Anthony Duclair made an immediate impact in the Islanders' home game against the Devils on Tuesday night, scoring a hat trick to help extend the Islanders' lead to 4-0.
Entering Tuesday, there had been 40 hat tricks in the NHL in the 2025-26 regular season, but Duclair's on Tuesday night might have been the most improbable and impressive one we have seen this season.
Why was Anthony Duclair's hat trick against the Devils so impressive?
Duclair didn't play in the Islanders' last two games, and entered Tuesday night with just 4 goals in 39 games this season. That's an average of just 0.103 goals, or about a goal every 10 games played.
He's only had 12:58 ATOI (average time on ice) this season, playing a small role on the team compared to other skaters.
His first goal came 4:01 into the first period. It was his first goal since Dec. 2 and just his 12th in 84 games as an Islander.
If that's all he did during the game, it would have been a productive night for Duclair, considering his role and recent struggles, but he decided he needed to contribute more.
About 9 minutes and 30 seconds of game time later, Duclair found the back of the net on another shot, scoring his first multi-goal game since March 2024.
It wasn't over after that, for Duclair, as he scored a third goal just 3 minutes and 29 seconds into the second period.
Duclair, who, on average, has scored one goal every 126.4 minutes on ice this season, managed to score three in just 23 minutes and 29 seconds of gametime (TOI to reach three goals was even less).
You don't have to be a math person or into statistics to understand how special this performance was from Duclair, let alone any player, because of how quickly the feat was achieved.