A Gordie Howe hat trick from one player is impressive enough. Now consider two Philadelphia Flyers accomplished the feat Thursday night – in the same period.
Flyers wingers Dale Weise and Wayne Simmonds both recorded a goal, an assist and a fight in the first period against the New York Islanders.
Not surprisingly, the Flyers skated off the ice with a 5-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Weise earned his Mr. Hockey distinction first by netting Philadelphia’s opening goal, his eighth of the season, at 4:30. He assisted on a Radko Gudas tally less than four minutes later and dropped his mitts to engage with Islanders defenceman Travis Hamonic just past the halfway mark of the frame. Hamonic did not return to the game in the second period and the Islanders announced he’s done for the night with an upper-body injury.
Simmonds, on the other hand, got his scrap out of the way early. It only took him seven seconds to fight Anders Lee.
After serving his punishment, Simmonds set up Jordan Weal at 9:19 before scoring his 30th of the season on the power play at 15:42.
As impressive as Weise and Simmonds’s showings were, they have a long way to go to catch the current Gordie Howe hat trick king.
Los Angeles Kings winger Jarome Iginla pulled off the 11th of his Hall-of-Fame career in 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.
Iginla had an epic tilt with Flames defenceman Deryk Engelland, scored his 100th game-winning goal and set up an insurance marker by Jeff Carter. Not bad for the longtime Flames captain, who may have been playing his final game in Calgary.
Active "Gordie Howe Hat Tricks":
J. Iginla – 11
Z. Chara – 5
C. Neil – 4
J. Thornton – 4
Ja. Benn – 4
B. Dubinsky – 4
C. Stewart – 4— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 30, 2017
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