Buffalo, New York: Sabres Beat Ducks 7 to 6 in Anaheim as Tage Thompson Scores a Natural Hat Trick and Five Points

The Buffalo Sabres scored six straight goals, gave most of the lead back, and still left Anaheim with a 7 to 6 win over the Ducks on Thursday night, behind a natural hat trick and a five point game from Tage Thompson.

Buffalo fell behind 3 to 1 early at Honda Center. Tyson Kozak got the Sabres on the board, Noah Ostlund scored on the power play, and Thompson tied the game 3 to 3 late in the first period, driving into the zone, cutting to the front of the net and putting a wrist shot past the blocker side, according to the Sabres official recap on NHL.com. The first period ended tied.

Two goals in 15 seconds

Most of the second period passed without a goal. Then Thompson took the game over in the last 90 seconds of the period. He scored the go ahead goal at 18:36, putting Buffalo ahead 4 to 3 directly off a faceoff win by Peyton Krebs. Fifteen seconds later, at 18:51, Krebs and Rasmus Dahlin sent him in on a breakaway and he slipped the puck five hole to complete the hat trick, and a handful of hats came down from the Anaheim crowd. The Associated Press noted it came one night before Thompson's 29th birthday.

Jack Quinn scored on the power play early in the third period and Zach Benson added a goal to push the lead to 7 to 3. Anaheim then scored three straight goals to make the finish tight. Cutter Gauthier scored his second power play goal of the game, Tristan Luneau scored with the goalie pulled at 18:52, and Beckett Sennecke made it 7 to 6 with 31 seconds left. Buffalo held on for the last half minute. Colten Ellis made 29 saves for the Sabres.

A place in the team record book

The hat trick was the 10th of Thompson's career. It tied him with Alexander Mogilny and Danny Gare for the third most in Sabres history, behind Rick Martin with 21 and Gilbert Perreault with 18, according to the team. Only Auston Matthews of Toronto, with 11, has more hat tricks since the start of the 2021-22 season. Thompson finished with three goals and two assists, his fourth career five point game. Krebs assisted on all three of his goals and finished with three assists. Benson had a goal and two assists.

The win was Buffalo's second in a row and its fourth comeback win from a multi goal deficit this season. The Sabres are 6-4-3 and have taken five of a possible six points on their current road trip, which ends Saturday in Los Angeles.

For Anaheim, the loss was the seventh in eight games, a 1-6-1 run that has dropped the Ducks to 5-7-1. Gauthier's two goals led the Ducks, who pulled within one twice in the final minutes but never tied the game after Thompson's second period burst.