On January 8, 1984, Bengt-Ake Gustafsson became the first in Washington Capitals franchise history to score 5 goals in a single game. The outburst came in a 7-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum. All five were scored on fellow Swede Pelle Lindbergh. It was the second of just two hat tricks over Gustafsson’s NHL career.
The only other time a Washington player has scored five in a game occurred on February 5, 1994 in a 6-3 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Peter Bondra scored four first period goals in a span of just 4:12 before adding his fifth near the end of the second. Bondra was responsible for seven of the 32 shots put toward Tampa’s goalie duo of Pat Jablonski and Daren Puppa.
Bondra had considerably more hat trick games than Gustafsson, scoring three or more 19 times. Five of those were four goal games. Time in Washington did not mesh between the two. Bengt played his last season for the Capitals in 1988-89 before returning to Europe. Peter’s rookie season was 1990-91.
Bengt Gustafsson played 629 regular season and 18 playoff games in the National Hockey League between 1979-80 and 1988-89, all with the Washington Capitals. The fourth round pick by the Caps at the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft got his start in North America with the Edmonton Oilers, appearing in two WHA playoff games with the club in 1978-79.
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