Ryan McLeod scored his first-career hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres held on for 4-2 win against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.

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

Buffalo Sabres center Ryan McLeod, center, celebrates after scoring as Carolina Hurricanes goalie Dustin Tokarski (34) and center Sebastian Aho (20) look on during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Buffalo,

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 on the first shot of the game, again in the waning seconds of the second period, and added an empty-netter for his first career hat trick to lead the Sabres in a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center.

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.