What is Natural Hat-trick in NHL? All you need to know (2024)

The NHL has many terms and one of them is Natural Hat trick. Let’s learn what this hat trick means and know all you need to know.

What is Natural Hat-trick in NHL? All you need to know (Credit - Getty Images)

In a hockey game, three goals is known as a hat trick. With the exception of a shootout, goals can be scored in any manner, including overtime, ordinary play, and penalty shots. You now understand what a hat trick is, if you didn't already. See this blog article to see why they refer to it as a hat trick. However, you arrived here because you stumbled across the word "natural hat trick," which is more precise.

What is a Natural Hat-trick?

When a player scores three goals in a row in a game without assistance from a teammate or opponent, it's known as a natural hat trick. The accomplishment is acknowledged whether the goals were achieved in a single frame or over several, with the exception of shootout goals. Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks established the NHL record for the fastest hat trick in 21 seconds during the 1951–52 season.

On March 23, 1952, Mosienko scored a hat trick at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. Lorne Anderson of the Rangers, who gave up all three goals in the third period, was his victim.

There have been many hat-tricks but not many natural hat-trick

During the regular season, 338 hat tricks were reported, 46 of which were natural hat tricks. That's an average of nine or more natural hat tricks every season.

This statistic isn't even included on the NHL website. To their credit, however, they include information on players who net three or more goals in a match.

Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks established the NHL record for the fastest natural hat trick in 1952 with a time of 21 seconds.

A satirical take on the achievement is a Gordie Howe hat trick. It is accomplished in the same game by scoring a goal, dishing out an assist, and engaging in a brawl. In his NHL career, namesake Gordie Howe only managed two records. The most times in NHL history, Rick Tocchet completed the accomplishment eighteen times during his career.

Captain of the Florida Panthers Scott Mellanby scored a "rat trick" in October 1995; teammate John Vanbiesbrouck came up with the phrase.

Mellanby used his hockey stick to kill a mouse in the Panthers' locker room before the game, and he went on to score two goals that evening. Some Florida supporters started a habit of throwing plastic rats onto the ice when Mellanby scored a hat trick in a subsequent game. This tradition persisted for all Panthers goals during the 1996 playoffs.

The league finally outlawed the practice and changed Rule 63 to penalize the host team for a minor infraction as a result of the game delays brought on by the need to clear up the plastic rats. This penalty does not apply to the more conventional practice of spectators throwing hats onto the ice after real hat tricks.

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