Andrew Cristall had another huge game for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets on Friday night.
The Washington Capitals prospect scored three goals in a row for a natural hat trick in his team’s 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Giants.
Named the First Star of the Game for his work, Cristall now has 89 points (34g, 55a) in 51 games during his first post-draft season. He currently ranks sixth in the WHL in overall scoring and his 1.75 point-per-game rate is second among players taken in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Goal 1
Cristall kicked off his big night with the prettiest goal of the three he scored. With Kelowna down 1-0 and on a power play with 16:56 remaining in the second period, the 19-year-old winger went to work.
After grabbing the puck at the top left of the offensive zone, Cristall rushed toward the Vancouver net. With an incredibly smooth curl-and-drag move, he out-waited multiple sliding defenders and the prone Giants netminder to slip an easy backhand marker into the back of the net.
Goal 2
Just a few minutes later with 12:09 left in the second frame and the Rockets on another power play, Cristall doubled his tally. This time he snuck down into the left faceoff circle and fired a quick wrister that clanged off of a defender’s stick in front of a screened Brett Mirwald, ricocheting its way home.
Goal 3
Cristall capped off the natural hatty with an even-strength goal less than four minutes after putting away his second. Kelowna defender Carter Kowalyk won a puck battle in the neutral zone and found Cristall tagging up at the offensive blue line.
Cristall then showcased some of his growing speed and bolted down the left flank before curling to the center of the ice and firing a hard wrist shot. Mirwald got a good chunk of the puck but it still found its way through his pads and over the goal line.
The Capitals’ 2023 second-round draft selection now has three hat tricks this season. Cristall is doing a ton of the offensive work for Kelowna this season, out-pacing the second-highest-scoring player on the Rockets by 23 points.
Kelowna has just 11 games left on their schedule this season. As things currently stand, they are slated to be the seventh seed in the Western Conference for the WHL playoffs. After those playoffs are over, Cristall could make his way to the AHL’s Hershey Bears as one of their playoff black aces.
