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January 14, 2006 - For the second time in a week an Oilers player records his first career NHL hat-trick. Shawn Horcoff was the first, scoring all three Oilers goals in a 3-1 victory over the Penguins. On this night Marc-Andre Bergeron did all the scoring for the Oilers but it wasn’t enough, as the Oilers fell 5-3 to the Ottawa Senators.
On this night a goal from Vaclav Varada would give the Senators the early elad, but Bergeron’s 10th and 11th goals of the season, the second coming on the power play, would put the Oilers ahead by one after the first period. The Senators would respond to the two two Oilers goals with three of their own in the first twelve minutes of the second period. Two minutes later, again on the power play, Bergeron would complete the hat-trick and get the Oilers within one. Varada’s second goal would complete the scoring on this night, securing the win for the Senators.
Bergeron’s final line on this night: 3 goals, 4 penalty minutes, 3 shots on goal, 24:08 minutes played.
For Bergeron this was both the first three goal and three point game of his career and would remain career highs. Before finishing his NHL career with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012/13, Bergeron would have eight more three point games but never reached the four point mark. Similarly he’d have seven more multi goal games; the hat-trick goal remained elusive though.
Today, Bergeron plays for the ZSC Lions in the Swiss League where he’s scored 18 goals and 55 assists in 126 games since leaving the NHL.