They are harder to come by because every single aspect of the feat is skill related. Imagine if everyone who had a 1+1 game tried picking fights to get the Gordie Howe hat trick? How many of them would we see then?
The triple-double is a prestigious feat that has become a bit too common lately thanks to Russ taking it to the extreme, Gordie Howe hat trick is a trivial accomplishment that just means a guy who scored 1+1 got into a fight, to equate the two is asinine.
The NBA doesn't track PIMs, so the Gordie Howe hat trick may have merit.
If you re-read the origin of the triple double on the wiki, it's possibly about showing the
versatility of a player (ie: Magic Johnson). A Gordie Howe hat trick is supposed to be a representation of a player who scores, play makes and stands up for the team all in the same game (A bit of everything). Many of us feel it's at least in the same league of what the triple double represents. But a Gordie Howe hat trick is also far rarer than a triple double.
I honestly think that there's no true equivalent in the NHL unless someone makes one up. Furthermore, hockey is a more balanced team game as opposed to basketball which really allows individual accolades to shine. This and the mentality that many fans often have, that it doesn't mater what the stats say for certain players if the team didn't win.
I think a looser comparison (and it's not tracked at all in the same way as a triple double) is when a player is asked to play over 25 minutes and the team wins. There's an assumption that the player was required in all sorts of different scenarios to help the team win and thus a nod towards the idea of the player being versatile to be in all those different situations.