Ryan O’Reilly of Clinton, Ontario recorded his fourth career National Hockey League hat trick on Tuesday. He accomplished the feat in a 6-3 Toronto Maple Leafs win over the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
O’Reilly opened the scoring at 3:51 of the first period from Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario and John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario on an all-Canadian goal. O’Reilly then put the Maple Leafs up 2-0 on a goal from Marner and Tavares at 4:28 of the first period. O’Reilly then scored into an empty net from Marner to close out the scoring with one minute and 10 seconds left in the contest.
Two other Canadians scored for the Maple Leafs. Tavares put the Maple Leafs up 3-0 and Michael Bunting of Scarborough, Ontario put the Maple Leafs up 4-0.
Three Canadians had a multi-point game for the Maple Leafs. O’Reilly had three goals and one assist for four points. Marner had five assists, and Tavares had one goal and three assists for four points.
O’Reilly’s first three hat tricks came with the St. Louis Blues. They came on November 6, 2018 in a 4-1 Blues win over the Carolina Hurricanes, on April 9, 2021 in a 9-1 Blues win over the Minnesota Wild, and on April 24, 2021 in a 5-3 Blues win over the Colorado Avalanche.
On the season, O’Reilly has 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points in 43 games with the Blues and Maple Leafs. He is a -23 with 12 penalty minutes, two power-play points, one shorthanded point, three game-winning goals, 88 shots on goal, 415 faceoff wins, 21 blocked shots, 15 hits, 37 takeaways and nine giveaways.
The Maple Leafs are second in the Atlantic Division. They have a record of 35 wins, 15 regulation losses and eight losses in extra time for 78 points.
