Kings Come Tumbling Down

There was talk of snowball effects and rain that pours, appropriate euphemisms for a simple fact: The Kings played a deplorable final 25 minutes that cost them a victory Friday night.

They had a two-goal lead way back when, seemingly on their way to a road victory against a team that needs every point possible in a playoff race, much like the Kings.

But the Buffalo Sabres scored seven consecutive goals on the way to an unpredictable 8-3 victory before a crowd of 18,690 at HSBC Arena.

The Kings’ problems were almost too numerous to chronicle: Turnovers, shaky goaltending and lack of offense after Ian Laperriere’s rebound goal provided a 3-1 lead at 12:04 of the second period.

The edge dissipated quickly from there, as the Sabres scored four goals in a 4:35 span that began near the end of the second period and carried over into the third.

Goaltender Roman Cechmanek was yanked after the Sabres’ fifth goal, throwing his arms in disgust as he skated off the ice and into the locker room.

Still irritated after the game, Cechmanek said, “Too many mistakes,” and declined to speak further with reporters.

Other Kings were left to describe how they allowed eight goals for the first time since an 8-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 18, 1999.

Said King defenseman Mattias Norstrom: “When it rains it pours. Today it was pouring in goals for them for about 25 minutes.”

Said right wing Trent Klatt: “That snowball started to come down the hill, and we couldn’t stop it. It got bigger and bigger and bigger.”

As did the King deficit.

At one point, the Kings led in shots, 17-8, and held the Sabres without a shot in the second period until there was 7:12 left. But the Sabres had 28 of the final 35 shots and seven of the final seven goals.

“It’s almost two different games here tonight,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “There’s the game that one would look at for the first half of the game, and [Buffalo Coach] Lindy [Ruff]’s pulling his hair out, the fans are booing and we had the puck for the greater part of the first 34 minutes of the game. They had it for most of the rest of the game there.”

Turnovers were a consistent problem.

Jaroslav Modry had one in the King zone. Goal, Rory Fitzpatrick.

Sean Avery and Brad Chartrand each had third-period turnovers. Goal, Maxim Afinogenov, both times.

“Real bad things happened to creep into our game,” Norstrom said. “We haven’t seen a lot of this. We’ve got to be able to shake a game like this.”

Scott Barney, the Kings’ top player on offense, couldn’t even enjoy a homecoming of sorts. Barney, who had a goal and an assist, left midway through the second period because of a right shoulder injury incurred when he collided with Adam Mair.

“It’s really sore, the whole thing,” said Barney, who grew up in Oshawa, Ontario, a town two hours away, and played Friday in front of several friends and family members. “It would have been better with a win.”

Barney, who boarded the team bus with his shoulder in a sling, will be reevaluated today.

As for the Kings, they have less than 36 hours to recover for a Sunday afternoon game against the New Jersey Devils, defending Stanley Cup champions.

“We’re in a situation with all our injuries where we have to play so tight the whole time,” Norstrom said. “There’s no room to relax and think things are going to happen by themselves.”

The loss ended a Kings’ streak of 10 road games in which they had collected at least one point. It also continued Buffalo’s dominance over L.A. In two games, the Sabres have outscored the Kings, 13-4.