Viktor Arvidsson had a goal and two assists to help the host Los Angeles Kings earn a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
Adrian Kempe added a goal and an assist and Phillip Danault had three assists for the Kings, who are 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Arthur Kaliyev, Sean Walker and Matt Roy each netted a goal, and Los Angeles’ Pheonix Copley made 27 saves.
Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs scored for the Sabres. Victor Olofsson and Casey Mittelstadt collected two assists apiece and Craig Anderson made 23 saves in his first start since Jan. 23. Buffalo has been outscored 17-5 in its past three games and is 0-3-1 since a five-game winning streak.
Kempe connected for the third straight game to open the scoring with a short-handed goal at 9:20 of the second period. Blake Lizotte intercepted Kyle Okposo’s drop pass in the Kings’ zone and sent it to Kempe, who carried it up the ice before firing home his 27th of the season from the top of the left circle. The forward has seven goals in his three-game streak.
Kaliyev struck seven seconds into the power play to for a 2-0 lead at 12:35 of the middle period. Danault partially fanned on a shot attempt from low in the left circle and the puck slid over to Kaliyev in the inner right circle, and Kaliyev beat Anderson short side.
Walker pushed it to 3-0 at 18:41 of the second. Arvidsson intercepted Anderson’s clearing pass and sent a cross-ice feed to Danault, who quickly banked it off the right wall up to Walker above the circle.
Roy struck 33 seconds later, uncovered in the left circle to extend it to 4-0 with 46 seconds remaining in the period.
Arvidsson made it 5-0 on the power play at 5:14 of the third period, poking in a loose puck on the goal line by Anderson’s skate.
Cozens broke the shutout bid when his shot from the inner right circle squirted under Copley’s left pad to make it 5-1 at 10:16 of the third. Krebs cut it to 5-2 with a tap-in power-play goal down low at 15:09.
–Field Level Media