Sabres wrap: Ryan McLeod collects hat trick in win over Hurricanes
Ryan McLeod registered a hat trick, one on the game's first shot, as the Buffalo Sabres held off the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, Wednesday night in a nationally televised game in KeyBank Center.
Ryan McLeod registered a hat trick, one on the game's first shot, as the Buffalo Sabres held off the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-2, Wednesday night in a nationally televised game in KeyBank Center.
The Sabres, who remain in last place in the NHL's Eastern Conference, improved to 17-22-5 overall but 6-3-1 in the 10 games since ending their 13-game winless streak Dec. 23 against the New York Islanders.
Carolina fell to 26-16-3 and remained two points behind New Jersey in the battle for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes have won 16 of their last 20 meetings with the Sabres but are just 1-4 in their last five trips to Buffalo.
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) checks Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) during the first period at the KeyBank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
The Sabres seemed in control of this one when McLeod scored his second of the night with 3.5 seconds left in the second period as he swept a Jason Zucker rebound past Carolina backup goalie Dustin Tokarski, the former Sabres and Rochester Amerks.
But Carolina finally got a shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 3:45 of the third as defenseman Jaccob Slavin's shot from the left point slid through the Buffalo goalie after being deflected by Sabres winger Zach Benson.
The Sabres lost Saturday to Seattle, giving up the final six goals in a 6-2 defeat that was their sixth of the season when leading by at least two goals. Much like that game, they played a tentative third period with little time in the offensive zone.
This time, at least, Buffalo managed to hang on -- and they did it while getting awarded a goal in the third period without being credited for a shot on goal.
Carolina had a 8-0 advantage in shots on goal in the third and the count for the game was 37-24. McLeod was credited with his hat trick goal with 24 seconds left when his stick was smashed and he was brought down by Carolina defenseman Brent Burns while chasing the puck after Tage Thompson's shot at the goal hit the post.
The NHL went back and forth on the play for more than a half hour after the final horn, awarding the goal to McLeod, then Thompson and back to McLeod.
Martin Necas scored with 3:08 left to get the Canes within one and Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called a timeout to get his team composed playing in yet another 6-on-5 situation. It seemed to work as the Canes didn't really have another great scoring chance and Buffalo got much more aggressive going for the puck.
McLeod opened the scoring at 43 seconds of the first period with a simple, unscreened wrist shot heading through the left circle that beat Tokarski clean on the short side. Tokarski, who spent most of last season in Rochester, entered this game 4-1 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .907 save percentage for the Hurricanes.
The McLeod goal moved the Sabres into second in the NHL in goal differential in the first period at plus-17, tied with Winnipeg and one goal behind Eastern Conference-leading Washington (plus-18).
KeyBank Center appeared only about half full for this one, with the team's bad record, cold weather and a 6:05 p.m. start dictated by national television conspiring to create the poor crowd.
The issue, of course, has been periods 2 and 3, where the Sabres were a combined minus-29 coming into the game. Only Chicago was worse at minus-35.
The Sabres made it 2-0 at 8:18 of the second as Dylan Cozens zipped a snapshot past Tokarski's glove after an Alex Tuch steal for his 10th goal of the season.
