Slafkovsky makes Canadiens history with Game 1 hat trick

MONTREAL – Power forward Juraj Slafkovsky has punctuated Montreal Canadiens games all season with his strength, locomotive drive to the net and his superb finish, scoring 30 goals for the first time in his four-year NHL career.

On Sunday, that punctuation was a bold exclamation mark.

Slafkovsky became the first Canadiens player in history to score three power-play goals in a Stanley Cup Playoff game, his clincher at 1:22 of overtime giving his team a 4-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Tuesday at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa (7 p.m. ET, The Spot, ESPN2, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Juraj Slafkovsky with the pucks of his first career hat trick scored April 9, 2024 at Montreal’s Bell Centre in the Canadiens’ 9-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

It was Slafkovsky’s second career hat trick, his first having come April 9, 2024 in a 9-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The 22-year-old native of Kosice, Slovakia became the 12th different NHL player to score a postseason power-play hat trick, a feat first accomplished by Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, against the Canadiens, on March 23, 1939. Detroit’s Dino Ciccarelli did so twice, in 1993 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and in 1995 against the Dallas Stars.

The NHL’s most successful franchise with 24 Stanley Cup championships, the Canadiens have had 12 different players score three or more power-play goals in a regular-season game but until Slafkovsky never in the playoffs.

Bernie Geoffrion was the most prolific, with four on the power play against the New York Rangers on Feb. 19, 1955.

Canadiens center Jean Beliveau displays pucks representing his four goals scored Nov. 5, 1955, at the Montreal Forum against the Boston Bruins, pictured with linemate Bert Olmstead, who assisted on all four. Beliveau scored three goals on the same power-play in a 44-second span, prompting the NHL to rewrite its rulebook.

Fittingly, Maurice “Rocket” Richard was first on Feb. 3, 1951, against the Boston Bruins. Yvan Cournoyer had two man-advantage hat tricks, in 1966 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and in 1975 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Three more Hall of Famers are on the list: Jean Beliveau (1955), Guy Lafleur (1982) and Larry Robinson (1985).

Beliveau’s production on Nov. 5, 1955 against the Bruins even rewrote the NHL rule book, the Canadiens headed that season to the first of their unequalled five consecutive championships.

Until then, a penalized player served his entire two minutes; Beliveau scored three power-play goals on Bruins goalie Terry Sawchuk in a 44-second span (adding a fourth that night at even strength), five of six NHL governors -- not the Canadiens, naturally -- deciding after the 1955-56 season that a goal scored with a man-advantage would immediately return the opponent to full strength.

Canadiens forward Gerry Plamondon in a 1949 portrait, and a story reporting his Stanley Cup semifinal hat trick scored March 24, 1949 against the Red Wings in Detroit.

Slafkovsky joined two other Canadiens on the all-time franchise list of players who completed a playoff hat trick in overtime.

Gerry Plamondon, a 23-year-old rookie who’d bounced up and down from the Quebec Senior League’s Montreal Royals for a couple of seasons, had the greatest game of his life on March 24, 1949, scoring three times in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinal against the Red Wings, the Canadiens’ 4-3 win ending with his winner at 2:59 of overtime at Olympia Stadium.

Plamondon had played 27 regular-season games that season, scoring five goals. With one goal to show for his five career playoff games, he solved Detroit goalie Harry Lumley with what would be the only hat trick in his 85-game Canadiens career (11 in the playoffs), assisting on linemate Billy Reay’s other Montreal goal.

The Red Wings ultimately would prevail in a 7-game series, then fall in four straight to Toronto in the Final.

Canadiens defenseman Eric Desjardins and a report on his hat trick scored in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings.

More famous was the night in which Canadiens defenseman Eric Desjardins completed his hat trick in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings.

Down 1-0 in the series, the Kings having scored an easy 4-1 Game 1 win at the Montreal Forum, the Canadiens trailed 2-1 late in the Game 2, a sense of doom settled over the home crowd.

It was then, at 18:15 of the third period, that Canadiens coach Jacques Demers requested a measurement of the stick blade of Kings forward Marty McSorley. Gauged by referee Kerry Fraser to be illegally curved, the stick was confiscated and McSorley was sent to the penalty box; the Canadiens were using six skaters with goalie Patrick Roy on the bench when Desjardins tied the game at 18:57.

The defenseman would complete his hat trick 51 seconds into overtime, tying the series 1-1. The Canadiens would roll to three straight victories to win their 24th and most recent Stanley Cup.

A report on Marty McSorley’s illegal stick that played a part in Canadiens defenseman Eric Desjardins’ second goal of his hat trick in Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings.

It was the only hat trick of Desjardins’ career, 1,143 games in the regular season, another 168 in the playoffs.

“You don’t even dream about something like this,” said Desjardins, who to this day is the only NHL defenseman to score a hat trick in a Stanley Cup Final game. “But the fact I scored three doesn’t compare with winning the game.”

Said Kings captain Wayne Gretzky: “We gave them life and now we have to take it back. But I don’t think they’ve seen anything like the L.A. Forum. It’ll be rocking. We’re going home at 1-1 and this will be a test of our character, but I think we’ll be fine.”

The Canadiens were unimpressed. They won Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, their ninth and 10thconsecutive overtime victories of the playoffs, then returned home to win 4-1 in Game 5, clinching the championship. The Stanley Cup would be presented to captain Guy Carbonneau on Forum ice by new NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Juraj Slafkovsky poses for a portrait after being selected first overall by the Canadiens during the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre in Montreal on July 7, 2022.

The Canadiens’ Game 1 win against the Lightning has dialed up the excitement a few more notches in Montreal, cranked the noise up plenty of decibels. Games 3 and 4 will light up Bell Centre on Friday and Sunday, the city and its fan base joyfully riding this wave.

The last time the Lightning saw postseason action in Montreal was July 5, 2021, Tampa Bay on its way to a five-game Stanley Cup championship. A year and two days later, the Canadiens would make Slafkovsky the No. 1 selection in the 2022 NHL draft.

Facing elimination that 2021 night, the Canadiens forced one more game with a 3-2 overtime win, COVID-19 restrictions limiting Bell Centre attendance to 3,500.

Both teams, and a power forward who dominated Game 1 on Sunday, can expect a much different building next weekend.

Top photo: Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky (l.) celebrates one of his three goals with linemate Cole Caufield in Game 1 of Montreal’s 4-3 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.