Three Takeaways from Ottawa Senators-Vancouver Canucks as Sutter makes history
1. Brandon Sutter makes history
What a night for Brandon Sutter. The 31-year-old veteran isn’t a headline act on this Vancouver Canucks team, but he proved on Monday night why he is a key cog in that locker room both on and off the ice. The gritty forward recorded his first career NHL hat trick in his 735th game to help power the Canucks to a big, big win.
With so many of Vancouver’s big stars failing to deliver in the opening couple of weeks of the 2020-21 NHL season, including stud center Elias Pettersson who has just two points (1 G, 1 A) in eight games, the Canucks needed someone to step up and take charge and Sutter was that man.
Loved in the locker room by his teammates, Sutter is a pro’s pro and is a grizzled NHL veteran, but he showed a different side to his game last night with a clinical display in the offensive zone. He scored a goal in each period, including the first goal of the game, backhanding the puck past Matt Murray while falling down to the ice in front of the net.
Make that six members of the Sutter family with an NHL hat trick, as Brandon Sutter joined the list Monday in a 7-1 victory for the @Canucks.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 26, 2021
It was the first NHL hat trick by a Sutter in nearly 31 years: https://t.co/75lPmyXR99 #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/hSItLtXskP
Sutter’s second goal came shorthanded and his hat trick goal came after he forced a turnover in his own zone before skating hard to the net and beating Murray on the forehand, perhaps the epitome of who Brandon Sutter is as a player.
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And, to make a great night even better, Brandon Sutter made history by becoming the sixth Sutter in NHL history to record a career hat trick, while it was the first hat trick by a Sutter in 31 years, which is a hell of a long time. So, on what was a big night for the Vancouver Canucks who needed this win, veteran Brandon Sutter was the star of the show and his first career NHL hat trick could go down as a defining moment when it comes to the fierce race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in an ultra-competitive North Division.