Tage Thompson records fourth career NHL hat trick

Tage Thompson of Phoenix, Arizona is having a spectacular 2022-23 National Hockey League regular season. On Tuesday, the Buffalo Sabres center had three goals and one assist for four points in a 5-4 overtime win over the Washington Capitals.

How Thompson recorded his hat trick

Thompson scored his first goal of the game by putting the Sabres up 2-1 at 17:29 of the first period from Rasmus Dahlin of Lidkoping, Sweden, and Dylan Cozens of Whitehorse, Yukon.  He then scored from Alex Tuch of Syracuse, New York and Ilya Lyubushkin of Moscow, Russia at 5:50 of the second period to put the Sabres up 3-1. Then in overtime, Thompson scored from Tuch at exactly the three minute mark of the extra period. The overtime winner was quite interesting because heading into the extra period Thompson and Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals had two goals each. For Thompson it was a career-high fifth game-winning goal of the season. Thompson also registered an assist on a goal by Tuch to open the scoring at 10:48 of the first period.

Thompson’s Three Prior Hat Tricks

Thompson’s first NHL  hat trick came on February 19, 2022, in a 5-3 Sabres loss to the Colorado Avalanche. It was a rare hat trick where he scored all of Buffalo’s goals and it was not enough. Thompson then had a hat trick on Halloween this season in an 8-3 Sabres win over the Detroit Red Wings, and then a five goal game in a 9-4 Sabres win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 7. That is the most number of goals scored by a player this season.

2022-23 NHL Statistics

In 2022-23, Thompson has 30 goals and 25 assists for 55 points. He was a +14 with 18 penalty minutes, 23 power-play points, one shorthanded point, 158 shots on goal, 187 faceoff wins, 10 blocked shots, 18 faceoff wins, 21 takeaways and 18 giveaways. The shorthanded point was a shorthanded goal and came in a 3-1 Sabres loss to the Boston Bruins on November 12. Thompson’s 30 goals are second most in the NHL this season. Only Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers has more goals with 33.