Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom made it rain hats tonight. Nicky scored the first regular-season hat trick of his career and the Caps’ first natural hat trick since Alex Semin did it in 2010. Backstrom’s only other hatty came against the Habs in the 2010 playoffs (OMG DONT REMIND ME).

First Goal, Second Period

Backhand, nice.

Second Goal – Second Period

Switches from the backhand to the forehand, puts home the rebound. Okay, that’s cool.

Third goal – Third Period

Right along the ice to the right corner. Okay, that’s deece. (GIFs by @myregularface)

Backstrom celebrated in typical Swedish fashion. He basically had no reaction.

coming soon to EPIX: backstrom is thrilled pic.twitter.com/lLs3nVpCQd

— steph (@myregularface) December 14, 2014

He’s all like, “Oh look, I score again. I wonder how far along I am in knitting that hat for my grandma. Maybe I check on that later tonight.”

Backstrom, on whether he sensed a big day coming: "No, actually I woke up a little grumpy from my nap."

— Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) December 14, 2014

What a night for Nicky. He leads the Caps in points with 30 in 28 games. He’s quietly having another sensational year.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Lightning