Ranking VGK’s 20 Hat Tricks From Most To Least Memorable

Pavel Dorofeyev netted the Golden Knights’ first hat trick of the season last night in Nashville and became the second youngest Golden Knight to ever score three in a single game. Unfortunately, because it came in a loss, it probably won’t go down as one of the more memorable hat tricks in team history.

There have been 20 hat tricks since Vegas started playing games in 2017. Here are all of them, ranked from least memorable to the unlikely to ever be defeated most memorable one in June of 2023.

**NHL.com took down a lot of the highlights of the goals, so if you click the date, it’ll bring you to a YouTube video of that games goals.**

#20 – Jonathan Marchessault at New York Rangers
January 26th, 2024

It’s barely a year old and yet still it’s hard to really remember this game for some reason. Marchessault had three goals on three shots beating one of the best goalies in the world, Igor Shesterkin.

#19 – Jack Eichel vs Columbus
March 19th, 2022

This was one of the worst goaltended games ever played against the Golden Knights. Eichel’s first two goals were both horrendous errors by the goalie. His third one was nifty though.

#18 – Jonathan Marchessault vs Winnipeg
November 2nd, 2023

Get used to seeing Marchessault’s name on this list, he has 7 of the 20 hat tricks in team history. He has a way of terrorizing Connor Hellebuyck and that’s exactly what he did in this game.

#17 – Jonathan Marchessault vs. Pittsburgh
January 19th, 2019

There were 10 goals in this game and six of them were scored before Marchessault even began his quest for a hat trick. His first broke the 3-3 tie, then he extended the lead to 5-3, and eventually tapped in the empty netter with an assist from Marc-Andre Fleury.

#16 – Mark Stone vs Nashville
January 15th, 2024

Bonus points for this hat trick as one of the few that didn’t include an empty netter. VGK had been limping at the time with a 3-8-0 record but Stone’s heroics helped turn that around as this win helped spur a 7-1-1 run. It was Stone’s first (and only) career regular season hat trick.

#15 – Reilly Smith vs St. Louis
May 8th, 2021

Smith’s only hatty with the Golden Knights came in front of a limited crowd due to COVID. It was one of the only games in franchise history in which VGK scored a goal at even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, and into an empty net. Smith had all of them beside the shorty.

#14 – Jonathan Marchessault vs Detroit
March 9th, 2024

What was great about this hat trick was that it kind of gave the belief that Marchessault might be able to get to Karlsson’s 43 goal record last year. With the season winding down it didn’t seem like Marchessault was going to be able to do it, but goals 33, 34, and 35 all coming in the same game gave the chase hope.

#13 – Pavel Dorofeyev at Nashville
January 14th, 2025

Of course, recency bias plays a factor here but it was the first hat trick of this season and the first of Dorofeyev’s career. It wouldn’t surprise me if years from now his name is on the list many more times which could help make this one mean a bit more despite the loss.

#12 – William Karlsson at Anaheim
February 23rd, 2020

Right before the league shut down for COVID, Karlsson potted a hat trick against the team who drafted him. The 2nd and 3rd goals appeared to seal the game for VGK, but a pair of late goals from Anaheim sent it to OT. VGK won in OT 6-5 in what was a wild one.

#11 – William Karlsson vs Calgary
March 3rd, 2018

Karlsson potted VGK’s first ever hat trick (it comes later in this list) and then added the first ever natural hat trick three months later. The game was tied at 0-0 after the 1st period and then VGK exploded for four in the 2nd, including all three of Karlsson’s goals.

#10 – Dylan Coghlan at Minnesota
March 10th, 2021

This is one of the only ones (along with Dorofeyev’s yesterday) that came in a loss, but it’s still the only defenseman to do it, it’s the youngest player ever to do it, and it’s still unbelievable he scored a hat trick. Coghlan has six career goals in 112 games in the NHL and somehow three of them came in the same game. They were the only three goals he scored that season. It all just seems so improbable that you can’t forget it.

#9 – Jonathan Marchessault at New Jersey
December 3rd, 2019

It wasn’t the first natural hat trick in franchise history but it absolutely was the most memorable at the time. It’s quite similar to Marchessault’s other natural hat trick which you’ll find later in this list as #81 scored three straight 3rd period goals to turn a one goal deficit into a two goal lead. It took just over eight minutes.

#8 – Jonathan Marchessault vs Colorado (Round 2 Game 4)
July 6th, 2021

In a must-win Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena, Marchessault potted a goal in each period to help VGK blow out the Avs and even a series that looked incredibly lopsided the wrong way after two games.

#7 – Max Pacioretty vs St. Louis
January 26th, 2021

Pacioretty’s only hat trick with the Golden Knights was a gem. In a wild back and forth game in which former Misfit David Perron was terrorizing VGK, Pacioretty’s first goal cut the St. Louis lead from 3-2, then his second made it 4-3 Blues, and the final one with less than five minutes left tied the score at 4. Vegas went on to win in shootout. (Pacioretty didn’t take a shootout attempt, which kind of seems criminal looking back.)

#6 – Mark Stone vs San Jose (First Round Game 3)
April 14th, 2019

VGK’s first ever playoff hat trick was really the true arrival onto the VGK scene for Mark Stone. It was no secret to anyone how great he was when they traded for him earlier that season but to then post a hat trick in the playoffs against Vegas’ most hated rival, that’s future captain material. It may have been the berth of #ExpressiveMarkStone too.

#5 – William Karlsson vs Toronto
December 31st, 2017

The first hat trick in team history came in a game that seemed to cement the belief of so many in VGK fandom and in the hockey world about the legitimacy of the Golden Knights and William Karlsson. Of all 19 hat tricks, this one saw the most hats thrown onto the ice from Vegas fans.

#4 – Jonathan Marchessault at Edmonton (Round 2 Game 6)
May 14th, 2023

The soon-to-be Conn Smythe winner said night night to an incredibly tense and hate-filled series against the Oilers. Marchessault’s 2nd period natural hat trick flipped the game from 2-1 EDM to 4-2 VGK and buried Vegas’ newest rival. It was the defining moment of Marchessault’s Conn Smythe campaign and it will forever be one of the most memorable strings of goals on the 2023 Cup run.

#3 – Mattias Janmark vs Minnesota (Round 1 Game 7)
May 28th, 2021

Unlikely source at an unlikely time. We’ll probably go decades before we see another Game 7 hat trick, and for it to come from a guy who had just one goal in his 21 game VGK career up to that point is insane.

#2 – Jack Eichel at Buffalo
November 10th, 2022

Despite there being four other hat tricks that happened in postseason games, Eichel’s hatty against the Sabres was unforgettable. Buffalo fans booed every time he touched the puck the entire game and yet he went on to break their hearts over and over again. Then, he hit them with the “are you not entertained” pose after the empty netter to seal it. Chef’s kiss.

#1 – Mark Stone vs Florida (Stanley Cup Final Game 5)
June 13th, 2023

The granddaddy of them all. Stone became the first player to record a hat trick in a Stanley Cup Final clinching game since 1922. And to make it even crazier, he broke his wrist in the 1st period after scoring the first goal and still went on to score two more. It’s going to take something monumental to ever knock this one off the top spot in VGK history.