Gordie Howe Hat Trick

Rick Middleton was the Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1981-82 and finished second to Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders for the following two campaigns. Over the 1980-81 season, Rick sat just 16 minutes in penalties while playing in all 80 regular season games for the Boston Bruins. He finished third in voting for the Lady Byng, behind Rick Kehoe and Wayne Gretzky . Yet, in the first game of the season for the Bruins, Middleton dropped the gloves. Not unheard of, Rick also put up a Gordie Howe Hat Trick at the start of the 1978-79 campaign. On October 9, 1980, he did it again. The Game It was the first game of the 1980-81 NHL season for both Boston and the New York Rangers. The Bruins played host at the Boston Garden and, early on, it looked like they were going to be nice to their guests. The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period with goals by Mike Allison (2:44) and Walt Tkaczuk (3:18).  However, that early shock lit a fire under the Bruins and the team came ...

In a March 2, 1972 game between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, Bobby Orr put up a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Orr scored a goal and assisted on another while getting into a second period fight with Rosaire Paiement. The Goal Bobby scored at 11:10 of the third period, assisted by Phil Esposito . It was a powerplay goal with Andre Boudrias of the Canucks serving two minutes for too many men on the ice. This was Boston's seventh and last goal of the game and 30th of the season for Orr. The Assist At 19:14 of the second period, Phil Esposito scored his 58th goal of the season on the powerplay. Assists went to Fred Stanfield and Bobby Orr. This was Boston's fifth goal of the game and Esposito's third, completing the hat trick. The Fight At 6:07 of the second period, Orr and Rosaire Paiement got into a tussle. Both were assessed five minutes for fighting. In addition, Bobby was handed two minutes for slashing and Paiement was given a minor penalty for elbowing. It was the o...