Ryan Getzlaf’s three first-period goals pace Ducks’ rout of Sabres

It took forever — 574 games — yet it was accomplished immediately.

Ryan Getzlaf’s first career hat trick came Friday with 19 seconds still remaining in the first period, a burst that let the Ducks cruise to a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Honda Center.

“It’s been an ongoing joke — that there are a lot of guys on that list that I wasn’t a part of,” Getzlaf said. “Got it just a shade under a decade, so … joke’s over.”

The Ducks (14-3-1) are on a 7-0-1 run in which they haven’t lost in more than two weeks, and their 7-0 start at home is a franchise-best. The Sabres dropped to 3-15-1.

Getzlaf is now one point behind Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the NHL scoring lead with 22 points.

He opened his barrage by continuing the team’s emergence from a dark power-play slump to open the season, whipping a shot between Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller’s legs 14 seconds after Sabres defenseman Nikita Zadorov went off for boarding.

After starting the season with four power-play goals in 60 attempts, the Ducks doubled that total in their next six opportunities, with defenseman Cam Fowler also scoring for a 2-0 lead after a Buffalo hooking penalty.

Getzlaf responded to a Buffalo goal three minutes later while sliding toward the Buffalo net to find a puck kick off a board right to him. So he merely flipped it past Miller.

The third goal was set up by Corey Perry’s pass to Getzlaf in front of the net.

Getzlaf became the fifth Duck in history to score three goals and have four points in one period.

Only Teemu Selanne, playing in his 1,400th career game Friday, ever scored three times in the first — on Nov. 10, 1997, against San Jose. Vinny Prospal, in 2004, was the most recent Duck to score four points in a period.

“Teemu said he had 10,” hat tricks “by this many games,” Getzlaf said.

Getzlaf’s linemate, Dustin Penner, leads the NHL in plus-minus goal differential while on the ice at plus-18. He had three assists in the first period and made it 5-1 less than five minutes into the second by following a Perry shot.

That made it Penner’s first four-point game since Dec. 11, 2009.

The Penner-Perry-Getzlaf line has led the Ducks to a team-record 62 goals through 18 games. The Ducks have five of the top 10 leaders in plus-minus.

“The way we’ve been playing, if we continue to improve, hopefully these nights won’t be few and far between,” Penner said.

The Ducks launched 34 of their 46 shots at Miller, leading 6-2 after two periods.

“It was a disaster to be a part of,” said Miller, the 2010 U.S, Olympic team goalie who was replaced before the third.

Miller said the Perry-Penner-Getzlaf line is dominating “because they’re willing to hold onto pucks and put them in the areas where they can get it back, protect it.

“It’s not always toe drags and fancy passes. They’re just willing to … look for options and they spread the ice well. They go to the areas where they can make plays.”

In the other net, Ducks rookie Frederik Andersen rejected 25 of 27 shots to improve to 5-0 since being summoned from minor league Norfolk last month to replace the injured Viktor Fasth.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire