Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak recorded his 17th career hat trick on Tuesday in a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. After scoring two goals in the first period, the seventh-leading scorer in team history finished the Bruins’ 354th hat trick in the third period.
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Thus far in 2023-24, Boston has recorded six hat tricks, including three-goal performances from Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, Danton Heinen, Morgan Geekie, and Pastrnak twice. The franchise maintains a two-hat trick (354-352) lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have recorded nine this season, with Auston Matthews leading the NHL with six.
Unsurprisingly, the Original Six franchises have the most hat tricks in league history: Montreal Canadiens (417), Bruins (354), Maple Leafs (352), Chicago Blackhawks (298), Detroit Red Wings (294), and New York Rangers (293). Considering the legendary names of those who have worn the Spoked B, which players have contributed the most hat tricks to this total?
Note: These rankings reflect hat tricks in the regular season, with bold dates indicating playoff hat tricks.
10. Brad Marchand & Five Others (Six Hat Tricks)
Against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 3, 2023, Bruins captain Marchand collected his sixth career hat trick, achieving the feat with all three consecutive lamplighters in a 3-1 victory. During his second season, 2010-11, he tallied his first career hat trick in an 8-0 win over the Florida Panthers.
Interestingly, it would be six years before Marchand would collect another, in March 2017, against the Vancouver Canucks. Since then, he’s had a three-goal game against the Red Wings (2018), Pittsburgh Penguins (2021), and Canadiens (2022) before his most recent one against Columbus.
When Marchand tallied his latest hat trick, he became the sixth player to record at least six hat tricks in Boston. He joins two Hall of Famers, Dit Clapper (1927-1947) and Adam Oates (1991-1996), along with Barry Pederson (1980-1986, 1991-1992), Wayne Cashman (1964-1983), and Herb Cain (1939-1946).
9. Rick Middleton (Seven Hat Tricks)
Rick Middleton began his career with the Rangers in 1974, scoring over 20 goals in his first two seasons before being traded to the Bruins in 1976. Within a couple of seasons, “Nifty” would become a five-time 40-goal scorer, netting a career-high 51 goals in 1982-82. In 12 seasons with Boston, Middleton scored the fourth-most goals in team history, with 402.
Before relocating to Boston, he had tallied a hat trick with the Rangers and didn’t waste time getting one in a Bruins sweater, scoring three goals in the 1976 season opener (his first game) against the Minnesota North Stars. After that, Middleton added to this total with one against the Atlanta Flames (1979), Washington Capitals (1981), Winnipeg Jets (1982), and Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in 1983. His final hat trick came in 1986 against the Red Wings.
8 Peter McNab (Seven Hat Tricks)
Peter McNab played 14 seasons in the NHL and had his most productive seasons as a member of the Bruins from 1976 to 1984. In 595 games, he netted 263 goals and 587 points, including two 40-goal seasons. When he departed in a trade to the Canucks, he had registered the fourth most hat tricks in team history.
McNab achieved his first career hat trick against the Blackhawks on Nov. 4, 1976, and followed that performance with another one on Dec. 29 against the Canucks. In 1977, he had three goals against the Cleveland Barons and three more in a 1979 contest against the Canucks. McNabb’s final three hat tricks were against teams who would eventually relocate: the Hartford Whalers (1980), North Stars (1980), and Quebec Nordiques (1982).
7. Bill Cowley (Eight Hat Tricks)
Bill Cowley won two Stanley Cup championships with the Bruins in 1939 and 1941. He skated with the franchise for 12 years and held the record for most hat tricks before being surpassed by several Hall of Famers. As a two-time Hart Trophy winner, he averaged a point per game.
Cowley didn’t score a hat trick in his first eight seasons, erupting for three in early 1943 against the Rangers (Jan. 16), Blackhawks (Feb. 2), and Red Wings (Mar. 2). He finished the calendar year with his fourth one against the Maple Leafs (Dec. 21), while collecting two more in the final days of the season against the Rangers (Mar. 4) and Red Wings (Mar. 16). Cowley’s final two hat tricks came in 1945, against the Rangers (Jan. 21) and the Canadiens (Nov. 4).
6. Patrice Bergeron (Eight Hat Tricks)
Patrice Bergeron may have won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward a record six times, but he was no stranger to scoring, racking up the third most points (1,040) in franchise history. In 19 seasons with the Bruins, he had 14 years of 20 or more goals and reached the 30-goal plateau on six occasions.
Besides serving as captain over his final two seasons, Bergeron is one of the few players to record seven or more hat tricks in their Boston career and was just one of six players to have two four-goal games on his resume. Although he debuted in 2003-04, he wouldn’t score a hat trick until 2011 against the Ottawa Senators. Interestingly, he’d wait another seven years before his next one in 2018. Over the final six years of his career, he’d collect seven hat tricks against the Carolina Hurricanes (2018), New York Islanders (2018), Senators (2018), Rangers (2019), Philadelphia Flyers (2021), Red Wings (2021), and the Buffalo Sabres (2022).
5. Bobby Orr (Nine Hat Tricks)
Bobby Orr doesn’t need any introduction to Bruins fans, especially when they walk by his statue to enter TD Garden for home games. As arguably the greatest defenseman in NHL history, it’s no surprise his nine career hat tricks rank as the benchmark for the position. Although Ray Bourque later surpassed his career totals in Boston, he remains the only defender on this list.
Orr was a four-time 30-goal scorer who netted a career-high 46 in 1974-75. He remains the only defender to win the scoring title, achieving the feat twice in 1970 and 1975. On Dec. 12, 1968, he collected his first hat trick against the Blackhawks, then netted his next one in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Apr. 11, 1971, in a series with the Canadiens. Naturally, Orr finished the calendar year (1971) with three goals against the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 14.
Interestingly, Orr didn’t get another hat trick until 1973, adding seven more three-goal games to this resume, including contests against the Maple Leafs (1973), Rangers (1973), Blues (1974), Penguins (1974), Capitals (1974, 1975), and California Golden Seals (1975).
4. Johnny Bucyk (12 Hat Tricks)
Johnny “Chief” Bucyk is one of the most beloved people in the Bruins’ history. He remains the club’s all-time goal scorer with 545 goals. As a two-time Stanley Cup champion, it’s no surprise that his iconic #9 hangs in the rafters at TD Garden and is part of almost every special ceremony. At his retirement, he also owned records of games played, assists, and points.
Surprisingly, despite all his success, Bucyk scored 50 goals once, reached 40 another time, and had five 30-goal seasons. While he played alongside Orr and Phil Esposito, he retired with the second-most hat tricks in Boston history, with 12, achieving the feat in three different decades.
In 1958, Bucyk recorded hat tricks against the Rangers (Jan. 4) and the Blackhawks (Nov. 11). Three years later, on Mar. 2, 1961, he collected his only hat trick of the decade against the Red Wings. During the Bruins championship season in 1970, he scored a playoff hat trick against the Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Between 1971 and 1976, Bucyk had 10 hat tricks, including games against the Flyers (1971), Canucks (1971), Golden Seals (1971, 1974), Blues (1972), Islanders (1973, 1974), Kings (1973, 1976), Blackhawks (1974), and Capitals (1976).
3. Cam Neely (14 Hat Tricks)
Cam Neely is one of the most prolific goal scorers in Bruins history, scoring 344 goals in just 525 games from 1986 to 1996. Unfortunately, the President of Hockey Operations had to retire at 30 after knee injuries derailed his Hall of Fame career. Outside of the injury-ridden seasons between 1991 and 1993, where he played a combined 22 games, Neely never scored less than 20 goals in a campaign, reaching 50 three times.
Although Neely began his career with his hometown Canucks, he never scored a hat trick until Feb. 7, 1987, against the Maple Leafs. Moreover, his second three-goal game came two months later in the playoffs against the Canadiens on Apr. 9. The following season, he bagged hat tricks against the Sabres (Jan. 16), Canadiens (Feb. 4), and Maple Leafs (Mar. 3). His final hat trick of the decade occurred on Oct. 16, 1988, against the Blackhawks.
In arguably the best career stretch, from 1990 to 1995, Neely netted 11 hat tricks, including two in the postseason, racking up three-goal games against the Nordiques (1990), Kings (1991), Blackhawks (1991), Whalers (1991), Canadiens (1991), Calgary Flames (1993), Capitals (1994), New Jersey Devils (1994), Flyers (1995), Rangers (1995), and Islanders (1995).
2. David Pastrnak (17 Hat Tricks)
As mentioned, Pastrnak earned his 17th career hat trick in a recent win over the Senators. Since debuting with the Bruins as an 18-year-old in 2014-15, he’s rocketed up the franchise’s goal-scoring list, where he currently ranks seventh with 345 lamplighters. Considering he has seven years left on his contract and has a career goals-per-game average of 0.52, he should be able to track down Bucyk’s record of 545 in the next four to five seasons.
Pastrnak is the second skater in Boston history to net over 60 goals in a season. Thanks to two hat tricks in 2023-24, he is slowly climbing this list and is within nine of tying the club record held by Espositio. Like so many iconic names on this list, Pastrnak waited a few seasons before scoring his first hat trick against the Hurricanes on Mar. 13, 2018. He then collected another one that season during the playoffs against the Maple Leafs on Apr. 14.
Since those first two three-goal games, Pastrnak ranks second in the NHL among active skaters with 17 hat tricks, behind only Alex Ovechkin, who has 30. His resume is littered with hat tricks against the Red Wings (2018), Maple Leafs (2018), Rangers (2019), Anaheim Ducks (2019, 2023), Canadiens (2019, 2020), Jets (2020), Flyers (2021, 2021, 2022, 2023), Islanders (2021), Tampa Bay Lightning (2022), Penguins (2023), Colorado Avalanche (2024), and Senators (2024).
1. Phil Esposito (26 Hat Tricks)
Esposito may be the most dominant forward to wear the Black and Gold, scoring a remarkable 1,012 points in 625 games from 1967 to 1976, winning five Art Ross trophies, two Hart Trophies, and two Stanley Cup titles. Along with Orr and Bucyk, the Bruins ran over the competition in the early 1970s, the team’s most successful era. Historically, Esposito became the first player to score 100 points in a season (1968-69) and was only the second player to score over 700 goals when he retired in 1981.
Esposito tallied 36 hat tricks in his career, and as of 2024, he remains the Bruins’ all-time leader with 26 regular-season hat tricks. After his stint in Boston, which included four playoff three-goal games, he finished his career in New York, where he collected six more hat tricks.
Unsurprisingly, Esposito collected his first Bruins hat trick in only his second game on Oct. 15, 1967, against the Canadiens. The list of teams he victimized for hat tricks during his nine-year run with the Bruins is impressive, including the Blackhawks (1967, 1970, 1970, 1974, 1975), Maple Leafs (1968, 1969, 1973, 1974), Penguins (1968, 1970, 1971), Oakland Seals (1970), Rangers (1970, 1973), Kings (1970, 1971), Red Wings (1970, 1975), Canadiens (1971), Flyers (1972, 1972), Canucks (1972, 1973, 1973, 1975), North Stars (1972, 1974), and Sabres (1973).
Further Perspective
The Bruins have won six Stanley Cup championships, which is tied with the Blackhawks for the most by any franchise in NHL history, behind the Canadiens (24), Maple Leafs (13), and Red Wings (11). Moreover, Boston has compiled a 3,398-2,455-791-216 record, making them the second-most winningest team ever.
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Thanks to countless Hall of Fame players who had magical seasons while wearing the Spoked B sweater, the Bruins are one of the elite franchises in professional hockey. That is why they have collected the second-most hat tricks, with 354. Considering only the Maple Leafs have more than 300 hat tricks in their history, no one else will catch up to the Boston anytime soon, thanks to the career totals of the guys on this list.
