This Day in Hockey History – December 3, 2002 and 2006 – Sole Hat Tricks for Blueshirts

Dec 3, 2019

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Pavel Bure and Brendan Shanahan each had a one-night-only special for sold-out crowds (of 18,200) at Madison Square Garden. Both of them scored their only hat trick while wearing a New York Rangers jersey on December 3, in 2002 and 2006 respectively. What’s more, these were the final hat tricks of their impressive NHL careers.

2002

Drafted in 1989, Bure earned the Calder Trophy in 1991-92 at the start of his seven seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. He then skated for the Florida Panthers, taking home the Maurice Richard Trophy in 2000 and 2001. They traded Bure to the Rangers on March 18, 2002, where due to knee injuries, he would end his NHL playing career almost exactly a year later (and about two weeks before his 32nd birthday).

As one of his last hurrahs, Bure’s final hat trick led the Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. After New York and Columbus each got on the scoreboard, Bure scored at 9:17 and 19:37 of the first period. The Blue Jackets scored at the beginning of each of the following periods to knot the score.

Thanks to Bure, the Rangers tallied twice more before the end. At 10:47, Eric Lindros broke the tie after “what looked like a textbook interference penalty.” The New York Daily News continued, “That unpenalized pancake block freed Bure for a dash to the net that produced the rebound Lindros flipped home.” Coach Bryan Trottier called that the play of the game praising, “I thought Pav had just a boatful of jump and hunger.” To close out the night, at 18:06, Bure made his ninth shot on goal count “as gorgeous a goal as you’ll see – a flying conversion of two-on-one rush with Nedved that caused a trickle and then rain of hats to fall to the Garden ice.”

Up until the game before, Bure had experienced a goal-scoring slump with only two goals to show for 15 games. Coach Trottier had remarked, “Pav has to pick it up.” He then switched Bure from Lindros’s line to one with center Petr Nedved and wing Ronald Petrovicky and noticed an immediate improvement. Trottier commented, “The three of them are working well together and we want it to continue and it will continue.” Nedved assisted on all three of Bure’s goals, while Petrovicky helped with the first two. All three of them were named the stars of the game.

2006

Shanahan had been playing in the NHL since he was drafted in 1987. He played for the New Jersey Devils until signing with the St. Louis Blues in 1991. They traded him to the Hartford Whalers in 1995. After little more than a season, Shanahan joined the Detroit Red Wings just in time to win back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998. They won again in 2002 before Shanahan signed with the Rangers on July 9, 2006. He spent two seasons with the Rangers before returned to the Devils for his final half season.

His three-goal game with the Rangers did not end as well as Bure’s. In the first period, the New York Islanders scored four goals on just eight shots. This prompted Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to recommend swapping goaltenders. He explained, “You want to win and help the team. And I felt like I wasn’t having a really good game tonight.” Lundqvist had only been pulled once before, exactly one year earlier. Although Kevin Weekes took over, the Rangers couldn’t make a full comeback.

Shanahan’s attempt to rally the Rangers began with him scoring at 6:45 and 17:28 of the first period. The first was a shorthanded goal, and the second was just 1:03 after Jaromir Jagr made the Rangers’ second goal of the game. At 7:01 of the third period, Shanahan completed his hat trick and the Rangers’ scoring successes. Like Bure had four years earlier, Shanahan had made good on one third of his nine shots on goal.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Islanders had Viktor Kozlov on the ice. He had scored one of the first-period goals before matching all of Shanahan’s goals. As the New York Daily News noted, he “single-handedly snuffed out two Brendan Shanahan-led comeback attempts.” His tallies came at 18:41 of the second period and then at 13:52 and 18:24 of the third. Thanks to him, the Islanders won 7-4. Naturally, Kozlov was a star of the game along with Shanahan.

With the Rangers hat trick, Bure had a total of 20 regular-season hat tricks. He is currently tied for 15th in the list of most NHL hat tricks. Meanwhile, Shanahan’s Rangers hat trick gave him a career total of 18, tying him for 21st in the NHL. Both players have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame – Bure in 2012 and Shanahan following in 2013.