Mikko Rantanen had his second hat trick in as many games Wednesday, lifting the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round.
But his epic Game 7 hat trick for the Dallas Stars in Game 7 of the first round against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday did more than knock his former team out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It provided the winning score for Hockey Fights Cancer powered by the V Foundation presented by AstraZeneca.
The forward’s three-goal third period put AstraZeneca over the top in the season-long NHL Hat Trick Challenge, reaching its donation goal of $300,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation.
It was the 80th hat trick of the NHL season and it was historic. The forward became the first player to score all three goals of a hat trick in a single period of a Game 7.
Before the season, AstraZenaca pledged to donate $3,000 for every hat trick scored during the regular season to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation.
There were 77 hat tricks in the regular season, making the total $231,000.
They upped the donation to $23,000 for each hat trick in the playoffs, meaning three hat tricks would get them to the $300,000 mark.
The first came from St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round against the Winnipeg Jets on April 24. Three days later, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes scored three against the New Jersey Devils in Game 3. And Saturday, Rantanen capped the donation at $300,000 with his historic hat trick.
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