Buffalo Sabres Lose Another One But Do They Really Care?
I'm not sure how any Buffalo Sabres fan could have walked out of KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon and not have been completely disgusted by the effort of the Sabres against the Los Angeles Kings. None of the players would admit it, but there was an obvious care-less attitude among the players in a 4-2 loss.
The final score doesn't come close to indicating how lopsided a game it was. The Kings dominated play especially in the first period where they outshot the Sabres 19-8, but amazingly only led 1-0. Different story in the second period where the Kings dominance continued but the onslaught of shots resulted in three goals in a stretch of just over five and a half minutes.
This game was pretty much over after Benoit Pouliot tripped over himself in his own zone and handed it to the Kings for an easy goal. That made it 2-0 and any resolve that the Sabres may have had just evaporated. You can't beat another team when you beat yourselves and we've seen the Sabres do that so many times this season.
Goaltender Robin Lehner was pulled after two periods and replaced by Chad Johnson, but goaltending wasn't the problem in this one. If not for Lehner in the first period the Kings could have scored at least four times, but the one shot Lehner did allow was a stinker, so it just wasn't a very good day for any of the Sabres.
Defensemen scored both Buffalo goals in the third period with Marco Scandella and Rasmus Ristolainen figuring out how to beat the Kings' Jonathan Quick.
The Sabres remain at home to host the Washington Capitals on Monday afternoon at 3:00.