Oilers become first team to get hat tricks from defensemen in consecutive games
The Edmonton Oilers achieved a unique feat over the last few days, as they became the first time in NHL history to get hat tricks from different defensemen in consecutive games.
Bouchard & Ekholm just became the first defensemen in NHL HISTORY to post back to back hat tricks. WHAT A DUO!!!! 🔥🔥🔥
The Oilers achieved the feat during Saturday’s 6-5 overtime win over the Washington Capitals with a hat trick from Evan Bouchard, while Mattias Ekholm followed that up with three goals in Monday’s 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Bouchard scored three goals in similar fashion to het his hat trick, as they were all wrist shots from the point, with the closest goal coming from just outside the hashmarks of the faceoff dot for the third goal. His first goal opened the scoring late in the first period, his second made it 2-1 four minutes into the second period, and the third came four minutes into the third to tie the game at 3-3. The hat trick was the first from an Oilers defenseman since Marc-Andre Bergeron in 2006. Bouchard also got three assists on the final three Oilers’ goals in the game to cap off a six-point night.
Meanwhile, Ekholm’s hat trick came in much more unconventional fashion. First, he gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead early in the second period on a deflected goal while driving the net. Then, he added to the lead two minutes later to make it 5-2 on a two-on-one with Matt Savoie, one he created after generating a turnover when the Ducks entered the zone. Finally, Ekholm capped off the night and the win with an empty net goal late in the third, firing the shot from behind Edmonton’s net off of a faceoff win to make it 7-4.
Bouchard and Ekholm are just the third and fourth defensemen to score hat tricks this season, with the New Jersey Devils‘ Simon Nemec and Tampa Bay Lightning‘s Darren Raddysh also doing so.
Oilers are first team in 25 years to have D-men score four goals in a period. Is only 6th time in NHL history a team has done. Second time EDM has.
Another interesting fact coming out of Monday’s win is that the Oilers became the first team in 25 years to have defensemen score four goals in a single period, only the sixth time that’s ever happened. In addition to Ekholm’s two goals in the second period, Spencer Stastney and Darnel Nurse also scored in the frame, with all four coming consecutively and within a 3:49 span. This is the second time the Oilers have achieved the feat, also doing so in 1985 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
On top of that, the Ducks also have hat tricks in back-to-back games, as Beckett Sennecke got one in their 4-3 overtime win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday, while Mikael Granlund did so in the 7-4 loss to Edmonton.