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This was one cookie that didn't crumble.
Running on a mixture of Oreos and adrenaline, Noel Acciari (often referred to by his teammates as "Cookie" due to his sugary pre-game ritual) took his game to another level during his first tour of duty with the Florida Panthers, breaking out on offense to the tune of a career-high 20 goals

"Wherever I'm plugged in, I'm going to play the same game and do what I can do to help out the team and the line," said Acciari, who joined the Panthers on a three-year deal this past summer after spending the first four seasons of his career in Boston. "It's been working out for whatever line I've been on. Those guys help me, and I think I help them. I just want to continue with that."
A hard-nosed forward with a reputation for throwing hits and blocking shots -- two areas he still excelled in, but we'll get to that later -- Acciari's sudden and surprising spike on offense came to a head when he became just the second player in franchise history to net consecutive hat tricks.
Joining Pavel Bure as the only other Panther to achieve the feat, Acciari's first-career hat trick came during a 6-1 win over Ottawa on Dec. 16. Then, just four days after that, he copied and pasted that performance with yet another three-goal night in 7-4 win against Dallas on Dec. 20.
Adding to the drama, Acciari's hat trick-clinching goal against the Stars came on a penalty shot. "I followed that the puck as soon as it left my stick to see if it went through," said Acciari, who also became just the eighth player in the NHL's modern era to notch hat tricks in consecutive contests. "Once I saw it, I was just relieved."
For efforts, Acciari earned national recognition and took home a pair of awards, winning the both the NHL's "First Star of the Week" and the NHLPA's "Player of the Week" on Dec. 22.
"I'm just so happy for him," said Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who assisted on five of Acciari's goals this season after the duo teamed up on the second line. "He works so hard. To get two hat tricks, it's impressive. I don't even have one yet. It's nice for him to get two in a row."
Prior to this season, Acciari had scored just 18 career goals in 180 career NHL games. "I never thought with my numbers before that I'd do it," Acciari said. "It's an awesome feeling."
Despite this newfound goal-scoring acumen, Acciari didn't divert from his usual wrecking ball-style of play on the ice. In addition to leading Florida in hits (121), the 28-year-old also earned more his fair share of maintenance days while leading all NHL forwards in blocked shots (103).
A penalty-killing specialist, he also ranked third on the Cats in shorthanded ice time (167:30).
"He comes to work every night," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. "He's definitely a guy that when you see the way he battles every night. Whether it's hitting guys, blocking shots, or scoring goals, he's definitely a guy you want to have on your team."
Only a year removed from reaching the Stanley Cup Final with the Bruins, Acciari finished second on the Panthers in hits (13) and tied for first in blocked shot (7) during last month's Stanley Cup Qualifiers - a best-of-five series won by the New York Islanders in four games.
Looking ahead, Acciari will likely continue to be a model of success for Florida's bottom-six.
"If you take a peek at the way that he plays, I think everyone wants to play like that," Panthers winger Colton Sceviour said. "I can't imagine he's too much fun to play against at the best of times. Then when he's also scoring, there's more pressure placed on the opponent. I think his style of guy translates well and it's something that we can all take a page out of."

COOL STAT

Late in the season, Panthers coach Joel Quenneville gave Acciari a new nickname.
"The Repairman."
Thanks to his chameleon-like ability to slide into any spot in the lineup, Acciari held the honor of being Quenneville's go-to guy whenever a line needed a shot in the arm. In turn, this led to the versatile forward seeing quite a bit of ice time with nearly everyone on the roster at some point.
Taking a look at NaturalStatTrick.com, Acciari spent at least 50 minutes of ice time at 5-on-5 play with nine different forwards. The results of that mix-and-match deployment also showed up in the box score, as 11 different Panthers earned at least one assist on his 20 goals in 2019-20.
"It seems like whatever line he gets to, that line seems to have some success," Quenneville said of Acciari. "He gets some responsible shifts and matchups [in games] and usually gets the job done. The [offensive] production is a bonus for us, but he's had a special year."
Out of all of his linemates, Acciari saw the most time at 5-on-5 with Sceviour (321:37).

BEST GAME

I imagine this is what it's like having to pick a favorite among two children.
That being said, Acciari's second hat-trick was just a bit more impressive than his first.
Ushering in an incredible visual orchestra of rats hurtling towards the ice for the second time in as many games, Acciari, who had no multi-goal games prior to this season, recorded his second straight hat trick to help lift the Panthers to a 7-4 win over the Stars at BB&T Center on Dec. 20.
With two goals already in tow, Acciari was sent to the first penalty shot of his career at 11:25 of the second period. Joking afterwards that his goal was simply to "not fall," he skated in all alone on Anton Khudobin before slipping a shot through his five-hole to complete his historic hat trick.

Scoring three times within a span of 3:59, his hat trick stands as fastest in the franchise history.
"The whole bench was pretty excited about it," Quenneville said when asked about Acciari's penalty shot. "I'm glad they awarded him the penalty shot. It was fun for everybody knowing that he's got the magic touch right now. I think everybody in the whole building was happy for him."
Adding an assist earlier in the game, Acciari finished the night with a career-high four points.

GOAL OF THE YEAR

While both of his hat tricks were certainly nice, this goal was vintage Acciari.
By outmuscling a defender near the top of the crease, he creates just enough space to get his stick on the puck and tip it past Alex Stalock with 5.6 seconds left on the clock to make it a 5-4 game and send the Panthers to a stunning win over the Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Jan. 20.
Making history - again - the goal gave the Cats their first-ever regulation win in Minnesota.

"We'll take that type of game, but every game's kind of different with how it plays out," Quenneville said. "Our group finds a way to score some big goals, very timely goals, and none more timely than the one at the end."
Coming up big in the clutch, Acciari led Florida with five game-winning goals this season.