‘What our team needs’ | As power play heats up, so do Sabres with California sweep

LOS ANGELES – One month into the season, the Sabres finally seem to be hitting their stride.

Buffalo wrapped up a sweep of California – its first three-game winning streak of the season – with Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Kings at Crypto.com Arena. The Sabres (7-4-3) now head home after collecting seven of eight possible points on the road trip.

“Everybody knows how good the Atlantic is this year. I think the biggest thing right now is that we have to be able to string points together, string good games and wins together,” said goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made 27 saves for his fourth victory. “I think we kind of [did] it all this trip: There’s been low-scoring games, high-scoring games, and we’ve been able to come out on top.”

Of several encouraging developments from the trip, the power play may top the list. Buffalo scored twice on the man advantage Saturday and is 4-for-6 between the last two games.

After some fortunate bounces created the power-play goals Thursday in Anaheim, the top unit went out and earned its goals against the Kings. It opened the scoring early in Saturday’s first period when Zach Benson, on the right wall, flung a perfect, spin-around, backhand pass across the zone to Jack Quinn. The play started with a close keep-in at the point by Rasmus Dahlin and Noah Östlund.

Quinn made a quick deke between the circles and beat goalie Anton Forsberg cleanly for his eighth goal. That knack for creating shooting lanes has been a major factor in his red-hot start to the season.

“Just a crazy play,” Quinn said of Benson, whose nine primary assists lead the team by far. “But he’s got such good vision, he does that stuff all the time, you so learn to expect it from him.”

A second-period Sabres power play came up empty, but not for lack of chances – rebounds and net-front scrambles amounted to five shots on Forsberg, plus three more attempts that got blocked.

Los Angeles mounted a comeback to tie it early in the third, and the 2-2 score held until Josh Doan drew a trip with 6:31 remaining. Buffalo lost the initial faceoff on this man advantage, but Östlund chased the rim-around for another keep-in, walked the blue line and dropped a short pass to Dahlin. That movement had the Kings scrambling, and Quinn found Tage Thompson for the go-ahead tally.

“Our group’s gotten together as a unit and just talked about what we’re looking for out there,” Thompson explained. “I think every power play should have an objective of who you’re trying to find and where the threats are. When you do that, it takes the thinking out of it, the puck moves quicker, and you let the puck do the work.”

Trying to find Thompson is a solid gameplan right now. A two-goal outing gives him five in the last two games and a team-leading 10 goals overall. He walked into Anaheim on pace for 35 this season; he leaves Los Angeles on pace for 60. Thompson fired eight shots on net Saturday and ranks second leaguewide with 63 total shots.

The power play can be a force when Thompson and Quinn are shooting like this. And when the Sabres are putting in the work to get them the puck, they’re a real handful at 5-on-4. Nine total power-play shots were Buffalo's most in a regular-season game since the 8-7 thriller versus Tampa Bay in March.

“The zone time, the entries. The loose-puck recovery by Östlund on the goal tonight was huge. The play that Quinn made to find Tommer,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “You put the work in, and we’re starting to see results.”

Seventeen percent (8-for-47) on the power play isn’t anything to brag about yet, but after an 0-for-13 start to the season, this current hot streak has given the Sabres a game-changing boost on offense.

“Obviously a slow start for us, but it’s great to contribute,” Quinn said. “It’s what our team needs from us."

More strong goaltending

Luukkonen made his first start in a week after Colten Ellis won in San Jose and Anaheim. He turned aside an Erik Haula breakaway in a quiet first period, then made 13 saves as the Kings tilted the ice in the second. In a game where Los Angeles generated 4.01 expected goals, per Stathletes, Luukkonen had arguably his best outing of the season to date.

“I felt great. I’ve been feeling good in the games,” said Luukkonen, who appreciated the season-high 30 blocked shots by the Sabres in front of him.

Luukkonen and Ellis combined for a .908 save percentage across the three California wins, and it’s no coincidence that better goaltending has led to better results for Buffalo.

“It’s huge when you’ve got two goalies you can trust back there to bail you out when you make mistakes,” Thompson said. “… Anytime you’re on the ice and you know your goalies are feeling it, it’s a good feeling.”

Krebs-Edmundson nastiness

Peyton Krebs and Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson had an altercation behind Forsberg's net midway through Saturday’s third period, and they continued scrapping all the way to their benches.

Then Edmundson laid Krebs out in the neutral zone with 3:39 remaining – Krebs braced for the hit and avoided any major head contact – and Thompson immediately dropped the gloves in his linemate’s defense. A Thompson roughing minor was the only penalty from the sequence, so the Sabres needed to survive a late kill to hold onto their 3-2 lead.

“He’s looking after his teammate. He thought it’s a bad hit,” Ruff said. “Those are the ones you scream at your teammates, ‘You’ve got to kill this off.’ And I thought the guys hunkered down and did.”

“A huge kill to bail me out there,” agreed Thompson.

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres begin a four-game homestand Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against the Ottawa Senators, the on-ice debut of the Hometown Remix uniform.

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