Nathan MacKinnon Hat Trick: The Hats

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon earned his first NHL hat trick in the 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. One of the goals came in the first period with the other two coming in the second.

NHL.com released a tweet at the time about the feat:

Watch @Mackinnon9's first career hat trick.

Then remember that the @Avalanche still have a period to play.https://t.co/S4FxubpWtv
— NHL (@NHL) February 23, 2015

All three goals were different. The first was a backhand shot that MacKinnon told Altitude TV he went for because he didn’t think he’d make the corner. The third was a beauty, a wrist shot MacKinnon completed with one leg floating in the air.

MacKinnon had the most to say about the second, a tip-in that originated with a Ryan O’Reilly shot:

"“I don’t think Factor was going for the tip-in, so I may have stolen the goal from him. I asked Factor if the puck was already going in. He said he didn’t know, but I tipped it anyway.”"

Interestingly, both his linemates, captain Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O’Reilly, talked about getting the puck to MacKinnon to facilitate a hat trick after his second tally. Normally that’s considered a jinx, but it didn’t turn out that way last night.

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According to the Avalanche website, the Nathan MacKinnon hat trick yielded 184 hats from the ice. Of those, 119 were the standard baseball caps — that’s all that used to get thrown in the day. However, fans at the Pepsi Center also threw 63 beanies, a visor and a babushka onto the ice in celebration. (I don’t know how or why the babushka ended up on the ice.)

The hats were mostly for the Avalanche — 107, to be exact. Of those, 69 were baseball caps and 38 were beanies. Judging by the picture below, the visor was also Avs related. Otherwise, fans threw five Quebec Nordiques caps, five military, five college, two Nuggets and one Rockies. Two fans also threw Tampa Bay Lightning caps.

For the beanies, 38 were Avalanche, 20 plain, three Nordiques and two Broncos.No word on the babushka affiliation.

One of the caps a fan threw had numerous autographs all over.

When Altitude asked if MacKinnon was going to select a hat or two to keep as mementos, he said he would not. He’s kept a stick from winning the Memorial Cup in major juniors — the last time he had a hat trick. However, he didn’t think a hat was the correct keepsake. He added:

"“It was just great to get the hat trick. It wouldn’t have been meaningless if we hadn’t won, but we did.”"

The hats are getting donated to charity.

Both Matt Duchene, the last Avalanche player to score a hat trick, and Gabriel Landeskog expressed admiration for MacKinnon’s feat.

Too bad they didn’t have hats to throw on the ice.

Next: MacKinnon's First Hat Trick

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