Kings Offense Stays Hot in 5-2 Victory Over Sabres

After one of their best performances of the season Saturday against the Pittsburg Penguins, the Los Angeles Kings were able to repeat their success and beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

The first period was a fairly low event one. Neither team had any big chances. 

The Kings were extremely structured in the first period and their penalty kill came up big when called upon. Mikey Anderson particularly stood out.

He had a few big blocks on the penalty kill and defended the rush well on multiple occasions. Rasmus Kupari continued his solid play from Saturday as well, proving very effective on the penalty kill while creating chaos with his legs at five-on-five.

The second period was anything but low event.

The Kings struggled in the first half of the period, struggling to connect on passes and overall playing a sloppy game. 

With just over ten minutes remaining in the period, Adrian Kempe came down one-on-one with Owen Power and buried for his fifth goal in two games. 

The Kings were on their second power play of the night three minutes later. And a Phil Danault whiff slid right to Arthur Kaliyev who hammered the puck past Craig Anderson to quickly put them up 2-0.

The Kings continued to carry play throughout the period and were rewarded with just over a minute left. Danault fed the puck up top to Sean Walker who snapped a shot through traffic to put the Kings up 3-0.

Then, just 30 seconds later a give-and-go between Kempe and Matt Roy ended with the latter firing a one-timer to give the Kings a 4-0 lead late in the second. 

Pheonix Copley left the second with a shutout streak extending to 100 minutes.

The Kings continued to control play in the third period and extended their lead to five, five minutes into the period.

It was maybe the weirdest goal the Kings have scored all season. Phil Danault dumped a puck into the corner that deflected off a stanchion and between Anderson's leg. Anderson didn't know where it was and Viktor Arvidsson was able to poke the puck in for an easy goal. 

It was a comical goal to cap off a wild run for the Kings that's seen them score 11 unanswered goals.

Copley couldn't hold the shutout for two straight games though. Dylan Cozens scored just over ten minutes into the period to break Copley's 110:16 without conceding a goal.

Buffalo didn't go down without a fight. They brought themselves within three after Peyton Krebs re-directed a nice shot-pass from Victor Olofsson on the power play..