![\"Mattias](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2251788791.jpg\")
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Mattias Ekholm’s hat trick helped the Oilers make NHL history. <\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> managed to pick up a critical victory on Monday evening over the Anaheim Ducks, a 7-4 final score at Rogers Place that improved their record to 27-19-8 and helped them keep pace with the first-place Vegas Golden Knights in their competitive division.<\/p>\n But the story of the game was the fact that Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm picked up his first career hat trick, and in doing so, helped the franchise make history. The Oilers became the first NHL team ever to have consecutive hat tricks in back-to-back games from defensemen.<\/p>\n Evan Bouchard recorded a hat trick in Edmonton\u2019s 6-5 overtime win over the Washington Capitals, and Ekholm followed with a hat trick of his own against the Ducks.<\/p>\n Ekholm hadn\u2019t scored in his last 22 games.<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n The Edmonton Oilers Made NHL History With Consecutive Hat Tricks By A Defenseman<\/p>\n Ekholm, who hadn\u2019t scored in over 20 games, admitted it was a rare feat for him to achieve.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m usually not known for my goal-scoring ability,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cCouldn\u2019t buy a goal for 20 games. So that tells you the story.\u201d<\/p>\n Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch expressed his happiness over the Swedish blue liner\u2019s accomplishment, noting that it was rare.<\/p>\n \u201cThe odds of (Ekholm) scoring a hat trick tonight were probably pretty low, and it\u2019s pretty exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s been playing really good hockey and the fact that he\u2019s got three tonight, everyone\u2019s really happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Teammate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was also happy for Ekholm, noting how hard he plays the game.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what you\u2019re gonna get from him. And usually it\u2019s hard to play against,\u201d Nugent-Hopkins explained.\u00a0\u201dHe\u2019s going to make really good first plays and jump into the rush when he can, but he\u2019s going to be tough to play against every night. So when he\u2019s having a night like this, it\u2019s obviously exciting, and it makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Depth scoring is always key for teams like the Oilers who are keen on making deep postseason runs, and they\u2019ll take every goal they can get from players who aren\u2019t expected to fill the back of the net on a routine basis.<\/p>\n Mattias Ekholm Joked It Could Be His Last Hat Trick<\/p>\n Ekholm, who knows that he isn\u2019t counted on as a primary source of offense, was happy to contribute and later joked that he\u2019d better enjoy the accomplishment as it may not happen again for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at the goals, it\u2019s just trying to join the rush on the first two. And sometimes they just happen, right? There\u2019s no real explanation,\u201d Ekholm said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I changed my game overnight to then obviously score a hat trick. It\u2019s just one of those things.<\/p>\n \u201cSome nights you have your bounces go your way and whatnot. And, yeah, I\u2019ll try to enjoy this one, because it\u2019ll probably be my last.\u201d<\/p>\n With his three-goal performance, Ekholm is now up to six total goals on the season.<\/p>\n The burly defenseman scored five goals during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs during Edmonton\u2019s run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, followed by another goal in last season\u2019s playoffs.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Whitaker<\/a> Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Clutch Points and The Hockey News. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University. More about Michael Whitaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Oilers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Mattias Ekholm’s hat trick helped the Oilers make NHL history. The Edmonton Oilers managed to pick up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-441328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}