Joonas Donskoi notches first career hat trick

Joonas Donskoi of Raahe, Finland recorded his first National Hockey League hat trick on Thursday. Donskoi’s Colorado Avalanche squad scored often as they plummeted nine goals on the regularly defensive savvy Nashville Predators in a 9-4 win at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO.

Donskoi scored his first goal of the game at 5:26 of the second period from Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Calvert. At the time, Donskoi tied the score at three goals apiece.

Then at 13:26 of the second period, Donskoi scored again to put Colorado 8-3. This time he scored from Erik Johnson of Bloomington, MN and MacKinnon. Interestingly, the Avalanche scored five straight goals in the second period in an offensive barrage, and Donskoi scored the first and fifth goals for Colorado in that impressive streak.

Then in the third period, Donskoi notched the hat trick from T.J. Tynan of Orland Park, IL and Andre Burakovsky at 17:53 with a power play marker. The goal closed out the scoring and put Colorado up 9-4.

Eight Avalanche players had a multi-point game in the win. MacKinnon led Colorado in scoring with four points (one goal and three assists). Four Avalanche players had three points. In addition to Donskoi’s hat trick, Cale Makar, Burakovsky and Ryan Graves each had one goal and two assists.

Three more Avalanche players had two points. Matthew Nieto of Long Beach, CA and Matt Calvert each had one goal and one assist, while Johnson had two assists.

This is Donskoi’s first season with the Avalanche after four seasons with the San Jose Sharks. On July 1, Donskoi signed a four year deal worth $15.6 million.

In 16 games with the Avalanche this season, Donskoi has eight goals and three assists for 11 points. He is a -2 with six penalty minutes, three power play points, 29 shots on goal, three faceoff wins, eight blocked shots, two hits, eight takeaways and three giveaways.

The Avalanche and Predators are tied for second place in the Central Division. They have identical records of nine wins, five losses and two losses in extra time for 20 points.