Right winger Jaromir Jagr of the New Jersey Devils became the oldest-ever NHL player to score a hat trick when the native of the Czech Republic found the back of the net three times in his team’s 5-2 home win over the Philadelphia Flyers on January 3. It was Jagr’s first three-goal game in about nine years and the 15th of his illustrious NHL career. Jagr achieved the feat at the age of 42 years and 322 days. The previous record was held by the immortal Gordie Howe, who scored a hat trick for the Detroit Red Wings when he was aged 41 years and 216 days.

The last time Jagr scored a hat trick was back in March of 2006, and ironically it also came against Philadelphia. Jagr now has nine goals on the season to go along with 16 assists for 25 points. He has 714 career regular-season goals and sits just three behind Phil Esposito for fifth place on the NHL’s all-time goalscoring list. He also has 1,780 career points and is 18 shy of equaling Ron Francis for fourth place in point scoring in the league’s history. Jagr has played in 1,513 regular season NHL games and also has 78 goals and 121 assists for 199 points in 202 playoff contests.

Jagr’s goals were much needed as the club is struggling with a record of 14-20-7 and they’ve scored three goals just 14 times in their first 41 games this season. His reaction was bittersweet when told he set a new league record as he told the media, “I like to score hat tricks, but I don’t like the thing you said that I’m the oldest guy. I don’t want to be the oldest guy, but I’m glad I scored.”

Jagr said he was wearing a brand new pair of skates against Philadelphia and he usually wouldn’t have since he prefers to break his skates in during practices before wearing them in a game. He said he wanted to try something to change his luck though since he hadn’t felt very strong in his last few games. He stated that things couldn’t get any worse and he had nothing to lose, so he wore the skates for the first time. Scott Gomez, the Devils’ 35-year-old forward, also enjoyed a special night as he scored a goal and added a pair of assists against the Flyers. The points gave him 500 for his career.