Tampa Bay Lightning centre Steven Stamkos of Markham, Ontario collected his 13th career National Hockey League hat trick on Tuesday. He accomplished the feat in a 5-2 Lightning win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Stamkos’s first goal tied the game at two. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had the assists at 14:17 of the second period. Stamkos then put the Lightning up 4-2. Brandon Hagel of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Erik Cernak had the assists at 5:56 of the third period. Then with two minutes and three seconds left in the third period, Stamkos closed out the scoring with an empty net goal from Kucherov.
Canadians scored the other two goals for the Lightning. Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta opened the scoring and Anthony Cirelli of Etobicoke, Ontario scored the game-winning goal.
Stamkos meanwhile had a four point game, as he had an assist on a goal by Cirelli. Two Canadians had a multi-point game as Hagel had two assists.
In 2023-24, Stamkos has 39 goals and 38 assists for 77 points in 75 games. He is a -20 with 32 penalty minutes, 39 power-play points, six game-winning goals, 242 shots on goal, 328 faceoff wins, 43 blocked shots, 76 hits, 19 takeaways, and 46 giveaways.
This was Stamkos’s second hat trick this season. He previously scored four goals in a 7-4 Lightning win over the Edmonton Oilers on December 14 for his first four goal game of his NHL career.
As a team, the Lightning improved to a record of 44 wins, 27 regulation losses and seven losses in extra time for 95 points. They are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division.
Source link