EDMONTON — There are moments Taylor Hall said he’ll long remember: like his first NHL game, his first goal with the Edmonton Oilers, and now, his first NHL hat trick.

And not just any hat trick. The rookie with the gift for theatrics scored three power-play goals in the third period to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday afternoon.

“That ranks right up there with my first NHL game and Memorial Cups and stuff like that,” he said after the roar of approval from the Rexall Place crowd had finally died down.

“Getting a hat trick is a little bit of a different feeling. You get a sense of accomplishment. You get to feel good about yourself, skating over the bench while everyone’s cheering your name. It’s a special feeling.”

The last Oiler to dominate a period like Hall did against the Thrashers was none other than Wayne Gretzky, who scored four goals in the third period of a game against the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 18, 1981. The Oil coasted to a 9-2 victory on that occasion.

The last Oiler to score a hat trick was Sam Gagner, who put away three goals against the Colorado Avalanche on March 19, 2009.

But this was Hall, the Oilers’ prized pick from the June entry draft. He was so dominant in the third he had eight of the Oilers’ 15 shots in the final 20 minutes and he ignited a building with his 18th, 19th and 20th goals of the season.

All this after going seven games without finding the back of the net.

“I was just happy to get one. I was on a bit of cold streak,” said Hall, an acute numbers guy who knew that one of the triggers on the bonus side of his contract is the 20-goal milestone, which is worth $212,000 US.

“At the start of the year, you don’t really set any goals for yourself, especially as a young kid coming in because you don’t know what to expect or how the league is going to treat you. To get 20 goals is a pretty good accomplishment.

“Honestly,” he continued, “it is just a lot of fun to win. It was a pretty bland game for the first couple of periods. We kind of took it into our own hands and started playing the game that made us successful (in wins against the Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens).

“If we don’t play that game, we don’t get those power plays, and I don’t get those goals and maybe we don’t come back.”

It looked for the longest time like the only thing the Oilers were going to spoil was their bid to stretch their win streak to three games.

Sloppy again in their own end, the Oilers, now 19-32-8, were down a goal less than five minutes after the puck dropped and unable to convert either of the two power plays they had in the first 20 minutes.

Dustin Byfuglien slapped a one-timer from the blue-line past Devan Dubnyk in the first, then 59 seconds into the second Andrew Ladd batted in a rebound.

Even the momentum shift created by Magnus Paajarvi, who wristed in a shot from the top of the face off circle, was short-lived. His shot dribbled past goaltender Chris Mason, who had not started a game for Atlanta since Dec. 31, and should have been enough to put the visitors on their heels.

It wasn’t until Evander Kane made it 3-1 with his 17th of the season just 72 seconds into the third period that Hall took over.

He walked in with his first and tucked it past Mason short side, then less than a minute later whipped a pass from Ales Hemsky into the top half of the net. He jammed in his third at 14:35.

“I guess the puck must have been in his pads. I just poked it, trying to be a little bit of a crap disturber and it went in. I was all smiles from there,” said Hall. “Fun game.”

Hemsky added an empty-netter to break the backs of the Thrashers, who have now lost all but three of their previous 17 games and are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 25-25-10.

The Oilers closed out their six-game home stand with three straight wins.

“To watch that effort by Hallsy? A pretty special individual effort,” said Dubnyk. “He just seemed to zone in and take it on himself.”

“He can do that,” said teammate Andrew Cogliano. “He’s a player who can score three in third period like that. That’s why he was picked first overall. He’s a powerful, strong player who likes the puck on his stick.”

Edmonton Journal

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