Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan had played 1,160 NHL games, all with the same franchise, heading into tonight's tilt against the New York Islanders. He's been an All-Star twice and scored 20-plus goals in 10 of the past 11 seasons. One individual accomplishment that's eluded Doan has been the hat trick. In 1,160 games, Doan has had 38 2-goal games, but never been able to get that third one.
During the Coyotes' 5-1 win over the Islanders on Saturday night, Doan finally got his hat trick in dramatic fashion.
As time was winding down in the third period, Doan's shot beat Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov as the final buzzer went off. A review of the shot showed that Doan waited until the last possible second, literally, to record his memorable first hat trick:
Please recall the Coyotes were burned by a buzzer beater from the New York Rangers and Brad Richards last month. This time, however, the game was well in hand and the Coyotes were trying desperately to help their captain out in the final period.
As Doan pointed out to NHL.com last month, he did net a hat trick for Team Canada against Belarus during the 2007 World Championships. But doing it for the Coyotes, at the NHL level, in the final second of a win, has to be much sweeter for him.
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
Photo credit: Getty Images