Gordie Howe Hat Trick

1980-81 was Rick Vaive's first full season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after coming over in a February 18, 1980 trade midway through the 1979-80 season. That was the trade that sent Dave "Tiger" Williams and Jerry Butler to the Vancouver Canucks while Bill Derlago came east along with Vaive. On December 6, 1980, the Buds were hosting the Quebec Nordiques at Maple Leaf Gardens. This was the first of a home-and-home on back to back nights. Interestingly, the following game also featured a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. The Leafs handled the woeful Nordiques handily in a 5-2 win with Darryl Sittler picking up a pair of goals. The Goal Rick Vaive scored his eleventh goal of the season at 17:44 of the second period, assisted by Borje Salming . It was the fourth goal of the game for Toronto and made the score 4-1. 27 seconds later, Jacques Richard would get one back for Quebec with assists going to Dale Hunter and Michel Goulet. The Assist At 3:27 of the second period, Robert Pica

You've got to hand it to him, Denis Potvin wasn't backing down from no one. On December 8, 1974, his New York Islanders were visiting the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum. The Flyers ended up taking the closely fought match 3-2 but Potvin seemed to be in on everything. He achieved the Gordie Howe Hat Trick on a goal, assist and first period fight. The Goal Denis Potvin's goal was the second of the game for the Islanders and his sixth of the 1974-75 NHL season. New York was shorthanded, killing off a 4 on 3 with Dave Lewis just about to come out of the penalty box. New York's Dave Fortier and Flyers captain Bobby Clarke were both serving minors. At the twelve minute mark of the second period, Denis scored unassisted on Bernie Parent . The marker tied the game at two and gave the Islanders hope. It was one of two shots on net for Potvin in the game and one of only 13 that the Islanders would put towards Parent. While Glenn Resch had 35 pucks fired his way. The Assist

It was a significant match with the Detroit Red Wings capping off a stellar 1950-51 NHL season with a 5-0 shutout at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. It was significant in that Alex Delvecchio played his first National Hockey League game. But, the most significant thing that happened at Detroit Olympia on March 25, 1951 is that Glen Skov achieved the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Of course, the irony is that Gordie Howe was in the lineup as a star player for the Red Wings and the GHHT was certainly unheard of at the time. The Goal Glen Skov scored just his seventh goal of the 1950-51 season at 18:44 of the second period. The goal was unassisted and made the score 4-0 for Detroit. It was the young centre's 19th game of the campaign and just his 21st game in the National Hockey League. He had spent most of the season with the Omaha Knights in the USHL. The Assist The third goal of the game was scored by Ted Lindsay at 14:31 of the second period. The marker was assists by Skov and Lou