The Edmonton Oilers are having fun re-writing the record books lately.
Funny thing is, it’s the defensemen doing it, not Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. First, we were treated to Evan Bouchard’s six-point, hat-trick performance on Saturday, which is a hard act to follow. However, the Oilers managed to have another historic performance on Monday against the Anaheim Ducks. Not to be outdone by his defense partner, Mattias Ekholm decided it was his turn to make the headlines.
Ekholm (35) registered three goals of his own in the Oilers 7-4 victory. For the first time in NHL history, a team went consecutive games with a defenseman scoring a hat trick. Just as it was Bouchard’s first hat-trick on Saturday, Ekholm’s hat-trick on Monday was also his first in the NHL. Ekholm told reporters after the game that his family took in the team warmups and watched the first period before heading back home to go to bed. Unfortunately, this means they missed all the goals that he scored en route to his hat trick. However, he knows they’ll watch the highlights.
Bouchard, who tends to be pretty tame with his celebrations, was probably the most excited player in Rogers Place when Ekholm scored his third goal to secure the hat trick. Over the past couple of seasons, Ekholm and Bouchard have been nearly inseparable.
Oilers Broke Another Record on Monday
The Oilers broke another record in the victory on Monday. During the second period, Edmonton notched four goals by defensemen in just 3:49. Ekholm notched two of those, while Spencer Stastney and Darnell Nurse registered the other two.
Before this weekend, you’d have to go back 20 years (January 14th, 2006) to find the last time an Oilers defenseman (Marc-Andre Bergeron) scored a hat trick. Now, the club has two in the span of three days. The Oilers are having fun right now, that’s for sure.
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