Postgame Report

Ryan McLeod was still unclear on whether or not he had scored his first career hat trick as he stood in front of his stall Wednesday night, some 15 minutes after the Buffalo Sabres’ 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes had ended.

He did get credit for the hat trick – more on that play and the debate it spurred in a bit. But in the moment, the result was reason enough for the veteran forward to smile.

“It’s a huge win for us,” McLeod said. “As a team, we’re trying to build, and that’s a good team we just beat.”

McLeod’s hat-trick goal with 24 seconds remaining put the finishing touches on a bend-but-don’t-break performance by the Sabres, who were coming off a loss to Seattle in their most recent game in which goals against compounded into a blown lead.

Buffalo led this one 3-0 through two periods on the strength of two goals from McLeod and another from Dylan Cozens, plus timely saves from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Carolina – the NHL’s best team in terms of shot-attempt generation – answered with a push in the third.

The Hurricanes had 33 shot attempts over the final 20 minutes and, with goaltender Dustin Tokarski pulled for an extra attacker, cut the Sabres’ lead to 3-2 when Martin Necas buried a one-timer with 3:10 still left to play.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called timeout following the Necas goal, during which he reiterated the same message he’s been drilling in 5-on-6 practices since the Colorado Avalanche erased a late deficit 13 days ago: Keep attacking.

“We’ve talked about this and we’ve gone over it,” Ruff told his players. “Just go. Just go.”

“Stay calm,” McLeod said when asked about the message during the timeout. “We’ve worked on this the last little while and we know what we’re doing. I think that timeout really calmed us down and we were able to get the win.”

The Sabres hounded the Hurricanes and held them to one shot the rest of the way – which brings us to McLeod’s late goal.

The sequence began with a shot from Tage Thompson, taken on the empty net from deep in the Buffalo zone. The shot traveled the length of the ice, hit the left post, and rebounded slowly into the slot. McLeod – still able to tap into his world-class speed at the end of a 46-second shift – won the race down the ice and had a clear shot into the empty net.

Until he didn’t. Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns chopped McLeod’s stick in half from behind, preventing the forward from getting his shot off. The slashing penalty against Burns merited a penalty shot – which, with the Carolina net empty, resulted in an automatic goal. Hats rained for McLeod, who had scored multi-goal games twice prior to Wednesday but never had a hat trick in his five-year career.

By the time McLeod returned to the dressing room following his postgame interview with TNT, the NHL’s official scorers were debating whether the goal should belong to Thompson, because McLeod had never actually touched the puck. They settled on awarding the goal to McLeod, who would have gotten the shot had it not been for the penalty.

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      Ryan McLeod awarded hat trick goal

      In fact, the Sabres were not awarded a shot at all for McLeod’s empty-net goal, meaning they finished the third period with one goal and zero shots – a unique stat line that doesn’t necessarily paint the full picture of what was a composed defensive period by the Sabres.

      Of the Hurricanes’ 24 shot attempts during the third period, only eight reached Luukkonen. Their first goal, from Jaccob Slavin, came on a knuckler through traffic from the point. The Sabres weathered the push from one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams by keeping them to the outside and clearing room in front of their goaltender.

      “I don’t think that’s the ideal way to do it, but they were coming hard, they were giving us a lot of pressure,” Cozens said. “We just tried to weather it and keep them to the outside. We found a way.”

      Here’s more from the victory.

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          FINAL | Sabres 4 - Hurricanes 2

          1. The Sabres had focused on shot volume and net-front presence in their two practices leading up to Wednesday’s game. The former resulted in McLeod’s first goal, which opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the contest.

          Connor Clifton delivered a pass to send McLeod over the offensive blue line with speed, and the forward buried a shot from the high slot past goaltender Dustin Tokarski.

          “The changeup goes in once in a while, so it’s nice to get that one early,” McLeod said. “But yeah, we’re just trying to get more pucks there as a team. I saw an opportunity and it went in.”

          2. A tweak to the forward lines by Ruff paid dividends for the Sabres in the second period. McLeod and Cozens swapped wingers, with McLeod taking over center duties between Thompson and Jason Zucker while Cozens moved between JJ Peterka and Alex Tuch.

          Cozens scored shortly after the switch. His pressure on the forecheck forced Slavin to turn the puck over to Tuch, who sent a return pass to Cozens in the offensive zone. Cozens scored his 10th goal of the season on a shot from the high slot.

          “[Tuch] just laid it right into me and I had all day to walk right down the middle there,” Cozens said. “That’s a dream right there, that amount of time and that amount of space.”

          McLeod was on with his new linemates for his second goal, which gave the Sabres added cushion with just 3.5 seconds remaining in the second period. McLeod won an offensive-zone faceoff and immediately crashed the net, where he buried a bouncing rebound off a shot from Zucker.

          “I think the message as a team was get more pucks and more bodies to the net, and we did a good job of that tonight,” McLeod said.

          3. McLeod has six points (4+2) in three games since being elevated in the lineup following an injury to Jiri Kulich. He previously had a goal and two assists in a 4-0 victory in Ottawa last Thursday.

          McLeod’s hat trick gives him 10 goals this season, two shy of the career high he set in 81 games with Edmonton last season.

          4. Luukkonen made 35 saves in the victory, including a lunging glove save on a shot taken from the slot by Jack Drury during the second period.

          Cozens credited Luukkonen’s poise with helping the Sabres weather the Hurricanes’ late push.

          “He’s just so confident,” Cozens said. “We’re so confident in him back there. When he’s playing like that he’s a top goalie in this league, and he is a top goalie in this league. So, we love having him back there and he’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

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              Lindy Ruff addresses the media

              Up next

              The homestand concludes against Pittsburgh on Friday. Tickets are available here.

              Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.