Patrik Laine scored three power-play goals to earn his 11th career hat trick on Tuesday, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-1 win over the struggling Buffalo Sabres.
Laine scored his first goal in the first period with a one-timer off a pass from team captain Nick Suzuki, making him the second player in Canadiens history (since 1933-34) to score all of his first four goals with the team on the power play. Mark Recchi was the first to do so in 1994-95.
Laine wasn’t finished, though. In the second period, he scored two more one-timers just 70 seconds apart, beating Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen both times.
Laine’s 11 career hat tricks now rank third among Finnish-born players in NHL history, behind Hall of Famers Jari Kurri (23) and Teemu Selanne (22).
Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist, while Joel Armia and Josh Anderson also scored for Montreal, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Lane Hutson each added two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves for the win.
Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens scored a goal, and Luukkonen gave up six goals on 21 shots before being replaced by James Reimer, who made six saves.
This marked the Sabres’ 11th consecutive loss (0-8-3), following a visit by team owner Terry Pegula the day before in Montreal.
Armia opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game after a puck deflected off an official’s skate. Laine almost scored again shortly after, but a review showed his shot hit the post and bounced back into play, not crossing the line.
Laine finally scored his first goal at 6:26 of the first period. Cozens made it 2-1 at 3:43 of the second period, but Slafkovsky quickly put Montreal back up by two goals just over two minutes later when his shot deflected off Luukkonen into the net.
Laine added two more goals to make it 5-1, and Anderson scored the final goal of the game with 45 seconds remaining in the second period.
