Steven Stamkos of Markham, Ontario recorded his 14th career National Hockey League hat trick on Saturday. He accomplished the feat in a 3-2 Nashville Predators win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
It was the third time this season that a player scored all three of his team’s goals in a victory. The first time came on October 10 as Anze Kopitar scored thrice in a 3-1 Los Angeles Kings win over the Buffalo Sabres, and the second time came on December 16 as Kiefer Sherwood scored thrice in a 3-1 Vancouver Canucks win over the Colorado Avalanche. It should be noted that Scott Laughton of Oakville, Ontario scored all four of the Philadelphia Flyers’s goals on December 12 in a 4-1 Flyers win over the Detroit Red Wings on December 12.
This was Stamkos’s first NHL hat trick with the Predators. The previous 13 were with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
On Saturday, Stamkos tied the game at one at 2:36 of the second period from Jonathan Marchessault of Cap-Rouge, Quebec and defenseman Nick Blankenburg on the power-play. Stamkos then put the Predators up 2-1 at 12:20 of the second period from Ryan O’Reilly of Clinton, Ontario. Then at 2:39 of overtime, Stamkos scored from Fedor Svechkov and defenseman Spencer Statsney for the game-winning goal.
This season, Stamkos has 21 goals and 20 assists for 41 points in 63 games. He is a -19 with 40 penalty minutes, 15 power-play points, six game-winning goals, 139 shots on goal, 323 faceoff wins, 33 blocked shots, 52 hits, 15 takeaways, and 41 giveaways.
