Sabres score 7 goals in shutout victory against Kings

BUFFALO -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves for the Buffalo Sabres in a 7-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

It was Luukkonen's fourth shutout this season, the most by a Sabres goalie since Ryan Miller had six in 2011-12.

“It kind of feels good to kind of see,” Luukkonen said. “I’ve been working hard, so kind of getting some things from that. Playing good hockey. It feels great to help the team win, and, of course, it’s great to get those shutouts. But right now, it’s just about winning games.”

Jordan Greenway had two goals and an assist, JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Bryson had two assists for the Sabres (23-25-4), who had lost two in a row.

“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Greenway said. “We played at a great pace that I just don’t think that they could keep up with. It paid off for us early and, yeah, I think if we stick to that game and commit to playing it every night, we can beat some good teams.”

David Rittich allowed five goals on 17 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Cam Talbot, who made five saves for the Kings (24-16-10), who were playing their second game under interim coach Jim Hiller following a 4-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

“I talked about the other night, the guys had fun,” Hiller said. “It was a fun night. No fun today. No fun. And we're not going to do that. We're not going to play like that. We are going to have energy, we are going to recommit to our identity, which is checking. Just checking. You saw it. We got away. I don't know why. We'll figure it out. We'll go through the tape. We'll talk to the guys. We'll get to the bottom of it and we'll correct it and get going again.”

Peterka gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the first period, circling the net and poking in the rebound of his own shot after the puck fell behind Rittich.

Greenway made it 2-0 at 16:58. He intercepted Drew Doughty’s pass attempt above the left circle and scored on a wrist shot.

Kyle Okposo then pushed it to 3-0 at 19:25 when he tipped in Dylan Cozens’ shot in front on the power play.

“I think getting an early lead was the most important thing,” Luukkonen said. “I think getting goals is, of course, important for the guys. But I think from a winning standpoint it's kind of been a problem for us, we’ve been giving the first goal away. You can look at the stats and it’s a huge thing in a game, who gets the first goal. So, I think that was one of the more important things today.”

Dahlin made it 4-0 at 6:42 of the second period with a shot from the right circle.

Zach Benson made it 5-0 at 14:17 when he collected a loose puck in tight and scored while falling to the ice.

“It was just a great pass by [Bryson], obviously, to give me that amount of time in front of the net,” Benson said. “Then obviously, he got a stick on my heels and when I was falling down, I just tried to elevate it and put it on net. I’m fortunate that it hit the back of the cage there.”

Tuch made it 6-0 at 4:30 of the third period after blocking a pass attempt in the neutral zone, and Greenway made it 7-0 on a rebound at the side of the net at 7:50.

“We started slow,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “I thought when you compare it to the Edmonton game, we weren’t very clean today. I felt like breakouts started [on the] backend with us. I think we need to make a few more plays or at least put it in spots for the forwards to handle it. But yeah, things just didn’t go our way kind of the whole night, and we didn’t do anything to really change it at all.”

NOTES: Kings forward Carl Grundstrom left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. There was no update. … Peterka scored his seventh game-opening goal of the season, tied for second-most in the NHL behind David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins (eight). … Benson’s five goals are the fourth-most by an 18-year-old in Buffalo history, behind Phil Housley (17), Pierre Turgeon (14) and Rasmus Dahlin (nine).