Buffalo Sabres right winger Alex Tuch of Syracuse, New York recorded his third National Hockey League career hat trick on Friday. He accomplished the feat in a 6-2 Sabres win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
Inside Look at the Hat Trick
Tuch’s first goal put the Sabres up 2-0 at 12:23 of the first period. He scored from Tage Thompson of Phoenix, Arizona and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin of Lidkoping, Sweden. Tuch then scored the last two goals of the game. He put the Sabres up 5-2 from Ryan McLeod of Mississauga, Ontario and Sam Lafferty of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania at 5:48 of the third period, and then closed out the scoring with an unassisted goal with four minutes and 54 seconds left in regulation.
Tuch’s two prior hat tricks
Tuch’s first NHL hat trick came on October 20, 2022 in a 6-3 Sabres win over the Calgary Flames. Tuch’s second NHL hat trick came on April 1, 2023 in a 6-3 Sabres win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tuch in 2024-25
Tuch has 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in 36 games. He is a +13 with 19 penalty minutes, four power-play points, three shorthanded points, one game-winning goal, 81 shots on goal, 50 faceoff wins, 52 blocked shots, 30 hits, 19 takeaways, and 28 giveaways. Tuch’s game-winning goal came on November 23 in a 4-2 Sabres win over the San Jose Sharks. Tuch scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at 5:27 of the third period to put the Sabres up 3-2. Tuch’s three shorthanded goals are second in the NHL. The only player with more shorthanded goals is Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers, as the West Vancouver, British Columbia native has four shorthanded goals.
Second dominant win in a row
It has been a disastrous stretch of games for Buffalo. They had lost 13 straight games from November 27 to December 21. However, Buffalo has won their last two games. The Sabres also beat the New York Islanders 7-1 on December 23.
