Colorado Avalanche right winger Valeri Nichushkin of Chelyabinsk, Russia delivered a New Year’s Eve hat trick on Wednesday. He accomplished the feat in a dominant 6-1 Avalanche win over the St. Louis Blues. What we are currently seeing from the Avalanche is very special indeed. They were the most dominant team over the first three months of the 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season, and now have a record of 30 wins, two regular season losses, and seven losses in extra time.
Inside look at the hat trick
Nichushkin scored at exactly the one minute mark of the first period to open the scoring. Artturi Lehkonen of Piikkio, Finland and Brock Nelson of Warroad, Minnesota had the assists. Nichushkin then put the Avalanche up 3-0 at 3:26 of the first period. Defensemen Josh Manson of Hinsdale, Illinois and Brent Burns of Barrie, Ontario had the assists. Nichushkin’s hat trick came with three minutes and 54 seconds left in the game to close out the scoring. Defenseman Sam Malinski of Lakeville, Minnesota and Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax, Nova Scotia had the assists.
Two prior NHL hat tricks
Nichushkin has two prior National Hockey League hat tricks in the past. The first came in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nichushkin scored thrice in a 5-1 Avalanche win over the Winnipeg Jets on April 28, 2024. The goal came in game four of the first round of the 2024 playoffs, a series the Avalanche won in five games. Nichushkin’s second hat trick came on March 8, 2025 in a 7-4 Avalanche win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Nichushkin’s 2025-26 NHL statistics
Nichushkin has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 31 games. He is a +9 with eight penalty minutes, three power-play points, one game-winning goal, 84 shots on goal, two faceoff wins, eight blocked shots, 26 hits, 11 takeaways, and 28 giveaways.
Nichushkin’s game-winning goal came on December 7 in a 3-2 Avalanche win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Nichushkin scored from Victor Olofsson of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden and defenseman Devon Toews of Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Blackwood outplays Binnington
The goaltending matchup in the game was noteworthy as Mackenzie Blackwood of Thunder Bay, Ontario clearly outplayed Jordan Binnington of Richmond Hill, Ontario. Earlier in the day, Binnington was chosen over Blackwood on the Canadian Olympic team for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. Binnington’s selection was a huge surprise because of his terrible season statistically for the Blues. He has a poor goals against average of 3.56 and a poor save percentage of .869.
