other hockey news, Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks was the NHL’s first star of the week for December 3-9. In three games, Pettersson had two goals and six assists for eight points.
