John Carlson always wanted a hat trick. The Ducks defenseman finally got one in his 17th NHL season
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — John Carlson played 1,156 regular-season games and 137 more Stanley Cup playoff contests in his 17 NHL seasons before he finally got his first hat trick. The steady defenseman would never list a three-goal game as a true aspiration, but Carlson was still thrilled to do it Thursday night — particularly because it came in a vital victory for his new team's playoff aspirations.
The 36-year-old Carlson said he literally couldn't remember his last pre-NHL hat trick after he fired three goals past the San Jose Sharks during the Ducks' 6-1 win , which snapped a six-game losing streak and greatly improved Anaheim's chances of ending its seven-year postseason drought. “I’ve seen a lot (of hat tricks) in my day, and always was a little bit jealous,” Carlson said with a grin. Indeed, Carlson witnessed plenty of multigoal barrages during his long tenure with the Washington Capitals.
That'll happen when you play nearly 17 seasons alongside the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history: Alex Ovechkin has 34 career hat tricks, including 26 since Carlson's debut with the Caps as a teenager in late 2009. But Carlson has been a steady contributor on both ends of the ice throughout his NHL career, and he had been a major factor for his new team in Anaheim even before his third goal sealed a big win. His shot sent a shower of hats onto the Honda Center ice with 5:57 to play in celebration of only the fourth hat trick by a defenseman in Ducks history, and the first since 2018.
“It was great,” Carlson said. “I’ve obviously always wanted one. I think it was a good game to do it in, a home game.
The crowd was great tonight from puck drop, and I think we just kept feeding on that and played a really good game. ” Carlson became the third defenseman in NHL history to record a hat trick after his 36th birthday, joining Mathieu Schneider and Nicklas Lidstrom, who was 40 years old when he accomplished the feat on Dec. 15, 2010.