McLeod gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the first period on the first shot of the game, taking a pass from Connor Clifton on entry into the zone and scoring blocker side from the slot.
Cozens’ wrist shot from the high slot beat Tokarski over the glove inside the right post to make it 2-0 at 8:18 of the second period.
“[Alex Tuch] just laid it right into me and I had all day to walk right down the middle there,” Cozens said. “That’s a dream right there, that amount of time and that amount of space.”
McLeod pushed the lead to 3-0 with four seconds left in the period. Tokarski stopped Jason Zucker’s sharp angle shot with the top of his stick, but McLeod was on the doorstep to sweep over his left pad.
“It was just kind of one of those plays, end of the period, there was only eight seconds left, I just thought [I’m] going to take a chance and just go to the net,” McLeod said. “‘Zucks’ almost scored from the corner and it just kind of bounced to me there. I just got a lucky bounce.”
Slavin narrowed it to 3-1 when his point shot deflected off Zach Benson’s stick and went five-hole on Luukkonen at 3:45 of the third period.
With Tokarski pulled for the extra attacker, Necas scored short side from the left circle to pull within 3-2 at 16:50.
That prompted Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff to call his timeout.
“Just said, ‘We got to go’,” Ruff said. “I thought we didn’t challenge the defenseman on the cross-seam pass and allowed that seam play to be made. It put us in a tough spot. I told them that, ‘Listen, we’ve talked about it, and we’ve talked about this and we’ve gone over it, just go, just go.’”
McLeod completed his hat trick when he was awarded the goal after Brent Burns slashed McLeod's stick as the center tried to get a shot off into an empty net at 19:36 for the 4-2 final.
“We’re known as a team that competes every night, we’re consistent, we have a chance to win every night, but lately we haven’t had chances to win every night,” Slavin said. “We’re not helping ourselves by the way we play when we play like that and it’s, again, not good enough as a group. To a man, it’s not good enough. We can all be better.”
NOTES: The Sabres did not have a shot on goal in the third period. … The Sabres are the first team to score a goal in a 20-minute period without registering a shot on goal since the 1965-66, the first season team shots in a period were tracked. … Slavin scored his 52nd career goal to pass Mark Howe and Glen Wesley for second-most by a defenseman in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history behind Justin Faulk (85). … McLeod is the third Sabres player with a hat trick this season. Only the Colorado Avalanche (five), Winnipeg Jets (four), Toronto Maple Leafs (four) and Tampa Lightning (four) have more.
