Jesse Puljujarvi scores hat trick in first game of the NHL year
The first games of the NHL preseason kicked off tonight, and there might not have been a bigger winner than former Oiler Jesse Puljujarvi.
Just over one minute into the first period, Puljujarvi scored the first goal of the preseason with a clean tip-in. Midway through the second period, Puljujarvi scored two goals in 19 seconds to complete the hat trick, and both were beauties. On the road in Buffalo, just one hat came down on the ice for the Bison King.
Puljujarvi even got engaged physically during the game, standing up for a teammate after a big hit in the corner. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has noted that Puljujarvi looks much better this year compared to last. Despite Puljujarvi's best efforts, the Penguins lost 7-3 to the Sabres.
It's fantastic to see Puljujarvi having some early success with Pittsburgh this preseason as he looks to rebuild his NHL career. Puljujarvi had double hip surgery last offseason, and signed a two-year contract with the Penguins midway through last season. He played a few weeks in the AHL while recovering from the hip surgery, and then got into 22 games with the Penguins to end the year. Puljujarvi had the same problems as he did in Edmonton, only scoring 3 goals and 4 points.
After being chosen 4th overall by the Oilers in the 2016 Draft, fans had extremely high expectations for their Finnish power forward. Despite a few solid runs between 2020-2022, Puljujarvi was just never able to meet offensive expectations and struggled to produce even when next to Connor McDavid. The Oilers ended up trading him at the deadline in 2023 to the Carolina Hurricanes for Patrik Puistola.
Puljujarvi always gave his best effort in Edmonton and was genuinely a lovable personality who fully embraced Oil Country. Wherever he goes in his career, Puljujarvi will have a large portion of fans in Edmonton.
Source for Puljujarvi Stats: PuckPedia - Jesse Puljujarvi
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