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Instead of getting a needed road win, the LA Kings fell hard in Buffalo.
It was a disappointing 6-3 loss for the Kings Tuesday night, as they faced the Sabres in the first of a 9-game road trip.
The snow was piling up as the Kings arrived at First Niagara Center. Los Angeles hasn’t won there since 2003.
The team started exactly as they wanted. Scoring first off a goal by Anze Kopitar, whose effort tied Wayne Gretsky for 6th place on the King’s all-time goal list.
Seven and half minutes into the 2nd period came another goal. Jeff Carter scored again for the Kings, and they seemed to be cruising with a 2-0 lead.
But just like that, the Kings started to meltdown.
Ryan O’Reilly scored for the Sabres making it 2-1. Jack Eichel then put it in the net. And on the very next shift, the Sabres scored again.
Back to back away games coming up, starting this Thursday… cc: @SASsoftware pic.twitter.com/G99wNFuP2m
— #LAKings (@LAKings) December 14, 2016
Now it was 3-2.
Kings coach Daryl Sutter quickly pulled goalie Peter Budaj and replaced him with Jeff Zatkoff.
But the Sabres were not done yet – going on to score their fourth goal in a 6 min 17 sec period.
Budaj returned for the 3rd and the Kings saw a glimmer of hope pulling it within one when Jeff Carter scored his second of the night.
But hopes were dashed when the Sabres scored on a tap-in from Evander Kane to put them back up by two. Sabres then scored on the empty-net giving them the 6-3 victory.
Not a great effort by the Kings tonight and goal-tending was the issue. Budaj’s positioning wasn’t solid and he seemed to have trouble tracking the puck.
The team heads to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Thursday.
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