Take a bow, Cole Sillinger.
In a 6-4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, Sillinger stole the show, tallying the first hat trick of his young NHL career.
In doing so, he became the second-youngest Blue Jacket (18 years, 301 days) to score three goals in a game, behind only Nikita Filatov (18 years, 230 days, who did so on Jan. 20, 2009). It took him just 57 career games to reach the feat.
Mike Sillinger: 0 hat tricks in 1,049 career NHL games
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 14, 2022
His son, #CBJ Cole Sillinger: 1st hat trick in his 57th career NHL game
Sillinger scored his 9th, 10th, and 11th goals of the season while skating 16:58. He joins some pretty elite company, as only 14 times in NHL history has a younger player scored a hat trick. Go figure that Patrik Laine appears on this list three (!) times.
Only 11 players in #NHL history have scored hat tricks at a younger age than #CBJ Cole Sillinger (18y, 310d).
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 14, 2022
Heres the list, including one guy who did it THREE times as an 18-year-old, courtesy of NHLStats: pic.twitter.com/jgNV5JfCx1
Sillinger scored three goals in three unique ways playing alongside Max Domi and Oliver Bjorkstrand. On his first goal, Bjorkstrand won a loose puck behind the Golden Knights' goal and centered to a wide-open Sillinger, who timed his route down the 'funnel' to perfection for an easy tap-in.
His second goal came off a set faceoff play, with Bjorkstrand moving from the right-wing to the weak side of the ice. Bjorkstrand took his time shooting, and Sillinger just glanced the puck enough with his stick to change the trajectory.
His third goal was a thing of beauty off a 2-on-1. Bjorkstrand again was the catalyst for the play, sending Domi up ice with speed to create the odd-man rush. Domi, whose playmaking chops have been on full display in recent games, saucer passed a perfect pass over the stick of defenseman Nicolas Hague. Sillinger got decent wood on the puck, and the sliding goaltender did his best to get over. Luckily for Sillinger, that exposed the five-hole, and the puck slid right through him to cap off the hat trick.
The NHL schedule is a grind, and there had been some concern that Sillinger was starting to hit the proverbial 'rookie wall'. Prior to last night's explosion, he had tallied 1-1-2 in his previous 10 games combined while averaging just 10:38 TOI. Then, on Sunday, he scores a hat trick and completely changes the narrative.
With Yegor Chinakhov scoring in regulation and tallying the shootout winner on Friday night, and Sillinger registering his first career hat trick in the next game, it's easy to be optimistic about the future in Columbus.
