When it came to scoring goals, no one in New York Islanders history did it quite like Mike Bossy.
The Hall of Fame winger was a true hat-trick machine, recording 39 career hat tricks, a number that places him behind only Wayne Gretzky (43 with the Edmonton Oilers) and Mario Lemieux (40 with the Pittsburgh Penguins) on the NHL’s all-time list. Bossy’s consistency and scoring touch made him the purest goal scorer of his generation, and he still holds the distinction of having the highest goals-per-game average in NHL history at 0.762.
Bossy’s flair for the dramatic wasn’t limited to the regular season, either. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where legends are truly defined, he notched five postseason hat tricks, ranking fifth in league history. Those explosive scoring bursts played a pivotal role in the Islanders’ four consecutive Stanley Cups, cementing his reputation as a player who thrived on the biggest stage.
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While Bossy stands alone at the top of the Islanders’ record books, fellow Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier ranks second in team history with 16 career hat tricks. Behind him, two later Islanders stars share the next spot: Pierre Turgeon and John Tavares, each with eight. The comparison between the two is striking—Turgeon recorded his eight hat tricks in just 255 career games with the Isles, while Tavares needed 669 games on Long Island to reach the same mark.
Bossy, Trottier, Turgeon, and Tavares all left their mark on Islanders history in different eras, but Bossy’s ability to score goals at will and in bunches remains unmatched. More than four decades later, his name still stands as the gold standard for snipers who wear the blue and orange