Stamkos Records Hat Trick, Leads Preds Past Blackhawks in Overtime

Steven Stamkos took another spot in the NHL record book - and then he brought the house down.

The Nashville forward recorded his 14th career hat trick to lead the Predators past the Chicago Blackhawks by a 3-2 final in overtime on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their third consecutive win and a trio of victories against the Hawks to finish out the season series.

The first goal of the night for Stamkos was No. 574 of his career, good enough to pass Mike Bossy for sole possession of 23rd place in NHL history. Stamkos then added goals 575 and 576 for good measure to send the Smashville faithful home happy - and give the Preds a high point entering the final quarter of the campaign.

“The year has been what it is,” Stamkos said. “It's been disappointing, and in a lot of aspects, in terms of what we wanted to accomplish as a team. But to have special moments throughout the season is still, as a player, something you enjoy. It's why you love playing the game. As athletes, you want to win, and you want to help your team win. Tonight was one of those nights, and it felt good.”

“It's always a fun atmosphere here, and we take a lot of pride to play at home ice,” Preds forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “Tonight was a pretty good game. I feel like we dominated most of the game, and I thought it was a good game for us.”

The Predators outshot the Blackhawks by a 16-6 margin in the opening 20 minutes, but neither team found the back of the net. In the second stanza, however, Stamkos took over.

After Chicago took a 1-0 lead off a deflection, Stamkos struck less than a minute later and recorded his first of the night on the power play to take his latest place in the NHL record books. Later in the frame, Ryan O’Reilly found Stamkos in the slot, and No. 91 went top shelf for his second of the evening and the first Nashville lead of the game.

Stamkos appeared to complete a hat trick later in the period, but the goal was waved off due to a high stick on the puck. The Blackhawks suffered a similar fate in the final frame as they had a goal taken back after Nashville won an offside challenge, but Chicago did tie the game late in regulation as Ilya Mikheyev beat Justus Annunen.

But then, in the extra session, after he almost won it again, Stamkos took a slick feed from Fedor Svechkov and one-timed a perfect shot into the twine to complete his best night as a member of the Predators.

“It was an unbelievable performance for him,” Marchessault said of Stamkos. “That's why he’s a special player who came here, and he was doing it the past 16 years and still doing it. So it's all in his honor. And we're definitely lucky to have him. I know how it is sometimes to get through adversity, and you just stick with it, and goal scores will always be goal scores, so good for him.”

“[I’m] happy for him,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of Stamkos. “You know, I've said all year, the effort has always been there. It's been a hard year, and a lot of our veteran guys [felt] expectations that we talked a lot about… The effort was there, and it's nice to see him get rewarded. There hasn't been a whole lot of things that made us feel really good through the course of the season. To see a guy get a hat trick and pass Mike Bossy at home [in an] overtime win, I mean, those are moments in the game that you always remember. I'm really happy for him.”

As for how Stamkos viewed the milestone? After quipping it took him “700 more games” to reach that goal total than Bossy, the veteran forward said he’ll look forward to the day when he can reflect on a moment like that.

“I think when you hit whatever that round number is, it's pretty cool, but it is truly hard to fully embrace it while you're in the middle of it,” Stamkos said. “I think that's something that you gear towards. It motivates you a little bit. But I think when it's all said and done, those are the moments when that day comes and you stop playing hockey, and you look back on it, and you share those memories with your family, with your friends, all the people that have helped you achieve any milestone as a player. I think that's when it kind of hits home the most.”

With less than 20 games to go in the regular season, and the NHL Trade Deadline now in the rearview, the Preds are setting their sights on finishing strong and feeling good about their game. Saturday’s effort was another step in that direction, but on a night like this, there’s even more reason for optimism on what’s ahead.

“We all want to feel good about ourselves, whether that's first and foremost, collecting wins and gearing towards something, trying to create that culture, that atmosphere,” Stamkos said. “It's been a tough year. It is what it is… It's not a position you want to be in, certainly not one that we expected to be in. So, you can use that as motivation too.

“Let's play the year out hard and gear toward whatever is next, and that's all you can do. You've got to go out there and play, whether you want to finish out the season strong individually or to build off something to feel good about in the summer. Collect the wins so you feel a little better about yourself. It's certainly not going to change the disappointment with how the year is gone, but it can help.”

Notes:

Preds forward Jakub Vrana and defenseman Jordan Oesterle both made their Nashville debuts on Saturday night after being claimed on waivers on Thursday. Vrana recorded two shots on goal in 12:12 of ice time; Oesterle has one shot and one blocked shot in 16:27.

Per NHL Stats, Steven Stamkos became the third active player with 100 multi-goal games, joining Alex Ovechkin (178 GP) and Sidney Crosby (103 GP).

Stamkos recorded his 14th career hat trick, passing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and John Tavares (all w/ 13) for sole possession of the third most among active players, behind Alex Ovechkin (32) and David Pastrnak (18).

With their two-game homestand now complete, the Preds will head west to California next week to meet San Jose on Tuesday, followed by dates in Anaheim and Los Angeles as the trip concludes.