Buffalo Sabres center Dylan Cozens of Whitehorse, Yukon recorded his first National Hockey League career hat trick on Sunday. He accomplished the feat in a 7-4 Sabres win over the Washington Capitals at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. By scoring three goals on Sunday, Cozens became the first player from the Yukon in NHL history to register a hat trick.
Cozens opened the scoring at 10:40 of the first period from Casey Mittelstadt and Ilya Lyubushkin. He then put the Sabres up 6-2 at 12:49 of the second period from right winger Jack Quinn of Ottawa, Ontario. Cozens then closed out the scoring from Vinnie Hinostroza and Mittelstadt at 11:52 of the third period.
During the 2022-23 NHL regular season, Cozens has 23 goals and 29 assists for 52 points in 57 games. He is a +9 with 30 penalty minutes, 15 power-play points, three shorthanded points, on game-winning goal, 148 shots on goal, 402 faceoff wins, 21 blocked shots, 43 hits, 31 takeaways, and 12 giveaways. Cozens’s game-winning goal came on January 19 in a 3-2 Sabres win over the New York Islanders. Cozens scored from Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson at the 12 second mark of the first overtime.
With the win, the Sabres improve to a record of 31 wins, 23 regulation losses and four losses in extra time for 66 points. They are currently one point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
