Colorado Avalanche: Memorable Moments from 2017
Gabriel Landeskog’s Second NHL Hat Trick
I naturally loved Landeskog’s first NHL hat trick, too. However, since Ross and Anthony covered that moment so well, let’s look at Gabriel’s second career hat trick.
A couple seasons ago Landeskog was going through a goal scoring slump. He remarked that he wasn’t worried about it because he tended to “score goals in bunches.” The same must be true of hat tricks because he went through six seasons in the NHL before scoring a single hat trick then proceeded to record a second one exactly one month later.
What’s interesting is that both hat tricks came against a couple of the best teams in the NHL — first the Washington Capitals and then the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately, the second hat trick wasn’t quite as joyous as the first because the Avalanche lost 6-5 at home. Nonetheless, it was a memorable moment.
The first goal came late in the second period after the Avalanche were already down 4-0. Landeskog received a cross-ice pass from Nail Yakupov. He deked Bolts goalie Peter Budaj then backhanded the puck in.
The second tally came after the Lightning had scored again. This time Landeskog redirected a
shot past Budaj. That also happened to mark Gabe’s 300th career point. That move worked so well, that the pair repeated it a couple minutes later on the power play.
As you can see from Landy’s reaction, the team knows a hat trick isn’t as important as still being down by two goals. Landeskog went on to assist on the two other Avs goals, both credited to Nathan MacKinnon.
That hatty came on December 16, meaning its one-month anniversary is coming up next week. The Colorado Avalanche don’t have a game on January 16, but Gabe could score his next hatty a day early during the Anaheim Ducks game…