Kempe stays hot, Kings blast Sabres
The Kings continued to exact revenge after the All-Star break, burying the Buffalo Sabres beneath four second-period goals in a 5-2 victory at Crypto.com Arena Monday, the Kings' second win in as many games since the break and their 30th of 2022-23.
They beat Buffalo Monday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday by an aggregate score of 11-2, salvaging season-series splits against teams that they had lost to by a combined count of 12-1 in their earlier meetings this season.
Winger Adrian Kempe contributed a goal and an assist, bringing his total to a staggering seven goals during the Kings' three-game points streak. Linemates Viktor Arvidsson (goal, two assists) and Phillip Danault (three assists) combined for six points. The Kings also got goals from defensemen Sean Walker and Matt Roy, as well as winger Arthur Kaliyev. Pheonix Copley earned the win behind 27 saves.
THE SCORE
KINGS 5, SABRES 2
Up next: Kings at Ducks, Friday, 6 p.m., ESPN
Centers Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs scored academic goals for Buffalo after the game reached a 5-0 score. Craig Anderson was touched up for five goals on 28 shots.
Copley nearly posted his second straight shutout but with 9:44 showing on the clock Cozens, who recently signed a seven-year contract extension worth nearly $50 million, scored off a low wrist shot that hit Copley before squeaking through him. With 4:51 to play, Krebs' redirection on the power play saved a bit more face for the Sabres.
With 14:46 to play, the Kings potted an insurance marker in bizarre fashion. A routine rim-around pass took an odd bounce off the rear boards, settling the puck inside one of Anderson's skate blades. As he struggled to locate the puck, Kempe and Arvidsson each stabbed at it with Arvidsson
ultimately depositing the puck in the net.
These two teams were scoreless through two periods in their December meeting before Buffalo piled on six goals in the final frame. On Monday, it took nearly half the match before a goal was scored. Though Buffalo possessed momentum at that point, it was the Kings' cracking the game open with four consecutive goals in under 10 minutes Monday.
To close the second stanza, the Kings scored twice in 34 seconds at even strength, beginning with 1:19 remaining. First, Walker broke up a play in his own zone to initiate a counterattack that he wound up finishing with a wrist shot from above the right circle for his third goal of the season.
Next, forward Quinton Byfield won a battle below the goal line, keying a giveand-go play between Roy and Kempe that culminated in Roy's goal from near the left faceoff dot. Roy's seventh tally added to what was already a career-best total for a campaign.
Earlier in the frame, the Kings buoyed their effort with a pair of special-teams goals.
At the 12:35 mark, after winning the offensive-zone faceoff, the Kings set up Danault for a one-timer from the left side of the slow slot. Danault fanned on the shot, and the puck drifted across the slot to Kaliyev, who hammered the puck past Anderson. Kaliyev had missed nearly two months due a lower-body injury.
Buffalo controlled possession and play alike through much of the second period and earned its power-play opportunity of the evening. But it was the Kings who had strayed from the structure they showed in the first period, striking first, and shorthanded. Center Blake Lizotte broke up a pass, stole the puck and found Kempe, who backed up defenseman Owen Power before letting a short-side shot rip from above the circle for his teamleading 27th goal.
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