The odds certainly weren't in Sam Bennett's favour.
With one goal in his previous 19 starts, the Calgary Flames rookie was set to face the visiting Florida Panthers, who entered Wednesday night's tilt having won 12 of their past 13 outings and had only allowed three goals in a game twice since Dec. 15.
And starting in goal for Florida was Roberto Luongo, who boasted a .953 save percentage during a recent personal-best nine-game win streak and sported a 2.08 goals-against average and .930 save percentage on the season.
Undaunted, Bennett proceeded to score three times in 17 minutes one second against Luongo for his first multi-goal performance in the NHL, becoming the youngest Flame to score a hat trick at 19 years, six months.
It's @SBennett93's first multi-goal game. It's a hat trick. It took him 17 minutes. https://t.co/DWBzfyt8RB
— @NHL
Many in the crowd at the Saddledome had yet to settle in their seats when Bennett wristed a Jiri Hudler pass by Luongo 56 seconds after the opening faceoff.
After Johnny Gaudreau made it 2-0, Bennett scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season five minutes apart in his 41st game of the season.
Well that was AWESOME !! I'd say Sam Bennett's slump is officially over #FirstPeriodHatTrick #FLAMES http://pic.twitter.com/LABJdCTEGb
— @GMoneyDC1
Bennett, like many NHL rookies, has experienced some ups and downs as far as scoring this season. The Flames' fourth overall pick in 2014 mustered just one assist in his first eight games but then struck for four goals and 10 points in the first two weeks of November before Calgary head coach Bob Hartley toyed with the idea of making Bennett a healthy scratch in December.
The native of Holland Landing, Ont., made his NHL debut in Calgary's final regular-season game of the 2014-15 campaign and went on to score three goals and four points in 11 playoff contests.
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