*Photo from the Niagara Gazette*
This was just a rout, plain and simple. Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist, Jordan Greenway had two goals and an assist, and the Buffalo Sabres shut out the Los Angeles Kings with a 7-0 victory on Tuesday night in Buffalo.
The win snapped a two game losing streak and a 3 game skid at home for the Sabres, who are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games. Dahlin, JJ Peterka, and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist while Jacob Bryson had two assists and Greenway had a 3 point game.
Greenway said of the win that "We did a lot of good things tonight. 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."
Peterka started the scoring for the Sabres, giving them a 1-0 lead 4:25 into the game with Bryson and Greenway assisting. At the 16:58 mark of the first period, Greenway scored unassisted to double the Sabres lead to 2-0. With 35 seconds left in the period, Kyle Okposo scored a power play goal to make it 3-0 Sabres after one.
Dahlin scored 6:42 into the second period to give the Sabres a 4-0 lead on his 14th goal of the season. Bryson and Peterka assisted on Zach Benson's 5th goal of the season, making it 5-0 after two periods. Tuch scored an unassisted goal 4:30 into the 3rd period to make it 6-0 Sabres. Greenway then scored his second goal of the night to make it a 7-0 final score.
Getting the start in net for the Sabres was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who got the win to improve to 13-13-2 in 26 starts. Luukkonen recorded a 33 save shutout, his 4th shutout of the year. That's the most a Sabres goalie has had in a single season since Ryan Miller had 6 in 2011-2012.
Luukkonen said of his shutouts that "It kind of feels good to see. 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."
Starting in net for the Kings was David Rittich, who had a bad showing. Rittich took the loss to drop to 6-2-3 by allowing 5 goals on 17 shots. Cam Talbot came in to replace Rittich in the 3rd period and allowed two goals on 7 shots.
Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said of the loss "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."
Both teams get back in action on Thursday night. Luukkonen is the likely starter for the Sabres as they host the Florida Panthers. Rittich is projected to start for the Kings against the New Jersey Devils.
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