Brady Tkachuk can become first in NHL history with three straight hat tricks

Eighty-four times since the NHL’s birth in 1917, a player has scored three or more goals in consecutive games. Florida Panthers forward Brady Tkachuk, the 65th and newest player on the list, is bidding to become the first to make it three in a row -- a hat trick of hat tricks.

Tkachuk can make NHL history with three goals on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena against the visiting Seattle Kraken (6 p.m. ET; Prime Video, SCRIPPS, KONG).

The list begins with Cy Denneny, Newsy Lalonde, Joe Malone and Reg Noble in the NHL’s inaugural 1917-18 season. It is capped by Tkachuk, who had three goals and an assist at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, then added three goals at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Eight times, since Denneny with the Ottawa Senators in 1917 through Teemu Selanne with the Winnipeg Jets in 1993, a player has had consecutive hat tricks and then scored twice in a third game, coming one goal short of the three-peat.

Others on the close-but-no-cigar list: Alexander Mogilny, Buffalo Sabres, 1992-93; Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers, 1984; Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins, 1974; Claude Larose, Montreal Canadiens, 1974; Punch Broadbent, Senators, 1922; and Malone, Hamilton Tigers, 1921.

These offensive stars put up gaudy streak numbers, their consecutive hat tricks only part of their stories.

Selanne scored nine goals in a three-game span, with fellow rookie Keith Tkachuk, Brady’s father, scoring a goal in all three of those games. Mogilny had 13 goals over five games; Gretzky, nine in three; Esposito, eight in three; Larose, nine in three; Broadbent, 14 in six; Malone, 16 in six; Denneny, 12 in four.

Selanne came within a whisker of a third consecutive hat track in the Jets’ 5-3 victory against the Oilers in Edmonton on March 4, 1993, scoring his second of the game at 18:08 of the third period for his 56th goal of the season.

In the first period, in alone on Oilers goalie Bill Ranford, he banked a shot off one post that hit the other before the puck skittered away.

“Selanne does everything, if not more,” Keith Tkachuk said after the game. “He’s the one that’s getting us here. The press doesn’t bother me. I just go about my business, play well, and play hard.”

Mogilny came up just short of a fourth hat trick in five games when he whistled a shot over the crossbar of St. Louis Blues goalie Guy Hebert early in the contest on Jan. 3, 1993, a 6-5 overtime win for Buffalo.

“I haven’t been thinking about hat tricks,” he said, having tied former Sabres captain Mike Foligno for the most consecutive games in Buffalo history with a goal, at eight. “I didn’t know Mike had a record like that. I’m not looking at anything or anyone. I’m just trying to get as many (goals) as I can.”

A handful of the NHL’s greatest scoring talents have had multiple consecutive hat tricks through the decades.

Malone, the NHL’s first superstar sniper and the only player to score seven times in a game (Jan. 31, 1920, with the Quebec Bulldogs), turned the trick four times from 1917-22 with the Canadiens and Tigers. Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals (2017-20) and Gretzky (1981-84 with the Oilers) have each scored consecutive hat tricks three times.

Here are the players who’ve hat back-to-back hat tricks a total of twice:

Denneny, Senators (1917-23); Noble, Toronto Arenas (1917-18); Lalonde, Canadiens, (1917-19); Odie Cleghorn, Canadiens (1920-22); Babe Dye, Toronto St. Patricks (1921-22); Aurel Joliat, Canadiens (1924-27); Darryl Sittler, Toronto Maple Leafs (1980); Mike Bossy, New York Islanders (1980-81); Kent Nilsson, Calgary Flames (1981-83); Mario Lemieux, Penguins (1993-95); Alex Kovalev, Pittsburgh Penguins (2001); Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs (2023-24).

Three of the 65 players have had consecutive hat tricks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Doug Bentley (Chicago Black Hawks, 1944), Jari Kurri (Oilers, 1985) and Mikko Rantanen (Dallas Stars, 2025).

And then there are the Stastny brothers – Peter and Anton -- who each had consecutive hat tricks in the same two games.

The brothers, playing for the Quebec Nordiques in their first NHL season after defecting from Czechoslovakia, combined for 28 points over the two games.

On Feb. 20, 1981, at Vancouver, Peter and Anton each had six points (three goals, three assists). Anton assisted on two of Peter’s goals, and Peter assisted on two of Anton’s goals.

Two nights later, at Washington, they each had eight points, Peter getting four goals and four assists while Anton had three goals and five assists. Each assisted on all of the other’s goals.

When Brady Tkachuk had his hat trick on Tuesday, his brother, Matthew, assisted on all three goals.

On Thursday, Brady not only had a second straight hat trick, but a second consecutive natural hat trick, becoming the third player in NHL history to accomplish the feat. The others: Petri Skriko (Nov. 18-21, 1986 with the Canucks) and Denneny (Feb. 21-24, 1923 with the Senators).

On Saturday, he will go for more history and try to become the first player in League history to get a hat trick in three straight games.

“Today was pretty special,” Tkachuk said Thursday. “To do it in front of this crowd, but of course, it’s not just one guy out there. It took a group effort.”

NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price contributed to this report