Filed under: Rangers
New York Rangers rookie center Derek Stepan became the first player in the 85-year history of the team to score three goals in his NHL debut.The 20-year-old powered the Rangers to a 6-3 win on Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres in New York's season opener at Buffalo. Stepan became the fourth player in NHL history to notch a hat trick in their first NHL game.
"I was just kind of getting my feet wet in my first NHL game. And it was a fun process," Stepan said. "I guess for me, it's just one of those things where you kind of go, 'I guess I got lucky.'"
His first goal might have been lucky, but his next two weren't. Stepan's first goal opened the game's scoring and came off a Dan Girardi shot that hit Sabres' defenseman Tyler Myers' skate before sneaking behind the back of the net. But Stepan's next two goals were impressive, both scored in the second period only 3:12 apart from each other to put the Rangers up 4-1.
The last player to net three goals in his first NHL game was Fabian Brunnstrom of the Dallas Stars, who did it on Oct. 15, 2008. The other two players are Real Cloutier, who did it with Quebec in 1979, and Alex Smart who did it with Montreal in 1943.
Even more impressive was that Stepan accomplished the hat trick against last year's Vezina Trophy winner and American Olympian Ryan Miller.
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