St. Louis Blues left winger Pavel Buchnevich of Cherepovets, Russia recorded his first career National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff hat trick on Thursday. He accomplished the feat in a dominant 7-2 Blues win over the Winnipeg Jets at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. With the win, the Blues won their first game of the series, but still trail the best out of seven series two games to one. The fact that the Blues scored seven times against the Jets could be considered very surprising because the Jets have the best goaltender in the game, Connor Hellebuyck of Commerce Township, Michigan.
This was the first hat trick by any player in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It came on the same night as the first shutout of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both accomplishments were by Russians as Sergei Bobrovsky of Novokuznetsk, Russia made 19 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 2-0 Panthers win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Buchnevich’s three goals
Buchnevich scored the first two goals of the game. He opened the scoring from Jimmy Snuggerud of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Cam Fowler of Farmington Hills, Michigan at the 48 second mark of the first period. Buchnevich then put the Blues up 2-0 from Robert Thomas of Aurora, Ontario and Fowler at 3:11 of the first period on the power-play. Buchnevich’s hat trick came at 5:24 of the third period from Thomas to put the Blues up 4-1.
Buchnevich’s four prior regular season hat tricks
Buchnevich’s four prior hat tricks came in the regular season. He accomplished the feat first as a member of the New York Rangers in a 6-3 Rangers win over the New Jersey Devils on April 17, 2021. The next three regular season hat tricks were with the Blues. They came in an 8-5 Blues loss to the Minnesota Wild on March 15, 2023, in an 8-2 Blues win over the Colorado Avalanche on November 11, 2023, and in a 4-0 Blues win over the New York Islanders on February 22, 2024.
