Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl both scored hat tricks as the Edmonton Oilers rolled past the Los Angeles Kings 8-4 Tuesday night at Rogers Place.
“It’s pretty cool. I know I’ve never seen it,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “And it’s obviously a lot nicer when you get the win, too.”
It was the first time two Oilers scored hat tricks in the same game since a 9-4 victory over the Kings on Dec. 20, 1985. In that game, Jari Kurri had four goals while Paul Coffey had three.
Alex Iafallo struck first for the Kings 2:10 into the game. The Oilers responded with five straight goals. Nugent-Hopkins scored three of them to record his third-career hat trick. He’s the first Oiler to register three goals in a period since Milan Lucic had three in the third in San Jose on April 6, 2017. Zack Kassian scored his career-high 15th goal and Draisaitl also scored.
“Not much you can say about that one,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said after the game. “Coming out in the second and getting those goals, that was obviously positive, but you can’t expect to win many games when you’re down 5-1.”
Los Angeles defenceman Drew Doughty pounded a slapshot home with the Kings on a two-man advantage in the second period. Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Draisaitl came back with goals 2:57 apart to make it 7-2 Oilers.
“We just kept pushing and pushing and putting a lot of pucks on net and didn’t really let them breathe at all,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
Late in the second, the Kings’ Dustin Brown scored on the power play and Carl Grundstrom roofed one during four-on-four play.
Draisaitl one-timed a pass from McDavid past Los Angeles netminder Jack Campbell with 1:31 to go. It was Draisaitl’s first regular-season hat trick. He has 46 goals and 99 points on the season.
“It took me long enough,” Draisaitl said of his hat trick.
“It’s exciting. A couple of beautiful plays by my linemates and it was easy to put those in.”
McDavid set a new career high, reaching 111 points. He’s the first Oiler to have a 110-point season since Mark Messier reached 129 in 1989-90.
“It’s the same thing as this morning — not a big deal,” McDavid said of his new career-high. “Just keep playing.”
“They play at such a high pace and that’s the pace that you want to match,” Oilers rookie Joseph Gambardella said.
“They were good tonight. They came out and they capitalized on their chances.”
Alex Chiasson’s two assists gave him a career-high 36 points.
Nugent-Hopkins became the first Oiler with a first-period hat trick since Taylor Hall against Vancouver on March 30, 2013.
The Oilers (34-34-8) will host Dallas on Thursday night.
–With files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott and Scott Johnston
Watch below: Some videos from Global News’ coverage of the Edmonton Oilers’ 2018-19 season.
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