Saint Paul. There was a hat on Pratt last night.
Because he – Jesper Pratt – completed the first hat-trick in his NHL career, at the same time reaching 30 goals for the first time, when New Jersey beat Tampa.
“Of course it’s very interesting, but above all I’m very happy with our balance and maturity in this match,” the 24-year-old tells Sportbladet after the 5-2 win.
No, it’s not just a silly pun, that first sentence in the preamble.
It really was that Jesper Pratt sat with a hat on his head in the booth during the final seconds of the Devils’ away game against Tampa at Amalie Arena last night.
Shortly before that, a distant fan was hurled from the stands, when the 24-year-old pumped a 5-2 from Stocksund into Tampa’s empty box.
Because then he completed his first career hat-trick in the NHL – and the captain of the team, Niko Hischer, to the delight of Bratten, thought it fit his helmet.
It was of course fun to get the first hat-trick and reach 30 goals for the first time, says the 24-year-old from Transsund outside Stockholm when we meet him afterwards.
– But above all, I’m very happy with the way we played tonight, and how we responded to the game yesterday.
Then the Devils lost to the Panthers at Sunrise and ended up going 2-0 last night as well. But then the Jersey Devil – and Jesper – woke up.
All five played for 60 minutes and showed maturity and poise, so we won a very difficult and important game, says Jesper.
Or brat-trick-jesper as some are calling it now…
