Hello, Martin Necas.
The Czech forward continues to dazzle this season, this time uncorking a three-goal first period hat trick, the first of his career, against the Colorado Avalanche.
"I waited long enough," Necas said. "I was hoping to get one soon, so it was nice. A good start to the game obviously. They got two back and it was kind of a tight game, but it feels nice. It's always nice to get a hatty with the win."
Necas scored the contest's first three goals in just 16:51 of game time.
He grabbed the first one just 1:52 in as he sliced through the entire Avalanche team in the neutral zone before releasing a shot that befuddled Colorado goaltender Alexander Georgiev.
He picked up his second less than five minutes later on a delayed penalty as he jumped over the boards and found the soft spot on the ice to eventually blast home a Brent Burns setup from the slot.
"Actually [Stefan] Noesen was supposed to go on the ice and he was like, 'Neci, go,'" Necas said. "So I stepped on the ice. So I give him a secondary apple there."
The third came towards the end of the period. After Jaccob Slavin sent a shot from the blueline, Teuvo Teravainen found the rebound in tight and set up Necas at the backdoor for the hatty.
"We've got some good players here, so I know to get open and be ready to shoot it," Necas said. "I've kind of become more of a shooter over the last few games and I feel like that's something I have to be better at.
"That was kind of my thing coming back from injury. I feel like that kind of helped. It's just been a few games but just have to keep it going till the end of the season."
It was Necas' first hat trick since 2016, when he was just 17 and playing his first season in the Czech Extraliga for HC Kometa Brno and playing on a line with Martin Erat.
The hat trick was also just the second first period, natural hat trick in franchise history.
Cory Stillman had the first in 2007 against the Washington Capitals, scoring all three in just 11:28 of game time.
In fact, when told his hat trick was a natural one, Necas didn't even have a clue what that meant.
Since returning from an injury suffered in practice, Necas has seven goals in seven games and has looked like he just has some extra juice to his game.
"I wish I could tell you there was one thing," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour when asked about Necas' hot stretch. "I haven't really noticed anything [different]. Certainly the puck is going in for him, which is great. He's a talent. We know that. Sometimes it goes away for a while, but it's always there. When you're that good of a player, you can have games like that where you just explode. That's what you saw."