Saturday, March 3, 2012

Top 10 Video Special - Devils hat tricks since the lockout

On Friday, Zach Parise scored his second career NHL hat trick as the Devils slammed the Capitals, 5-0.  By my count, that's the 9th hat trick by a Devil since the 2004-05 lockout, which is one short of the necessary 10 for a DGA Top 10 Video Special, so I chose not to do one.


...


Just kidding.  Actually, I cheated.  Thanks to Gordie Howe, there's another kind of hat trick: the Gordie Howe hat trick.  I used the two Gordie Howe hat tricks this season and added the other 9 Devils hat tricks since the lockout (which is actually 11 videos), and here we go: the 17th Top 10 Video Special in the series.  Enjoy (also enjoy my attempts at awful titles for some of the hat tricks).


#10: Henrique and Kovy score, assist and scrap

On January 10th, 2012, the Devils played a miserable game in Calgary.  They lost 6-3, but at least Adam Henrique had a coming out party...of sorts.



On February 4th, 2012, Ilya Kovalchuk duplicated the feat, except Kovy's fight was much more dramatic.




#9: Maddog Rags on New York

This is the lone playoff hat trick of the countdown.  It comes against the New York Rangers, as the Devils went on to sweep the Rangers and capped off their 15-game winning streak.






#8: Gio's lone trick caps crazy game with the Leafs

Unfortunately, video footage of Brian Gionta's third goal of the hat trick exists, but he made it count, as he tied the game at 6.  The Devils won, 7-6 in overtime.




#7: Pando scores three...in one game!

Jay Pandolfo scores the first hat trick in Prudential Center history.  It's his only career hat trick and it came in a 6-1 win over Tampa Bay.  It came on Halloween, 2007.




#6: It's all natural for Zach Parise

Zach Parise's first hat trick came naturally to him...literally.  He scored the first three goals of the game against the Montreal Canadiens.




#5: A little hubris from Zubrus

As if scoring three goals in a game wasn't enough, Dainius Zubrus went and scored 4 in a Devils' 7-3 win in Tampa Bay.




#4: The Captain is welcomed home

The captain of the Devils went into Minnesota and scored a hat trick in front of his hometown fans.  No, not Parise, Minnesota-native Jamie Langenbrunner scored his first NHL hat trick in front of friends and family.




#3: Elias' hat trick Phils the net

Patrik Elias has the most hat tricks in Devils history (he now has 8), but until April 1st, 2011, he hadn't had one since the lockout.  Luckily, Brian Boucher is a terrible goaltender, so that helped Elias finally get another hat trick.




#2: Triple puck luck for Kovalchuk!

Ilya Kovalchuk seemed to be a hat trick wizard in Atlanta, but until February 14th, 2012, he hadn't been able to pull one off as a Devil.  Unlike Boucher, Ryan Miller is a good goaltender, but that doesn't really matter.




#1: Another Zach Trick

Zach Parise recorded his second career NHL hat trick last night (March 2nd, 2012) in a 5-0 Devils win in D.C.




I hope you enjoyed the 17th edition of Top 10 Video Special.  Hopefully, another Devil will net a hat trick and I won't have to cheat to reach 10.