Nanaimo athlete's first NHL goal turns into hat trick

Nanaimo's Dylan Coghlan is pictured after scoring his first NHL goal, which later turned into a hat trick (Vegas Golden Knights / Twitter)

Nanaimo — Nanaimo Minor Hockey product Dylan Coghlan of the Vegas Golden Knights scored his first NHL goal Wednesday night, which turned into a hat trick by the end of the game.

“My first goal and I was lucky to get two more after that. It’s definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Coghlan said during a postgame interview.

The 23-year-old defenseman can't recall the last time he scored three goals in a single game.

“A hat trick, I haven’t had (one) since I was 10, probably, or even younger,” he said.

Coghlan made his NHL debut on Feb. 5 and is only the 10th Nanaimo Minor Hockey product to join the professional hockey league.

To date, Coghlan has four points in 12 games.

Unfortunately, his hat trick wasn’t enough to get the win as the Golden Knights ended up falling to the Minnesota Wild at 4-3.

“I wish we could have got the win, that would have been the icing on the cake,” said Coghlan.

The defenceman formerly played in the Nanaimo Minor Hockey system from 2009 to 2013, before moving onto the North Island Silvertips program.

He signed a three-year entry level contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017.