Anaheim Ducks left winger Frank Vatrano of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts made Anaheim Ducks franchise history on Sunday. He became the first Ducks player ever to register a hat trick in Anaheim’s regular season home opener according to Root Sports and kuklaskorner.com. Vatrano accomplished the feat in a 6-3 Ducks win over the Carolina Hurricanes for his fourth career NHL hat trick.
Inside look at the Hat Trick
Vatrano opened the scoring at 8:31 of the first period from defenseman Jamie Drysdale of Toronto, Ontario and Cam Fowler of Windsor, Ontario. At the time, the Ducks went up 2-0. Vatrano then scored his second goal at 16:44 of the second period from Ryan Strome of Mississauga, Ontario and Mason McTavish of Carp, Ontario. Vatrano’s second goal was also the game-winning goal and put the Ducks up 4-1. Vatrano then closed out the scoring with an empty net goal with 19 seconds left in the third period from McTavish.
Vatrano was one of four Ducks players with a multi-point game. Cam Fowler had one goal and one assist for two points, while Ryan Strome of Mississauga, Ontario and McTavish had two assists each. The other two Ducks players who scored were Sam Carrick of Markham, Ontario, and Pavel Mintyukov of Moscow, Russia.
Vatrano’s prior hat tricks
Vatrano’s first NHL hat trick came with the Boston Bruins on December 18, 2015. It came in a 6-2 Bruins win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Vatrano scored thrice in a 4-3 Florida Panthers win over the Chicago Blackhawks on January 21, 2020 and then in a 5-3 Ducks win over the Colorado Avalanche on January 26, 2023. This was Vatrano’s first hat trick at home.
Vatrano’s 2023-24 NHL statistics
In two games, Vatrano has three goals and zero assists for three points. He is a +3 with four penalty minutes, one game-winning goal, eight shots on goal, four blocked shots, three hits, and two takeaways. The Ducks won their first game of the season after losing their season opener 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
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