Carter with Pens hat trick in first 25 minutes
Jeff Carter #JeffCarter
PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – What a night for the veteran Jeff Carter. By 4:36 of the second period, the 36-year-old veteran finished a hat trick.
Carter the first three Pens goals Thursday night in his 13th game as a Penguin.
The first goal wasn’t recognized until the officials looked on replay, Carter’s point blank shot off a Jared McCann pass barely trickled over the goal line to tie the game with Buffalo at 1.
About three minutes later, Carter would score again, this time on the second power play unit. A nice post-up feed from Jason Zucker assisted on the goal to make it 2-1.
After Buffalo tied it, Carter would score early into the second on a feed from defenseman Marcus Pettersson to give the Pens the lead again, 3-2.
According to Pens historian Bob Grove, Carter is the first Penguin with a hat trick against the Sabres since Evgeni Malkin had one on December 17, 2011.
Coming in, Carter had four goals and two assists in black and gold.
The most notable hat trick of Carter’s career game in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals as the Kings beat Phoenix 4-0 in 2012.
The forward acquired for a pair of conditional draft picks from Los Angeles in mid-April.