Although there were 18 points separating the two teams in the standings before the meeting, the Buffalo Sabers played without complexes to overcome the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Wednesday in a game marked by a rare situation and unusual.
After much procrastination, the NHL awarded Ryan McLeod a first career hat trick before taking it away, giving it back, taking it away again before finally crediting him for good with a third goal, which did not never entered the net.
You’re mixed up, don’t worry, the NHL is too!
Put in context, with a 3-2 deficit, the Hurricanes pulled their goaltender for a second time at the end of the third in hopes of leveling the odds. From his defensive zone, Tage Thompson cleared the disc which hit the post to return to the slot. On the sequence, McLeod rushed to shoot the puck into the abandoned net while he was alone in front of the cage, but before he could touch the puck, veteran Carolina defenseman Brent Burns, who came by behind, dealt him a violent blow which broke his staff. On the sequence, the officials decided to award him the goal, his third of the game.
In the minutes that followed, the NHL then engaged in a regular game of ping-pong on its scoresheet by taking away the goal from McLeod and giving it to Thompson who had been the last Sabers player to touch the disc, before giving it back to McLeod and then taking it away from him before finally giving it back to him.
To make the story even more ironic, the Sabers did not take any official shots on goal in the third period. So, a goal scored without any shots on goal during the period.
End of the story of the most special empty-net goal of the season. You can start breathing again!
This victory allows the Sabers to sign a third victory in six games since the start of the new year.
In the second period, Dylan Cozens reached the ten at 8:18 of the middle period. This is the fourth time in his career that he has reached the ten-goal mark. His high is 31 goals and came in 2022-23.
Sabers goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had every right to dream of a shutout after 40 minutes, but Jaccob Slavin quickly shattered his illusions with his third goal of the season at 3:45 of the final period.
Trailing by two goals, the Hurricanes tried everything by pulling their goalie with almost four minutes to play. The strategy paid off as Martin Necas brought Carolina within one with a shot in the upper half. The threat, however, stopped there.
For his part, Dustin Tokarski faced 24 shots in front of the Hurricanes cage.
