The Buffalo Sabres will try to keep their shutout streak alive when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.
The Sabres blanked their past two opponents and have not surrendered a goal in the past 164:07. They last gave up a goal in the second period of a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday.
Buffalo has won three in a row, six straight on the road and 11 of 12 since the Olympic break.
Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen continue to alternate in net for the Sabres.
Luukkonen made 29 saves in a 2-0 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, and Lyon made 23 saves in a 5-0 win at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday for his 10th straight road victory.
“I think, as you get older, you get better on the road, just taking care of your body, doing the right things leading up to the game,” Lyon said. “It’s a completely different process than preparing for a home game.”
The Sabres (43-20-6, 92 points) have scored 11 straight goals on the road dating back to their 5-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 5. They’ve only had a longer run twice in team history, getting 13 straight road goals from Jan. 22 to Feb. 10, 2018, and 12 in a row from March 27 to April 9, 2000.
Buffalo is 11-2-0 against the Pacific Division this season and 18-7-2 against the Western Conference.
The Kings are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The extra point moved the Kings into the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot with 14 games remaining.
Two of the teams the Kings are chasing in the Pacific Division, the Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers, also lost on Thursday.
“You look at the teams that lost (Thursday), every one of them went in thinking, ‘We’ve got to win the game,’ and of the teams that needed to do it, we were the only one that got a point,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “Did we want two? Yeah, but at the end of the day, we don’t have any time to think about that. I mean, if you get the two and then you don’t do anything in the next two, what’s the difference?”
Los Angeles (28-24-16, 72 points) gave up more than its share of 2-on-1 rushes against the Flyers, something it wants to clean up with Buffalo paying a visit.
“We’ve got to fix what I think and know that we can do better,” Smith said. “Then, we’ve got to be ready to play a really good Buffalo Sabres team that won 5-0 (on Thursday). They seem like they win every single night. We have to be at our best.”
Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist against the Flyers to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, five assists). His power-play goal midway through the third period against the Flyers tied the score and sent the game to overtime.
“The best players in the league are the best players in the league for a reason and they find ways to make plays under pressure when no one else can, especially in the third period,” Smith said of Panarin, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Feb. 4.
–Field Level Media
