VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Markus Naslund recorded his sixth career hat trick Monday night in leading the Vancouver Canucks to their season-high sixth straight win, 5-1 over the Nashville Predators.
The hat trick moved Naslund into the National Hockey League scoring lead with 57 points, two ahead of Boston's Joe Thornton and Calgary's Jarome
Iginla.
Naslund opened the scoring with 39 seconds left in the first period when he took a pass from Matt Cooke, skated down the left side and beat goaltender Mike Dunham with a backhander.
After Cooke made it 2-0, Todd Bertuzzi threw the puck into the offensive zone, where Naslund stole it from defenseman Andy Delmore, turned and slid another backhander past Dunham.
The Canucks captain capped his second hat trick of the season with 6:40 remaining. Bertuzzi set him up in front of the crease, enabling Naslund to poke the puck past Tomas Vokoun, who replaced Dunham to start the third period.
Bertuzzi has six goals and 12 assists during a 13-game points streak, the longest active run in the NHL.
Vancouver moved a season-high two games over .500 and climbed within three points of second-place Edmonton in the Northwest Division.
Defenseman Mark Eaton spoiled Peter Skudra's bid for a second straight shutout when he scored with 15:43 remaining. But, the Predators fell to 1-6-1 in their last eight road games.
