The Most Hat-Tricks In a Single Month in NHL History

With 31 hat-tricks in January, 2026, the league has collectively set a new NHL record for the most hat-tricks recorded in a single month, surpassing the previous record of 29 hat-tricks in December, 1985. Below is the list of every hat-trick recorded this past month.

Every hat-trick in January, 2026. Source: Hockey-Reference

What is especially notable about these 31 hat-tricks is that there was a wide diversity of unexpected players on the list. From AHL callups like Pavol Regenda, to four different defencemen recording hat-tricks in Darren Raddysh, Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Rasmus Dahlin, there were no boundaries for who was capable of scoring three or more goals. The Bouchard and Ekholm pair of hat-tricks was particularly interesting, as it was the first time in NHL history where a team had defencemen recording hat-tricks in back-to-back games. The pair of Bruins, Marat Khusnutdinov and Pavel Zacha, was another interesting instance, as these two recorded hat-tricks in the same game in a 10-2 thrashing over the New York Rangers, with Khusnutdinov recording four goals.

Below depicts how this past month compares to other instances of 25 or more hat-tricks in a single month.

While seasons in the higher scoring 1980s had more total hat-tricks over a total season, and even on a per game basis had more hat-tricks as there were fewer games each month due to fewer teams in the NHL, it is equally impressive to see 31 hat-tricks in a single month in the lower scoring modern era.

What’s also amazing is that this number of 31 hat-tricks could have easily been even higher. In a game between the Capitals and Kraken, Jared McCann scored what fans thought was a hat-trick, but the refs retroactively called a penalty on Matty Beniers (an unusual sequence of events) disallowing McCann’s goal. In the game where the Sharks were in Tampa Bay, fans thought Brandon Hagel recorded a hat-trick, but one of his goals earlier in the game was retroactively awarded to teammate Anthony Cirelli instead. Finally, on the final day of January 31, Nathan MacKinnon came close to recording a hat-trick, but missed a near wide-open net while already having two goals in the game.

Why have there been so many hat-tricks in the month of January, 2026? While it’s largely a coincidence, this record-setting number of hat-tricks is related to the sheer number of games played. Not only is January is a 31-day month, but it’s also a 31-day month that has games every day, unlike October and December. Additionally, this season has a condensed schedule due to the multi-week Olympic break in February, marking the first season with a condensed Olympic schedule since the NHL became a 32-team league. Finally, January, 2026 started on a Thursday and ended on a Saturday. With Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday typically having the highest number of games played compared to the other four days of the week, this month fell into the perfect combination of events to maximize the number of games played, and therefore the number of opportunities for hat-tricks. This month capitalized on the stars aligning, and as a result, a new NHL record for hat-tricks in a single month has been set.