Evander Kane becomes fastest player in Edmonton Oilers history to score five hat tricks

If you told me when the Edmonton Oilers signed Evander Kane partway through the 2021-22 season that he would end up breaking a record held by Wayne Gretzky, I probably would’ve laughed at you.

And, to be fair, I’m sure Kane would’ve had the same reaction.

On Friday night, however, he did just that by scoring his fifth hat trick with the Oilers in his 130th game with the team. That gave Kane a narrow edge over Gretzky becoming the fastest player in Edmonton Oilers history to score five hat tricks.

Gretzky’s fifth hat trick came during his 136th game with the Oilers was a little different than Kane’s, coming in a 9-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 18, 1981, in Northlands Coliseum. Gretzky had gotten on the board early in the game, feeding Brett Callighen 2:25 into the game. Ten minutes later, he added another apple, feeding Jari Kurri for a power play marker to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead.

While the Blues got two back on the board by the end of the first, Gretzky would score 4:44 into the second, for his first goal of the night. Mark Messier would add another tally minutes later, as Paul Coffey extended the Oilers’ lead to 5-2 just 36 seconds into the third frame.

Then, it was all Gretzky, scoring four goals in the final 14:11 of the game, including two goals in a nine-second span to secure the hat trick. All in all, a casual five-goal, seven-point performance, one of eight games during Gretzky’s tenure in Edmonton where he scored seven or more points.

For Kane, he hasn’t gotten near those big performances like Gretzky, but he’s had more than a few nice ones of his own. He’s had seven three-point performances, five of them featuring hat tricks, with one of those being a four-point night, thanks to an added assist.

Now with his fifth hat trick under his belt, Kane still has his work cut out for him to catch other notable Oilers players, even though it ties him for sixth with Ryan Smyth and Esa Tikkanen for hat tricks with the team. Ahead of that trio?

With 43 hat tricks with the Oilers, Gretzky has the most of any player in franchise history, followed by Jari Kurri and Glenn Andersson with 20, Mark Messier with 13, and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with 12 and 8 respectively.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.