The Sutter family has had plenty of big moments in hockey.
Six brothers reached the National Hockey League in the late 1970s and early 1980s, winning a combined six Stanley Cups. One of those, Darryl, won two more championships as a coach.
Three of their offspring have also reached the NHL.
While it wasn’t a Cup-winning goal, Brandon Sutter added to the family legacy Monday on a late breakaway.
The 31-year-old forward recorded his first career three-goal game as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the visiting Ottawa Senators 7-1 in the opener of a three-game series. The Senators and Canucks will meet again Wednesday and Thursday in Vancouver.
It was the first NHL hat trick by a member of the Sutter family since Brandon’s father, Brent, accomplished the feat March 17, 1990, for the New York Islanders against the New York Rangers. Brent Sutter had six hat tricks in his career.
Brandon Sutter scored a goal in each period Monday. He completed the hat trick with an unassisted goal with 54 seconds remaining.
“It only took me 13 years to get one,” he said. “I was pretty pumped. You never know if you’re going to get one as you get older.”
Brandon Sutter opened the season on the wing on the Canucks’ fourth line but recently was moved up to center the third line last weekend.
“Anytime someone scores a hat trick, it’s always a good feeling,” Canucks coach Travis Green said. “But obviously in this scenario, a guy that doesn’t get a lot of recognition for offense, you feel good for ‘Sutts.'”
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Thatcher Demko made 35 saves for his first victory of the season as the Canucks won in regulation for the first time since their home opener on Jan. 13.
Tanner Pearson had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Motte, Quinn Hughes and Olli Juolevi also scored for the Canucks. It was the first NHL goal for Juolevi, the fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft. Bo Horvat added two assists.
“I just like that we stuck with our game,” Green said. “We didn’t waver. Sometimes if you get up 3-1, 4-1, sometimes you can kind of take your foot off the gas. We just needed to get a win, whether it was 2-1, 1-0, 3-2. And more importantly, just play a real solid game for 60 minutes and I thought we accomplished that.”
Austin Watson scored Ottawa’s lone goal midway through the second period and Matt Murray made 28 saves.
The Senators are winless in their past five games (0-4-1) and coach D.J. Smith hinted lineup changes might be coming.
“We got some guys that maybe are taking for granted positions in the National Hockey League,” Smith said. “We’ve got to find the right combination and we’ve got to give some other guys opportunity to see if they want to play a little harder than some of the guys that are playing now.”
Forward Tim Stutzle, the third overall pick in the 2020 draft, returned to the Senators’ lineup Monday after missing three games with a wrist injury. Stutzle was a minus-4 in 12:37 on the ice.
–Field Level Media