Time Machine Thursday: Philadelphia Flyers Eric Lindros Records Consecutive Hat Tricks

Eric Lindros celebrates a goal scored in 1995. On March 20, 1995, Big E recorded his second hat trick in consecutive games in an 8-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens. (Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer)

Hat trick’s are pretty impressive. To score three times in one game is such a great individual effort, that to celebrate we throw our $35 hats that we love onto an ice surface, only to never see them again. That, or we see that hat inside the Wells Fargo Center” hat trick display on the first level of the concourse.

But what Philadelphia Flyer legend Eric Lindros did on March 18 and 20 of 1995 was truly something. On March 18, he recorded a hat trick in a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers, putting the team on his back for the win.

The next game on March 20 against the Montreal Canadiens, Lindros repeated the feat in an 8-4 Flyers victory. Lindros became only the second Flyer in team history to record a hat trick in back to back games. Rick Tochett was the first to accomplish this feat, where he recorded hat tricks against the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks in 1988.

Also from the vault of Flyers history this week:

• Bobby Clarke earned his 1,000th NHL point in a 5-0 win over the Boston Bruins on March 19, 1981.
• Barry Ashbee and Gary Dornhoefer were inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame on March 21, 1991.
• On March 22, 1984, the Flyers scored 13 goals en route to a 13-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 13 goals are the most goals in one game in team history.