Dustin Brown Recalls His First Career Hat Trick 10 Years Ago

Dustin Brown doesn't remember much about his first career NHL hat trick. Ten years ago, in a home contest against the St. Louis Blues, the Kings forward recorded a three-goal performance for the first time in 297 career NHL games.
Although he doesn't recall much from that matchup, what does stick out for Brown was, of course, the third goal.
"I think my third goal went off my shin pad. I was standing in front of the net in the third and it went off my shin pad. That's the only thing I remember about that hat trick," Brown recently reminisced.

After scoring two power play goals in the second period, Brown completed the hat trick more than halfway through the final frame.
Following the game, Brown told reporters that he remembered games where he reached the two-goal mark, but couldn't quite complete the hat trick despite seemingly having more than ample opportunity.
But on December 11, 2008, after nine multi-goal performances that all came just shy of a hat trick, it finally went Brown's way.

Despite accomplishing an important career milestone, Brown didn't get too sentimental about it. He's confident the Kings gave him the third puck as a keepsake, but he didn't commemorate it in any way. "I'm not much for memorabilia, especially my own memorabilia," he explained.
Brown still has the pucks from that night and other notable goals, but they're just not prominently displayed. While they may not adorn the family mantle, they're still being put to good use.
"It's like my other hat tricks' pucks, this year or in past years, I think the pucks are just sitting in the garage and the kids are shooting with them," he noted.
Since notching his first hat trick a decade ago, Brown has recorded four more with the Kings. In each of those performances, special teams always played an important factor. "I'd have to look back, but I think I've scored on the power play in each of those games I've had hat tricks," he surmised.

While Brown might not be sentimental about those efforts, he's got his facts straight. On April 1, 2010, playing against the Canucks, Brown's second career hat trick was punctuated by a power play goal.
Two years later, in a matchup against the Blackhawks, Brown's third hat trick included two goals on the power play, with the third on the penalty kill. More than five years later, Brown turned in a four-goal performance that featured another power play goal and the game-winning goal in overtime.
Plus, in his most recent hat trick earlier this season in a game against Edmonton, he once again capitalized on a power play opportunity.

"I'm not a natural goal scorer, so a couple of my hat tricks, one goes off the shin pad and I got pushed across the line, so it's a little different than when [Patrik] Laine probably scores five and they're all legit goal-scoring goals. I just go around the net and if it goes the right way, sometimes I can find three in a game," he added.
With one hat trick already under his belt this season, Brown is now just one more away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the sixth-most in Kings history. Brown, who is playing in his 15th season in the NHL, never thought he would be chasing down a benchmark set by the Great One.
Despite the illustrious company he could soon be keeping, Brown just chalks it up to endurance. "Any record I break now is just because of longevity," he says.

The real challenge for Brown, however, would be to score nine more hat tricks in order to match Luc Robitaille for the second most in franchise history. Does Brown think that's in the cards?
"Probably not, no. Hat tricks are hard to come by and I've got five in my career, but it would be nice if I could get nine more, that means we'd be scoring more goals around here."