Another night, another hat trick

With the recent run of three-goal games by NHL players, seeing hats rain onto the ice at arenas across the League has become all but commonplace; a nightly occurrence.
Sock penguins, well, that's a different story.
Credit fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins for mixing things up Monday when forward Patric Hornqvist had his first NHL hat trick, one of two on a six-game night, in a 6-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes.

Hornqvist scored his third of the night off an Evgeni Malkin feed for a power-play goal at 11:06 of the second period, and no sooner had he deposited the puck past Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue that the Consol Energy Center playing surface was littered with the giveaways fans had received upon entering the building.
Or, as Penguins TV play-by-play announcer Paul Steigerwald put it, "Here come the sock penguins!"
On the other side of Pennsylvania, forward Brayden Schenn of the Philadelphia Flyers was putting together a career night of his own in a 5-3 win against the Calgary Flames. Schenn scored twice in a 3:04 span late in the second period to complete the first hat trick of his NHL career and the seventh in the NHL in as many nights.
You could say Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg is becoming a natural when it comes to the art of scoring in threes. The NHL First Star of the past week started the run of hat tricks Feb. 23 against the Toronto Maple Leafs when he scored three straight goals to open the game.

Forsberg became the fifth Nashville player with a natural hat trick, and it took him four days to repeat the feat. Forsberg scored three goals in less than 15 minutes in the second period Saturday against the St. Louis Blues; according to the Elias Sports Bureau he became the first player in almost 30 years with two natural hat tricks in a span of three or fewer games, after Petri Skriko of the Vancouver Canucks did it Nov. 18 and Nov. 21, 1986.
In between Forsberg's hat tricks, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno had the second of his NHL career Feb. 25 against the New Jersey Devils, part of a career-best four-point game.
And thanks to Ottawa Senators forward Mika Zibanejad, Forsberg's second natural hat trick wasn't even the most impressive three-goal game of the night. Zibanejad needed two minutes, 38 seconds to score three times against the Flames on Saturday, turning a 4-2 deficit for the Senators into a 5-4 lead. Zibanejad's goals were the fastest in Senators history, obliterating the 7:05 of Marian Hossa.
Not to be outdone, Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks had his ninth NHL hat trick Sunday against the Los Angeles Kings, moving him past Paul Kariya into second on the Ducks list, trailing the 13 by Teemu Selanne.
The hat tricks Monday by Hornqvist and Schenn made it five in three nights and seven in seven around the League.
It's hardly the first time this season the NHL has gone hat trick crazy; in January, there was a run of four rookie hat tricks, including three in four days.
Sam Reinhart of the Buffalo Sabres kicked it off Jan. 10 against the Winnipeg Jets. Max Domi of the Coyotes did it against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 12. Then Sam Bennett of the Flames had perhaps the most dominant performance by a first-year player this season when he scored four goals Jan. 13 against the Florida Panthers.
Nikolaj Ehlers of the Jets capped the exciting month for first-year players when he became the second Jets player with a hat trick as a teenager Jan. 26 against the Coyotes. Ehlers turned 20 on Feb. 14; Reinhart and Domi each turned 20 in the past year; Bennett won't turn 20 until June 20.

DID YOU KNOW?
There have been seven hat tricks in the NHL in the past seven days:
Brayden Schenn (PHI) on Feb. 29 vs. CGY
Patric Hornqvist (PIT) on Feb. 29 vs. ARI
Corey Perry (ANA) on Feb. 28 vs. LAK
Mika Zibanejad (OTT) on Feb. 27 at CGY
Filip Forsberg (NSH) on Feb. 27 vs. STL
Nick Foligno (CBJ) on Feb. 25 vs. NJD
Filip Forsberg (NSH) on Feb. 23 at TOR