Hertl's quick hat trick powers Golden Knights past Red Wings

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Mar 22, 2025

Published in Hockey

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LAS VEGAS — The city of Las Vegas may soon run out of hats, thanks to Tomas Hertl.

Hertl recorded his second hat trick of the season, the third straight three-goal game to take place at T-Mobile Arena, as the Golden Knights defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Saturday.

Hertl finding the back of the net three times comes two days after linemate Pavel Dorofeyev completed his second hat trick Thursday against the Boston Bruins.

Hertl also had a hat trick March 9 against the Los Angeles Kings.

The goals put Hertl at the 30-goal mark for the first time since the 2021-22 season and the third time in his career. Two of the goals came on the power play, giving him a Knights-record 14 goals on the man advantage.

Center Jack Eichel had a goal and three assists to reach 600 career points, and captain Mark Stone had a goal and two assists to give the Knights (41-20-8) consecutive wins to start their three-game homestand.

Goaltender Adin Hill made 28 saves for his seventh win in his past nine starts (7-1-1).

The power play was both teams’ trusty companion Saturday.

Both of Detroit’s goals came on the man advantage, starting with right wing Lucas Raymond’s shot that deflected off defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s stick to open the scoring at 4:47 of the first.

Hertl’s first goal at 11:47 tied it 1-1, then Hertl deflected a point shot from defenseman Brayden McNabb at 16:32 to give the Knights a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Center Nicolas Roy scored with 2.3 seconds left in the period to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.

Red Wings right wing Patrick Kane cut the lead back to one with a power-play goal at 1:49 of the second before Stone pushed it to 4-2 at 7:07.

Hertl completed the hat trick at 8:02 on the power play on the same play as his first goal — off a pass from Stone with Hertl cutting to the front of the net — to make it 5-2.

The season didn’t get off to the start Hertl envisioned. Though he was effective on the power play, he had 10 goals through his first 39 games.

His 20 in the past 30 ties him with Dallas Stars right wing Jason Robertson and Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl for the most in the league since Jan. 7.

This time of year is predicated on scoring goals and doing so in the tough areas. Hertl is checking off both those boxes at the right time.

Three takeaways from the win:

1. Historic hat trick

The Knights became the third team in the past 35 years to record a hat trick in three consecutive home games, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs (Feb. 13 to 17, 2024) and the Calgary Flames (Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, 1992).

It’s the Knights’ fourth hat trick this season, tying the team record that was set last season. The Knights had five hat tricks in the shortened 2020-21 season, but two came in the playoffs.

2. Eichel hits 600

The career year for Eichel continues, and the milestones keep piling up.

The four-point night gave Eichel a new career-high of 86 points, surpassing the 82 he totaled in the 2018-19 season with the Buffalo Sabres.

Eichel, who is still on pace for a 100-point season, became the fifth player from the 2015 draft class to reach 600 points, joining Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho.

3. Samsonov starts Sunday

Goaltender Ilya Samsonov will get the start in Sunday’s second leg of the back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said the plan was to split the goalies this weekend. Hill will get a rest after making his fourth start in the past five appearances.

Samsonov has lost his past two starts. He will battle Lightning star netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay is coming off a 6-4 loss Saturday to the Utah Hockey Club.

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