In National Hockey League action on Thursday, two Swedes recorded hat tricks. Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog of Stockholm, Sweden scored thrice in a 7-1 Colorado win over the Winnipeg Jets, as did Arizona Coyotes forward Johan Larsson of Lau, Sweden in a 6-4 Arizona win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
For Landeskog it was his fourth career NHL hat trick. He previously scored three goals in one game in a 6-2 Colorado win over the Washington Capitals on November 16, 2017, in a 6-5 Colorado loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 16, 2017, and in a 5-3 Colorado win over the New Jersey Devils on October 18, 2018.
In the Avalanche win over the Jets Thursday, Landeskog scored the game winning goal at 5:20 of the second period from Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon. That was followed by an even strength goal at 15:21 of the second period from MacKinnon and Devon Toews to put Colorado up 4-1, and another power play goal with 2:50 left in the third period from Rantanen and MacKinnon to put the Avalanche up 6-1.
On the season, Landeskog now has 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 25 games. He is a +15 with 49 penalty minutes, 10 power-play points, two game-winning goals, 71 shots on goal, 142 faceoff wins, 20 blocked shots, 46 hits, eight takeaways, and 10 giveaways.
Meanwhile, the hat trick for Larsson was extremely unexpected because it was his first three goals of the season and his first hat trick of his NHL career. Larsson initially put the Coyotes up 2-0 on a goal from Janis Moser and Shayne Gostisbehere with 54 seconds left in the first period to put the Coyotes up 2-0. He then scored the game-winning goal at 4:01 of the third period from Travis Boyd and Phil Kessel on the power play to put the Coyotes up 5-2. Larsson’s hat trick goal came with 29 seconds left into an empty net from Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse.
On the season, Larsson now has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 20 games. He is a -1 with 22 penalty minutes, two power-play points, one game-winning goal, 18 shots on goal, 134 faceoff wins, 11 blocked shots, 39 hits, 10 takeaways and six giveaways.
The Avalanche and Coyotes have had opposite seasons in the Central Division. Colorado is in third place with 42 points and Arizona is in last place with 17 points.
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