New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier ends scoring drought with hat trick vs. Preds

New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier led the league in scoring through most of October. It helped that he had a two-game head start on most of the league, as the Devils put up two big wins against the Buffalo Sabres in Prague to start the season. It was still impressive to see Hischier's scoring touch really come out, as he finished the month of October with 10 goals in 13 games. He finished the month on a four-game goal streak.

Then, Hischier went into a huge scoring slump in November. Coming into Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators, Hischier failed to score in nine November games. He did have six assists, so he was at least contributing, but the Devils needed more from their captain. He showed up in a big way on Monday night.

After the Devils went down 1-0 in the first period, Erik Haula tied the score to make it even at the first intermission. In the second period, Hischier dominated. He scored three consecutive goals to beat Juuse Saros, one of the best goalies in the world.

The first goal came off a really good pass from Timo Meier. Hischier was coming up the right with speed, so Meier threw it Hischier's way so he could take it into the zone. Hischier let the puck softly come off the boards, and he raced past both Predators defenders. He was in on Saros alone, and he slipped it in his five hole.

The second goal came off another nice pass, this time from Stefan Noesen on the power play. Dougie Hamilton hit a blast up close that dropped a few feet in front of Saros. Noesen was able to get his stick behind the defender and send a backhanded pass to Hischier, who rocketed it into the net.

Hischier finished his first-career hat trick thanks to Noesen again. Strong board play helped the puck go right to Hischier's stick, who was then all alone to run up on Saros. He flicked his wrist and found the back of the net.

Hischier is back near the top of the goals leaderboard after his slow November. He's tied for sixth in goals with Kirill Kaprizov, Connor McMichael, and Kyle Connor. Hischier is having a Selke-level season, also putting in four minutes on the PK on Monday night and allowing zero high-danger chances according to Natural Stat Trick.

It was a near-perfect night for the Devils captan, as his team finished the job with a 5-2 win. This was an important win as the Devils near the end of a brutal November schedule.