WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers begin a five-game road trip on Thursday in Buffalo. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 5:08 p.m. MT.
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On that night, it was Wayne Gretzky netting a hat trick in a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Flash forward 34 years, and it was the Real Deal, not the Great One, bringing the hats to the ice.
"I was one year out of being a rookie in the league," Head Coach Dave Tippett laughed post-game. "That was a long time ago."
James Neal recorded goals No. 17, 18, and 19 to ring in '20, including the game's opening tally 11 seconds into the contest as part of a three-goal first period that was closed out by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' eighth goal of the season.
"I hope his streak continues," Tippett said. "He's at 19 goals, and if you would've said at the start of the year he'd have 19 goals at the halfway mark, you'd probably like that. He's in a good place."
Leon Draisaitl's power-play marker to begin the second frame might've been the best gift he could've received to end 2019.
Despite sitting second in NHL scoring behind his teammate Connor McDavid, the German had been 'honest' in the assessment of his own game after posting a -20 plus/minus since November 16.
Neal wired a one-timer off the feed from McDavid for his second hat trick for the Blue & Orange on another Oilers man advantage just 12 seconds later after going 11-straight games on home ice without a single goal, let alone three.
"Goals come in waves," Neal said. "It's happened a lot of times in my career over courses of different things, and it felt good tonight."
When it's going your way, it's going your way. That was just the case when Josh Archibald slid his third of the season five-hole past an under-siege Alexander Georgiev, who yielded six goals on 24 shots before giving way to Henrik Lundqvist.
But it wouldn't be that easy.
