The Sabres got a fourth goal in the third period to ice the game — despite not recording a shot on net in the entire period, an NHL first.

Ryan McLeod scored three goals for his first career hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2.

Welcome to the latest edition of NHL Predictions. Each day, the team here at Last Word on Hockey will dive deep into analysis for any given game to look at the potential outcome.

Ryan McLeod scored two goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Wednesday night. Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson also scored and Jason Zucker had two assists for the Sabres, who won for the third time in four games.

With a rare 6:00 pm start time, the Hurricanes arrived late to the game and Buffalo did not. The Hurricanes didn’t really get to their game until the third and Buffalo took advantage, getting a three-goal lead before the final frame.

At the end of 40 minutes it was 3-0 and Buffalo got trapped in their end for most of the third. Buffalo got outshot 8-0 and I’d be surprised if they had 60 seconds inside the Carolina zone.