Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone was at his lethal best for Team Canada today as he netted a hat-trick at the IIHF World Championships.
Stone was the standout star for his country as Team Canada thrashed Germany 8-1 in Group A as the Vegas Golden Knights continue to be well represented on the international stage.
🚨🇨🇦 Hatty alert! @MStoner61 gets his third of the game from the slot after a German turnover behind the net 🎩🎩🎩 pic.twitter.com/WfmEPC0yoM
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 18, 2019
Shea Theodore was held without a point in the game but Jonathan Marchessault played a starring role as he laid on two assists, including a secondary helper on Stone’s second tuck of the day.
Stone, who tallied 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 18 regular season games for Vegas before putting up six goals and six assists for 12 points in the playoffs, potted home a rebound to double Team Canada’s advantage after Thomas Chabot of the Ottawa Senators had opened the scoring with an absolute rocket from the point.
Team Canada’s power play was red hot this game and it continued to hum in the second period when Marchessault found Dylan Strome who in turn fed Stone at the back door, with the power forward doing the rest to make it 3-0.
And Stone completed his hatty soon after Yasin Ehliz pulled one back for Germany, converting from a Pierre-Luc Dubois dish.
Team Canada continued to roll in the third period and their offense exploded into life with four unanswered goals, including an absolute beauty from Anthony Mantha who rolled the puck between his legs before supplying the sublime finish.
Mantha, of the Detroit Red Wings, would tally a second for his tournament-leading seventh goal before Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Reinhart and Anthony Cirelli of the Tampa Bay Lightning also got in on the act to finish off Germany and move Team Canada up to second in the Group A standings.
Stone now has six points (five goals, one assist) at the IIHF World Championships, Marchessault has seven (two goals, five assists) and Theodore has five points (one goal, four assists).
Elsewhere, it was also a good day for Nikita Gusev who tallied a goal as Team Russia defeated Latvia 3-1. Gusev now has three goals and six assists for nine points as he continues to shine for his country in the tournament.