Nico Hischier scored the first natural hat trick for a Swiss-born NHL player and the first one within a period for the New Jersey Devils since 2006 on Monday in a 5-2 win over Nashville. This post breaks down how all three goals happened.
On Monday night, the New Jersey Devils hosted and beat the Nashville Predators, 5-2. The victory was driven by a historic achievement: a natural hat trick in the second period by Nico Hischier. I do not use the word historic lightly. It is, per the NHL PR department, the fourth ever natural hat trick by a Devil in one period and the first since Brian Gionta did it in October 12, 2006 (here’s a fan-cam of one of those three goals). Which means Hischier has the first and only one to take place at The Rock for the Devils. Hischier is also the first Swiss-born player to score a natural hat trick. It was an achievement crucial to the Devils’ success for the night and an achievement in Hischier’s growing career.
As a result, the natural hat trick deserves the treatment of a goal breakdown. As Hischier scored three goals in a row, this post will go over each. As it covers three goals, the format will be a bit different. I will use this compilation video of all three goals put on Youtube by Sportsnet for the screenshots. Any text and poorly drawn lines and shapes are by me.
Goal #1, 3:52 into the Second Period
The Game Situation: 5-on-5, score was 1-1
Devils on the Ice: #11 Stefan Noesen, #13 Nico Hischier, #22 Brett Pesce, #25 Jacob Markstrom, #28 Timo Meier, #43 Luke Hughes
Predators on the Ice: #2 Luke Schenn, #7 Marc Del Gaizo, #13 Juuso Parssinen, #14 Gustav Nyquist, #74 Juuse Saros, #82 Tomas Tatar Tommy Novak
The Points: Hischier gets the goal, Timo Meier gets the primary assist, Luke Hughes gets the secondary assist.
The Executive Summary: When you counter attack off a block, you better not overcommit in the neutral zone! Or else one player can beat two.
The Breakdown: We begin with Nashville in the offensive zone after an entry early in the second period. Tommy Novak led in to push the Devils back in a 3-on-3 with Juuso Parssinen and Gustav Nyquist flanking them.
Sportsnet for the video
Defensemen Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce were set up on defense with their sticks out. Nico Hischier, backchecking, was in a position to deal with a flanker like Nyquist even if his eyes were not on him. Timo Meier was also rushing back in to support his team.
Novak saw that there is no shot or path forward, so he was about to drop a pass for Parssinen. Parssinen understood the situation and cut to the middle for this pass. He was also ahead of Meier so he got there first.
Sportsnet for the video
Parssinen unloaded a shot from the high slot before Meier caught up to him, and Pesce blocked it with his leg. The puck fortunately bounced off him and into space. It went behind Luke Hughes – and well behind Novak, who had to turn around from this point. Nyquist and Hischier saw the loose puck and headed towards it as well.
Sportsnet for the video
The puck was live and bodies converged on it to force a puck battle in open ice. Despite the efforts of Nyquist (behind Luke Hughes) and Novak (in front of Luke Hughes), the young defenseman was able to find the puck, collect it on his stick blade, and look up for an option out of the area. Meier, after getting to Parssinen, curled and turned up ice on the right side. Parssinen went to the left. Stefan Noesen entered the frame for any support. Luke Hughes saw Meier open on the left side and attempt a pass up toward him. Hischier, meanwhile, was still going around the back of Nyquist.
Sportsnet for the video
The pass from Luke Hughes went off the board and Meier collected it. He carried it out for the zone exit. Meier was also being a bit patient at this moment. As he collected the pass, Hischier started to dart up ice up the right side. Meier saw this. He also saw that Noesen, Pesce, and Luke Hughes were still in their own end. While Noesen has turned and Luke Hughes was also moving forward, it is a 1-on-2 situation for Meier. The two being the two Nashville defensemen. Meier has to buy some time to get support from Hischier to even up the numbers.
Sportsnet for the video
This screenshot shows where Nashville made a critical error. Marc Del Gaizo and Luke Schenn were deep in the neutral zone. Their sticks are straight out. They are also right next to each other. It was 1-on-2 – and a second Devil was coming to beat them. Sure, one-on-one would have tempted Meier to take either Schenn or Del Gaizo head-on. That would have at least prevented what actually happened on this play. Hischier was still skating forward and hard. No one was in Hischier’s way. Neither Del Gaizo or Schenn even acknowledged the captain. With three Predators well behind when Meier reached the redline, Nashville had to either A) hope the defensemen deny Meier, B) hope Meier does not hit Hischier with a pass, or C) the puck takes a funny bounce to deny an offensive chance. None of that happened.
Sportsnet for the video
Meier threaded a lead pass for Hischier. He put it off the boards to give Hischier even a bit more space to skate onto it. Hischier collected the puck off the sideboard and this screenshot showed how the Predators defensemen were beat. Schenn and Del Gaizo kept skating backward, but only with the pass can one of them turn to deal with Hischier. That was the younger one, Del Gaizo. In this screenshot, the defender was still turning as Hischier collected the puck in stride. Hischier had him beat before he even had to curl toward the net for his move. This also meant that it was all up to Juuse Saros.
Sportsnet for the video
Live, Hischier looked like he put a power move on Del Gaizo and tucked the puck in. For this breakdown, it was less of a power move and just a move. Again, Del Gaizo was well beaten. He tried to catch Hischier. He did so without penalizing him. But this was a one-on-one for Hischier before the captain reached the left circle.
Juuse Saros would be a good goalie as any to trust in a situation like this. Even with Nashville’s awful record, Saros has put up numbers on par with Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin, and Igor Shesterkin. But Saros was beaten. Hischier’s move forced the goaltender to go down into a butterfly and get him to move laterally. That opened up his legs for the puck to be tucked in for then go-ahead goal.
The Takeaways: This was a great example of a counter-attack. Nashville was stopped relatively quickly after gaining the offensive zone. Credit to Pesce for a fortunate shot block to achieve that stop. The Devils then won the puck for a quick zone exit. Credit to Luke Hughes for making that happen amid some traffic. One pass in the neutral zone sprung Hischier and he finished a rush himself.
When this kind of counter attack happens, usually a team having four or even all five players committed in the offensive half of the ice could create an odd-man rush or breakaway. To the Devils’ benefit and surprise, it was the defensemen who over committed in the neutral zone that opened up the space for Hischier. On this play, the defensemen just focused on Meier. Weirdly, they did so without stepping up on him. Given that it was 1-on-2, they could and perhaps should have done that.
Instead, Meier had the presence of mind and the patience to make the right play. He saw Hischier was getting ahead of the other players in the defensive zone when he received Luke Hughes’ zone exit pass. He knew that with two defensemen focused on him, Hischier was free. He knew which side of the ice he would come in on. He knew to lead him a bit to ensure Hischier’s speed and momentum would get him ahead of the left-sided defenseman, Del Gaizo. As impressive as Hischier’s finish was, Meier’s assist was about as crucial to the play as the goal.
Goal #2, 10:01 into the Second Period
The Game Situation: 5-on-4, score was 2-1
Devils on the Ice: #7 Dougie Hamilton, #11 Stefan Noesen, #13 Nico Hischier, #25 Jacob Markstrom, #63 Jesper Bratt, #86 Jack Hughes
Predators on the Ice: #3 Jeremy Lauzon, #17 Mark Jankowski, #36 Cole Smith, #45 Alexandre Carrier, #74 Juuse Saros
The Points: Hischier gets the goal and it is unassisted. Because own-assists are not a thing in the NHL.
The Executive Summary: Revenge is sweet as is keeping with a play even when the first two attempts do not go as expected.
The Breakdown: We begin in progress. The Devils were on a power play because Nashville took a too many men on the ice penalty. During their first offensive zone possession, the Predators got a clear and Jeremy Lauzon dumped Hischier well behind the play for no call. The People Who Matter at the Rock were unhappy. As were the Devils. They set up their breakout and The Big Deal took it in and headed right down the left side. That was where the clip started for Hischier’s second goal.
Sportsnet for the video
This was very much off the breakout as the Devils were not quite in their 1-3-1 shape. Jack Hughes streaked down inside the left dot. He got a pass (or shot?) attempt off past Jeremy Lauzon. Stefan Noesen went to the net and unfortunately missed the pass or a deflection attempt. The puck went through the crease. Jesper Bratt ended up inside the right circle with Nico Hischier down deeper in it. Which had the captain in a perfect position to retreive this puck that came his way. With all four Predators in middle of the zone, Hischier should collect this one easily.
Sportsnet for the video
Hischier would collect the puck in the corner. But he would receive a challenge from Alexandre Carrier after Hischier turned forward. The captain made a stickhandling move to deke out the defender, as seen in this screenshot. The captain also read the situation. The Big Deal came all the way around the net to the corner to give Hischier a cross-up option. Noesen was still in front. Bratt rotated to the left side. With no real option and the Predators penalty killers back to being in a box without Carrier, Hischier knew his option was to go forward.
Sportsnet for the video
Hischier had space ahead of Carrier so while he gave a bit of a chase, Hischier was well protected in going behind the net. Lauzon moved up and stretched out his stick to try to deter Hischier. This would not work. Jankowski moved up to take Noesen with Lauzon at the right post. Smith was watching from the right dot. This meant that nobody was watching the other three Devils. Jack Hughes was on the right side of the zone and would move back. Jesper Bratt finished moving to the left side, turned, and would head closer to the dot. Most of all, there is a ton of space for Dougie Hamilton. The whole high slot is wide open and unaccounted for. I circled it for a reason.
Sportsnet for the video
Once Hischier was behind the net, he looked up to the offensive zone. As he went past the net, he saw Jankowski shift to the left. That denied a potential pass to Bratt. He saw Carrier back in front of the net and Lauzon back at the left post. That denied a feed to Noesen. A pass to Jack Hughes would be remarkably difficult and Cole Smith was still on that side. But there was a gap as big as a car to feed Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton was in motion at this moment. He was headed to the high slot and his stick was already ready for a clapper of a one-timer. Hischier understood and would make this pass to #7.
Sportsnet for the video
Hamilton did hammer his one-timer on target. Saros stopped it in his butterfly form with his pads. This meant that there was a rebound. One of the reasons why defensemen like Hamilton are coveted by NHL teams is because they have a shot heavy enough to force rebounds despite the goalie’s best effort. At this moment, this still favors Nashville. The puck was loose, Saros was right in front of it tracking it, and there were two defensemen on one Stefan Noesen – with Smith coming in to support. A one-on-three battle for a loose puck? Surely, the Predators would win it. Meanwhile, Hischier came out from behind the goal line and would head toward the net from the left circle. Hamilton turned back to get back into a defensive position with both Bratt and Hughes dropping deeper. This did leave Noesen alone but the winger would make it work.
Sportsnet for the video
Loads of credit to Noesen and Lady Luck because Carrier, Lauzon, and Smith could not corral the puck due to the battle. It was chaotic enough that Saros decided to just knock the puck away. Which I respect. Which I understand. Which I would ordinarily think would be a good play by a goaltender. If his skaters would not get the puck, then just clear it away. One problem and I circled him: Nico Hischier was wide open in the left circle. Saros, given his position and how he swept the puck with his stick, cleared the puck in that direction.
Sportsnet for the video
Hischier collects the turnover from Saros. As Saros has been on the ice since Hischier went around the net, the top corner was wide open both short-side and far-side. Hischier picked right corner to one-time the puck. The corner over Saros’ left shoulder meant that there would be no chance for the traffic in front – where Noesen and three out of four Predators – to deny the shot. Hischier’s shot was as good as it needed to be to convert the power play. He was extra pumped after the goal given Lauzon’s dumping of him earlier on the shift.
The Takeaways: This play is a great example of how good the Devils’ power play has been this season. I covered this in more detail yesterday but, once again, this is all a result of the additional freedom of movement the players have been given in these situations. Hischier was free to go around the net and have Hughes and Bratt drop back. Hamilton activated into the high slot for a fantastic shot opportunity. Even with Hamilton’s shot being stopped, Hischier rotated back into the lower half of the zone and was rewarded with the turnover by Saros.
The play is also a great example of why Noesen has fit the primary power play unit like a glove. He is not just a guy who can just be in front and get greasy – but he can absolutely do a good job of that here. For this entire section, Noesen attracted the attention of at least one Predator. After the Hamilton shot, Noesen just battled to keep the Preds from collecting the rebound. So much so that Saros had to take matters into his own hands as Carrier, Lauzon, and Smith could not get it done. Even though Noesen did not win the battle, he definitely made the conversion possible. This is why he is typically in front of the net on that unit. This is also why it is not a plug-and-play role. Noesen did it very well here.
Lastly, out of all three goals, this was easily the best shot from Hischier. He sent that puck back into the net with authority. He picked a corner in the process. He read Saros’ position perfectly and the execution was just as good. Obviously, this is covered because he scored but the shot needed to be on point to make it work. Well done, Hischier!
Goal #3, 16:57 into the Second Period
The Game Situation: 5-on-5, score was 3-1
Devils on the Ice: #8 Johnathan Kovacevic, #11 Stefan Noesen, #13 Nico Hischier, #25 Jacob Markstrom, #28 Timo Meier, #71 Jonas Siegenthaler
Predators on the Ice: #9 Filip Forsberg, #14 Gustav Nyquist, #45 Alexandre Carrier, #74 Juuse Saros, #76 Brady Skjei, #90 Ryan O’Reilly
The Points: Hischier gets the goal and Stefan Noesen gets the primary and only assist.
The Executive Summary: Off the puck movement once again matters on this counter attack. As does securing the puck when you do get it, Brady Skjei.
The Breakdown: We begin with Stefan Noesen forcing the puck to go loose behind the Devils’ net. Jonas Siegenthaler collected the puck and went behind the net to look for an exit opportunity.
Sportsnet for the video
As Siegenthaler went behind the net, he was under pursuit by Ryan O’Reilly. Gustav Nyquist went around the post to cut off Siegenthaler. The defenseman has support. Stefan Noesen, who won the puck from Filip Forsberg (next to him), turned and went towards the middle of the defensive zone. Timo Meier, who was in the slot, would be a more immediate option. He went to the bottom of the circle to help out Siegenthaler by becoming an option.
Sportsnet for the video
Siegenthaler takes a hit from Nyquist but did get the pass out towards the bottom of the circle. The pass was into space. A space Meier would get onto. O’Reilly saw this happen and went around the net, changing his focus.
Further up (back?) in the zone is Alexandre Carrier. I put his name with a question mark because I think he is confused here. He moved a bit forward, signaling that he may pinch and go in deeper in the zone. But he also hesitated, perhaps unsure about whether a pinch would be the right move. His confusion would become an issue once more on this play.
Sportsnet for the video
Timo Meier collected the puck on the pass. As he turned to face the blueline, O’Reilly caught up to pressure him. At this moment, it appeared that Meier had an easy pass to Noesen in the slot for a zone exit. Which I think he did. But Meier did not hit Noesen in stride. Whether it was due to pressure or something the coaching staff has told him to do, Meier lobbed the puck out of the zone. This is an adjustment that the Devils have done in their own end this season for zone exits. A lobbed puck makes it so the Devils can get the puck out of their own end but slowly enough for players to skate toward it as opposed to a chip off the glass or a harder clearing attempt on the ice or around the boards.
With Meier launching the puck out, Noesen continued forward and Carrier decided to drop back. Right at the left side of this screenshot are two sets of legs. The ones with the white socks with the yellow stripe belong to Forsberg. The black socks with the white strips belong to Hischier. Remember that now. Because that makes nine skaters out of ten accounted for. Where is the other Nashville defenseman?
Sportsnet for the video
There he is. Brady Skjei was in the neutral zone and he caught Meier’s lob. Whether he was in the neutral zone in preparation of a Carrier pinch or he dropped back as Meier collected Siegenthaler’s pass, I am not sure. But he was there and he grabbed the puck. By rule, he has to drop it to play it. He was in the process of doing so here. The issue is that Skjei caught this puck in motion, so he and the puck are not going to be steady. The defenseman may need to reach for it.
You can also see that Nashville has a numbers advantage. Skjei had the puck. Carrier did drop back fast enough to get ahead of Noesen. Carrier had his eyes on #13 with Skjei focused on the puck. That would be a small error. Noesen and Hischier were moving forward. Filip Forsberg was behind Hischier. But he had eyes on the captain and may be able to close a gap on him here. Noesen may be looking at Skjei, but it is still a 2-on-3.
Sportsnet for the video
Skjei put the puck down. Due to his motion on the ice, the puck went behind the red line. Noesen was in pursuit but Carrier was now on him – except his eyes remained on the puck. Which was not the worst thing at this moment in time. Skjei was in a position to just sweep the puck away. He was about to do it. Hischier was watching by the center faceoff dot. And this was where things were about to go really bad for Nashville in a very short amount of time.
For reasons I have yet to understand, Forsberg just stopped following Hischier. Instead of supporting his defensemen, he just assumed they had the situation under control. At first, I thought Forsberg would go off to the bench for a change. But that does not happen. While Hischier is several feet away, the situation that was a 2-on-3 became a 2-on-2. The situation would get worse.
Sportsnet for the video
I switched perspectives to the overhead replay in the same video as it clearly showed what created the breakaway for Hischier. Stefan Noesen hustled and got his stick out to deny Skjei his sweeping attempt. The puck was on Noesen’s stick for a moment before bouncing out. But this started what would be a won puck for #11.
This also showed how Carrier was there – but not really. He sees this happen and his stick was not on the ice and he is not on Noesen’s body. Noesen had the space to not only block Skjei’s puck movement but also move in response. While this is a one-on-two situation, the advantage would be for Noesen because Carrier became a bystander. Remember that confusion over where to pinch or not? He had it again. It would burn him and the Predators real soon.
Sportsnet for the video
Since Hischier saw the previous stop by Noesen from the center circle, he headed down with an intent to head into the zone. Noesen did an excellent move to turn his whole body to collect the puck, protect it from Skjei, and look up for an option. All in one motion. This allowed him to see what we see here: Hischier breaking away from the play. Carrier was lost here. He was facing Noesen, he knew Noesen was looking up with the puck for a reason, and there was not going to be a whole lot for the defender to do about it.
Sportsnet for the video
Here was the result. Noesen passed the puck over the blueline for Hischier to skate onto it. Hischier collected it with his stick. Carrier was the closest one to the captain but he was beaten. Look at that gap between the two. The most Carrier could do is try to foul Hischier but even that was too late. Hischier was all alone the moment he touched the puck.
Sportsnet for the video
As Hischier moved into the slot to take on Saros, he actually mis-hit the puck. He tried to rip a wrist shot but instead caught the puck with the bottom of his stick blade’s heel. As the broadcast pointed out, this fooled Saros as the puck would slide not-so-quickly under Saros’ right pad. Sometimes, fortune favors the forward. And so:
Sportsnet for the video
The Takeaways: This is another counter-attack goal but with the twist of hustle making a big difference here. Siegenthaler took a hit after making a pass within the zone to set up an exit. Meier lobbed a puck out just as the pressure came from O’Reilly. Then there was Stefan Noesen. His hustle unlocked the whole play. He challenged Skjei after he dropped the puck he grabbed, he denied his movement, and managed to shield the puck and himself with his own body to be able to move the play forward in New Jersey’s direction. Noesen was able to win that puck to set up Hischier’s breakaway. All within seconds after Noesen got the puck loose to begin with from Forsberg deep in the Devils’ end.
This was also Nashville’s laziest goal allowed among the three. Forsberg bizarrely gave up on supporting his defensemen. Had he just kept tabs on Hischier, then there would not likely be a breakaway for Hischier. His skating away was both odd and damaging. It was multiplies by Carrier’s confusion. He was in the area to help Skjei but he did not. He was focused on Noesen and the puck instead of Hischier, whom he initially had eyes on when he dropped back into the neutral zone. This led to Carrier getting beaten. Noesen’s pass sprung Hischier such that Carrier had no legal or even illegal way of stopping #13. You could even argue that Skjei could have tried skating in a different direction for the grab or not trying to sweep the puck after dropping it was another error. But my ire would be for Forsberg giving up on the play entirely and Carrier just being a confused observer.
As for the finish, this was the luckiest of the three. Hischier admitted he mis-hit the puck during a second period intermission interview. It surprised him and Saros, which led to the puck going in. Even so, plenty of work happened to make that luck even possible. No one is going to take that away from the scoreboard, the scoresheet, or the memories of the People Who Matter around the world who witnessed Hischier making history in person or through a broadcast.
Overall Conclusions
Nico Hischier deserves all of the accolades, the praise, the flowers, and the adulation for scoring a natural hat trick. As mentioned at the top of this post, history was indeed made. Both as a New Jersey Devil and as a Swiss-born NHL player. He finished all of these plays covered in this post. As much as I highlight and emphasize process over results, effective (not necessarily good!) processes have to provide the results. Hischier provided that against one of the better goaltenders in the NHL in Juuse Saros.
I would like to think that Hischier would be the first to tell you that his goals were the result of his teammates too. Which these breakdowns truly showed. The first goal does not happen without a big block from Brett Pesce, a zone exit by Luke Hughes, and a crucial pass by Timo Meier. The second goal is a function of Nico Hischier finding Dougie Hamilton for a big one-timer and Stefan Noesen solely creating chaos to have the loose puck smacked right out to Hischier. The third goal is a result of Jonas Siegenthaler keeping defensive possession going, Meier lobbing a zone exit, and Noesen absolutely hustling to win a puck from Skjei to feed Hischier in for a breakaway. Hockey is very much a team game and these breakdowns tend to show that. These goals are no different.
Of course, the breakdowns also show where the opponents suffered. As a whole, I get a sense of why Nashville has been so bad this season. They just do not know how to take advantage of the situations they are in. Two defensemen back in the neutral zone against one puck carrier and one forward off the puck is a manageable situation. The Predators defenders focused on the puck carrier, leaving Hischier open. They did not play aggressive enough so Meier was able to make a pass to Hischier streaking into the zone. That is rough. As was seeing three Nashville penalty killers – and Nashville’s PK has been successful this season! – unable to find a loose puck from one Stefan Noesen. Saros had to knock it away and he knocked it away only for Hischier to full-send it back. Again, the Preds had a manageable and a strong numbers advantage and somehow lost. On the final goal, the Preds had a 3-on-2 situation in the neutral zone with Skjei grabbing the puck ended with Noesen winning the puck from Skjei, Forsberg drifting away aimlessly, and Carrier just watching Hischier score the hat trick goal. I know these were just three plays but the Preds just handled each manageable situation the wrong way. These details have to be cleaned up for the Nashville to find some more victories or at least be more competitive in games. Credit to the Devils for making them pay.
Your Take
That was the breakdown of each of the three goals in Nico Hischier’s all-natural, all-awesome hat trick over Nashville. You have now read what I saw in each of those three plays. I want to know what you thought about any or all three of them. What did you learn from these breakdowns? How impressed were you with Noesen and Meier to help make these goals happen? How surprised were you with Nashville’s errors on either or all three goals by Hischier? Please leave your answers and other thoughts on this breakdown of the natural hat trick in the comments. Thank you for reading.