BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres have had a strange season, and their 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday might have provided the strangest moment to date.
After taking a 3-0 lead over the Hurricanes, the Sabres were letting the game slip away in the third period. The Hurricanes scored twice in the third to make it 3-2. They pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with a few minutes left. Tage Thompson launched a shot toward the empty net and it rang off the post. Sabres center Ryan McLeod was racing toward the loose puck and had a clean look at the empty net, but Brent Burns dove and slashed him, breaking his stick in the process. The referee called a penalty and awarded the Sabres a goal. That helped the Sabres clinch a 4-2 win.
The strange part is that league officials couldn’t seem to decide who scored the goal. On the league media site, the goal switched between McLeod and Thompson multiple times because McLeod never actually touched the puck. The league settled on McLeod because he was the one who drew the penalty that caused the referee to award the goal in the first place. The ruling on the goal was significant because it was McLeod’s third goal of the game and his first career hat trick.
But the even more bizarre part about the situation is that McLeod scored without getting credit for a shot on goal. The Sabres finished the third period with zero shots on net but scored a goal and won the game. The Sabres became the first team to score a goal without a shot on net in a 20-minute period since they started tracking shot by period in 1965-66. And the way this season has gone, they’ll take it.
Both of the previous times it was in overtime so this is the first time it has happened in a 20 minute period.
— Martin Biron (@martybiron43) January 16, 2025
“We of course had to make it interesting there and nerve-wracking but we found a way,” Sabres forward Dylan Cozens said.
The Sabres’ inability to hold onto leads has been a running theme in their disappointing season. Their third-period goal differential is -16. They’ve lost four games when leading after two periods and 10 games when leading after one period. Their 6-2 loss to the Kraken on Saturday was arguably a low point in their struggle to close out games.
In that sense, the Sabres badly needed this win however they could get it. And it wasn’t pretty. After the first period, the Sabres had a 1-0 lead with a 10-3 advantage in five-on-five scoring chances. They killed two penalties that period and then tacked on a pair of goals in the second period to head into the third with what should have been a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Nothing is comfortable with this team, though. The Hurricanes had an 8-0 advantage in shots and a 15-3 advantage in scoring chances in the third period. When the Hurricanes cut the lead to 3-2, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called a timeout in an effort to ensure the team didn’t let another game slip away.
“I just told them, ‘Listen, we’ve talked about this. We’ve gone over it. Just go,’” Ruff said.
The Sabres got aggressive puck pressure from Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs after the timeout and then ended the game with an empty netter. It didn’t solve any of their season-long problems, but it could be a step toward solving the confidence issues that have popped up when trying to protect leads.
“You get nervous especially when they have that amount of pressure,” Cozens said. “We’ve struggled to close out games in the past so obviously you’re a little nervous. But we had a meeting and talked about how if we give one up, just keep that confidence. It’s fine, teams give up goals, not to change anything. Found a way.”
Takeaways
1. The Sabres needed Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to be great in this game. He stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced, including four high-danger shots. After the way he played against the Kraken, Luukkonen felt he needed a game like Wednesday.
“I feel like that’s something I have to be better, too,” Luukkonen said. “I’m part of the team and we haven’t been good at closing games. That’s what I talked about before the season. I want to be part of the solution, part of helping the team win. Today as a team, we did a good job and I was glad I could help the guys pull this one through.”
2. The third goal of McLeod’s hat trick was a weird one. But the second goal he scored was what the Sabres have needed more of this season. In the closing seconds of the second period, McLeod won a faceoff and got to the net. Jason Zucker threw the puck on net and McLeod finished the rebound.
Ruff recently mentioned he wants to see McLeod get to inside ice more often and get those types of goals. McLeod got bumped up to the top line between Zucker and Thompson in this game and took full advantage.
3. On the injury front: Jiri Kulich, who has been out with a lower-body injury, skated with the team Wednesday morning. Ruff said he’s a long shot to play on Friday against the Penguins but should be able to play when the team heads on a four-game road trip to Seattle and western Canada next week.
(Photo of Ryan McLeod celebrating his first career hat trick: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)
