Tyler Toffoli records first hat trick in a NHL outdoor game

Tyler Toffoli (Wikimedia Commons)

Tyler Toffoli of Scarborough, Ontario made National Hockey League history on Saturday. He became the first player ever to record a hat trick in a NHL outdoor game. The Kings right winger scored thrice in a 3-1 Los Angeles win over the Colorado Avalanche at the Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A remarkable crowd of 43, 574 were in attendance to see the two goal Los Angeles victory.

Toffoli opened the scoring at 14:01 of the first period. Alex Iafallo and Joakim Ryan picked up the assists for the Kings. After Colorado tied the game at one goal apiece with 42 seconds left in the second period, it was the Kings that scored late in the third period. Toffoli put the Kings up 2-1 with a game winning goal from Anze Kopitar with 55 seconds left in the third period and then scored an insurance marker into an empty net with five seconds left in the third period from Kopitar and Iafallo, which put the Kings up 3-1.

In 58 games with the Kings in 2019-20, Toffoli has 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points, has 16 penalty minutes and is a -4. Due to the fact Toffoli is in his final year of his contract, is set to be an unrestricted free agent and the Kings are rebuilding, Toffoli is expected to be traded at the NHL trade deadline on February 24.

This was Los Angeles’s second franchise win in the NHL Stadium Series. On February 21, 2015, the Kings beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

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