Sabres at Kings
The Los Angeles Kings enjoyed a bit of optimism by recording wins in three of the first four contests of their seven-game homestand, only to see the mood change as their playoff aspirations took a hit following back-to-back losses. The Kings look to pick themselves off the mat on Thursday as they welcome the reeling Buffalo Sabres to the Staples Center.
"It's no good. We let one slip here," Tyler Toffoli said after his third multi-goal performance of the season went for naught in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to Arizona. "We had the lead there and it's one of those things where we have got to tighten up and find ways to bear down and lock it down. We let one slip." While Los Angeles has lost 11 of 17 (6-8-3) to fall on the wrong side of the playoff picture, beleaguered Buffalo fell for the ninth time in 11 outings (2-7-2) on Tuesday by opening its four-game road trip with a 4-1 setback to San Jose. Jack Eichel (team-best 48 points) scored his seventh goal in nine outings early in the first period against the Sharks and had two tallies and an assist in the Sabres' 6-3 win over the Kings on Dec. 13.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, MSG-Buffalo, FSN West (Los Angeles), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE SABRES (28-30-12): While Eichel had reason to celebrate after reaching the 20-goal plateau on Tuesday, the second-year forward was left down in the dumps after his own goal turned the tide against the Sharks. "That one hurts a lot," the somber 20-year-old told the Buffalo News after the puck caromed off his skate and between the pads of netminder Robin Lehner late in the second period. "It's obviously not something that's normal. It stinks. It was the turning point of the game." Fellow forward Evander Kane (team-leading 25 goals), who scored in the first meeting with Los Angeles, has four goals and three assists in his last eight games.
ABOUT THE KINGS (33-29-7): Captain Anze Kopitar, who scored in the first encounter with Buffalo, recorded two of his team-leading 33 assists on Tuesday to increase his point total to nine (three goals, six assists) in his last nine games. Fellow forward Jeff Carter (club-best 31 goals) scored twice in the initial meeting with the Sabres and enters Thursday's tilt with four points (one goal, three assists) in his last four games. The 32-year-old Carter also scored in the first round of the shootout versus the Coyotes, but the Kings failed to convert on any of their next 10 attempts to be saddled with their second straight loss.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles G Jonathan Quick has allowed two goals in each of his last four outings (3-1-0).
2. Sabres D Rasmus Ristolainen notched two of his team-leading 38 assists in the first encounter with the Kings and has four points in his last four games overall.
3. Los Angeles' third-ranked penalty kill has thwarted 56 of its last 60 short-handed situations (93.2 percent) over the last 23 contests.