Game #48

Buffalo Sabres (20-23-4) vs. Los Angeles Kings (22-13-9)

Puck Drop: 10:30 PM EST, Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA

TV: ESPN+, Hulu

Radio: WGR-550

Know Your Opponent

Los Angeles Kings

Record: 22-13-9

Last Game: 4-3 Shootout Loss to the San Jose Sharks

Division Ranking: 4th in the Pacific Division

PP Ranking: 15th (21.2%)

PK Ranking: 1st (87.1%)

What to Watch

1) That Second Period Though

The Buffalo Sabres had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad middle stanza last night against the Anaheim Ducks. To anyone who watched it, there are not enough condolences for your eyeballs.

Against a bad Ducks side, the Sabres somehow kicked off their West Coast jaunt by playing even worse.

Here’s captain Kyle Okposo –

“It’s probably the worst period we’ve played all year to be honest with you.. It was awful. It was just not good enough. I mean, giving up chance after chance on the wrong side of the puck. It was bad.
“We have to do a better job of realizing where we’re at and what we need. … We just wanted it easy. You want it easy and the other team starts to feel good. It’s going to be a long night. And it was a long 2nd period that’s for sure.”

Buffalo did decide to show up for the last half a dozen minutes or so of the game and even came close to stealing an undeserved point, but just desserts were served and their rapidly diminishing playoff hopes are quite aptly being sunk by the apathy of this team, top to bottom.

Whether or not you are a big fan of Mike Harrington, you have to agree with him here –

“… the Sabres, who simply don’t hit anybody, rarely play with any passion or pace and constantly give the puck away for no reason. They don’t compete and get to hard areas of the ice in front of the net or in the corners, and overpass”.

The big thing to watch tonight is whether we see the 54-minute Sabres or the 6-minute Sabres from last night

2) Kings Slipping and Sliding

There’s been a downturn in the Kings home form and as a result they have been struggling, going just 2-4-4 in their last ten games. There are whispers that Todd McLellan might have outstayed his welcome in the City of Angels, and a defeat to the Sabres tonight could be the rubber-stamp on that even though the Kings lead the wildcard race in the Western Conference.

LA remains very effective at what they do though and, and are the best penalty-killing team in the league, which should go just great with the Sabres sputtering power play. Led by the ageless Anze Kopitar, the power play is a middling unit so the game tonight could come down to which special teams wins the battle.

The Kings are fourth in the league in goal difference at 0.7 per game, and while they don’t score too many goals, they also have the second-best defense – also led by another ageless wonder, Drew Doughty – in the league, which means you really shouldn’t expect a goal fest at midnight Eastern time.

3) Good Luck Devon?

With the Sabres starting Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the first night of a back-to-back, the expectation is that Devon Levi will get the nod tonight. There will be no morning skate today and Don Granato only meets the press at 9p ET, so we might not know until then.

Things haven’t gone well for Levi in recent starts, although he does tend to be better on the road than in the confines of KeyBank Center.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Casey Mittelstadt – JJ Peterka
Jordan Greenway – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Zemgus Girgensons – Peyton Krebs – Kyle Okposo

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson
Ryan Johnson – Owen Power
Henri Jokiharju – Connor Clifton

Goaltenders

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Devon Levi (likely starter)

Los Angeles Kings

Forwards

Pierre-Luc Dubois – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Phillip Danault – Trevor Moore
Alex Laferriere – Quinton Byfield – Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Carl Grundstrom – Trevor Lewis – Samuel Fagemo

Defense

Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov – Brandt Clarke
Andreas Englund – Jordan Spence

Goaltenders

Cam Talbot (likely starter), David Rittich

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