from Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas News,

Two days before his hat trick and the Stars' 4-0 win over the Avalanche on Thursday night, Alexander Radulov was reduced to a spectator. He couldn't help Dallas beat the Rangers, he couldn't chip in during a playoff push, he couldn't play at all.

Instead, Radulov was a scratch because he was late to morning skate. The Stars were forced to play without their second-leading scorer because of his tardiness, and were ultimately unharmed by his lateness.

On Thursday, he tried his best to atone. Then he made the American Airlines Center rain hats.

Radulov scored three goals in the Stars' win, the team's fourth straight victory and an especially important one over division foe and fellow playoff hopeful Colorado. Jamie Benn also scored for Dallas, and goaltender Ben Bishop posted his fifth shutout of the season....

It was Radulov's first hat trick of his career, and the Stars' second in the last week. Jamie Benn also had a hat trick Saturday in St. Louis.

"He's a great competitor, and we expected him to play at a high level tonight," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "You could tell he had an intensity about him the way he was practicing while he was out. It's two times now guys have missed games, they get a little bit of rest, they come back with hat tricks. Maybe there's something to a little bit of rest."

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Game highlights can be viewed below.