For the third time this season, Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky has cemented his name into the franchise’s record books.
With a hat trick in Tuesday night’s pummeling of the Philadelphia Flyers, the 20-year-old became one of the youngest Canadiens players to score three goals in a single game, bringing his season goal total to 19.
As pointed out by the NHL’s PR department, at 20 years and 10 days old, the Slovakia native is now the second-youngest Habs player to perform the feat, sitting behind only Stephane Richer, who got it done at age 19 in 1986.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first career hat trick and became the second-youngest player in @CanadiensMTL history to achieve the feat, behind only Stephane Richer.#NHLStats: https://t.co/djVhaPAOAQ pic.twitter.com/5njCZ1TrSe
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 10, 2024
Like when he became the first teenager in Habs history to record a seven-game point streak back in February, Slafkovsky passed some big names on the leaderboard this time, too.
Most notably, Canadiens legends Bernie Geoffrion and Guy Lafleur, as the latter scored three hat tricks in the 1971-72 season. Lafleur was also 20 at the time, but Slafkovsky got it done while being 72 days younger, allowing him to move ahead of the iconic winger.
Salfkovsky was informed of his proximity to the record by reporters after Tuesday’s game but insisted that he was much happier to see his team get a win above all else.
“Again something? I don’t even know, these records. It’s not important,” he said. “It’s not about records, I’m just happy about the team win.”
With that said, Slafkovsky’s teammates and coaches have taken notice of the player’s offensive ascension, which has seen him net 30 points in his last 31 games.
“I think he’s going to be a good player for a long time and an important player on this team and for him to have a night like that, I hope he enjoys it,” Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. “They don’t come around too often but I’m sure he’ll have more of ’em.”
Meanwhile, Montreal bench boss Martin St. Louis has no regrets about making the 6-foot-3 winger a top-line staple.
“He’s done everything I’m asking him to do, he deserves an opportunity here to play with our best players and he took off! But it was earned with everything we were asking him to do and he took off.”
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