Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk destroys the Islanders with a hat-trick

Russia star Ilya Kovalchuk helped the New Jersey Devils cruise to a 5-2 victory in the NHL against the New York Islanders.

Speaking to the press after the game, Kovalchuk commented on his second hat-trick of the season and paid credit to his international teammate, the Islanders’ goaltender Yevgeny Nabokov.

«You guys weren’t asking me a lot of questions about me not scoring, so I don’t think I was looking that bad,» Kovalchuk said. «But I got here to score goals and make plays for my team and try to make my team win. So, that’s what I’m doing and right now we feel very comfortable. The Rangers game was a big test for us. They’re on top in our conference. It’s a big rivalry game and after those games usually you got that extra jump for sure.»

«It’s always nice to score early,» he said. «It gives you a little extra energy and all of the line started to create chance after chance. On the power play in the first I got a couple of good shots too and missed the net, but I think we were playing really well as a team tonight,» the Russian forward added.

«I know him very well, so it was kind of friendly of him,» Kovalchuk said of Nabokov. «But I think he made a couple of great saves on me too. But when you get those kind of chances, I don’t think there was one bad goal.»

Watch Kovalchuk’s goals here.