Peterka's career-best night fuels Sabres' comeback victory in LA

LOS ANGELES – JJ Peterka counted himself among the Buffalo Sabres who arrived at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday unhappy with how he had played the night prior.

The Sabres had fallen 4-2 in Anaheim on Tuesday, the opener of a three-game road trip in California. They fell behind 3-1 in the first period against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, but even then there was a different sense on the bench.

“I think everyone was kind of pissed off from last night,” Peterka said. “I think nobody played the game he wants to play, and we know also that we can be way better than that.”

The Sabres rallied back to defeat the Kings 5-3, fueled in part by two goals and an assist from Peterka. It was the first two-goal game of his career as well as his first three-point game. Peterka also used his speed to draw three penalties.

“He was just skating, skating, skating, all over the ice,” Alex Tuch said. “The puck was finding him, but he was just working, competing, and he made a couple really good defensive plays too, I thought. He played that full 200-foot game and that’s something that we’re going to need out of him. He showed he’s more than capable of it and obviously he netted a couple of big goals for us, too.”

Peterka fed Dylan Cozens on the rush, then buried the rebound off Cozens’ shot to put the Sabres on the board and erase a 1-0 deficit 5:01 into the contest.

The Kings tacked on two goals from Adrian Kempe and Pierre Luc-Dubois to pull ahead 3-1 heading into the first intermission. Peterka responded once again, this time with a breakaway goal set up by a forced turnover and a diving pass from linemate Jack Quinn.

Peterka’s second goal ignited a run of four unanswered by the Sabres. Quinn tied the game with a shot from the high slot 2:08 later, then Tuch buried the winner 5:49 into the third period. Cozens added Buffalo’s fifth goal, assisted by an entry pass from Peterka.

Quinn finished the game with a goal and two assists, which also marked the first three-point game of his career.

The common denominator for the Sabres, coach Don Granato said, was a sense of confidence he felt the team lacked in their loss to the Ducks.

“To fall behind 3-1 I could tell on the bench the psyche was still real good, real strong, and the conviction was still there,” Granato said. “So, all of that was really nice to see when you take it in the context of a really disappointing game the other night.”

Here are more notes from the win in Los Angeles.

1. Zemgus Girgensons left the game with 12:48 remaining in the first period due to an upper-body injury and did not return. The Sabres were also without defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who missed the game due to an injury.

Jacob Bryson entered the lineup in place of Samuelsson and skated 10:50 in his first NHL game since Nov. 4.

2. Devon Levi started for the Sabres for the first time since Jan. 9, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen having started the last six games. The rookie had played one AHL game in the meantime, a 14-save win in Rochester on Saturday.

Granato chose to stick with Levi after the Kings scored on three of their first six shots, sensing his team was not in need of a momentum boost and that his rookie goaltender could benefit from the opportunity to respond. Levi was perfect the rest of the way, finishing with 37 saves.

“He rebounded well and this was a big game for him,” Granato said. “This was a big experience for him in a building like that.”

3. The Sabres focused on getting shots to the net against a Kings team that entered the night ranked third in goals allowed per game. Tuch led the way with six shots, including his game-tying goal set up by the combined forechecking efforts of Peyton Krebs and Eric Robinson.

“I think we’ve been passing up on a lot of opportunities and I think me personally, I haven’t been looking to the net as much as I have been able to the past,” Tuch said. “So, I think that was more of a focus on my part and as our team, we had almost 40 shots on net so that’s something we want to continue.”

Up next

The road trip concludes Saturday in San Jose. Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 3:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 4. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.