Bryan Rust’s three goals in three ways harkens back to Mario Lemieux

Do you remember Mario Lemieux’s five goals in five ways game? Scoring five goals in a single game is hard enough; scoring them in five completely different ways - even strength, on the powerplay, shorthanded, on a penalty shot, and on an empty net - is even more ridiculous. Not only does that take a lot of skill; it takes an insane amount of luck, too.

Which is probably why Lemieux is the only player to date to have achieved the feat.

Bryan Rust didn’t exactly match him in his hat trick, but he is the first to have done something similar. Via the Elias Sports Bureau:

Rust is the first NHL player to produce a hat trick that included both a penalty-shot goal and an empty-net goal since Mario Lemieux did that in his five-goal game for the Penguins against the Devils on New Year's Eve 1988.

Three goals in three ways is pretty good, too! Especially when you’re doing it in a way that hasn’t been touched in nearly 30 years.