
Buffalo Sabres centre Ryan McLeod of Mississauga, Ontario registered his first National Hockey League hat trick on Wednesday. He accomplished the feat in a 4-2 Sabres win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
McLeod registered a goal in each period. He opened the scoring at the 43 second mark of the first period for the only goal in the opening frame. Beck Malentsyn of Delta, British Columbia and defenseman Connor Clifton picked up the assists. McLeod then put the Sabres up 3-0 with the game-winning goal with four seconds left in the second period. Jason Zucker had the assist. McLeod closed out the scoring with an empty net goal with 24 seconds left. Zucker and Tage Thompson had the assists.
McLeod’s hat trick came in bizarre circumstances. With the Hurricanes net empty, McLeod was awarded the goal as he was tripped by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns on his way to taking a shot on net attempt. However, McLeod was credited with a goal without a shot on goal. What was even more strange is that the Sabres became the first team in NHL history to have a goal without a shot on goal in an entire period according to Scott Maxwell of dailyfaceoff.com.
In 2024-25. McLeod has 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 44 games. He is a +7 with 10 penalty minutes, one game winning goal, 47 shots on goal, 319 faceoff wins, 21 blocked shots, 13 hits, 13 takeaways and 33 giveaways.