It Goes From Bad to Worse for Kings

Two days after having their way against one of the NHL’s worst teams, the Kings skated against the hard-working Buffalo Sabres and suffered an old-fashioned beating Saturday night.

Buffalo scored three goals in the first five minutes and never looked back in handing the Kings their worst defeat in more than 20 years, 10-1, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,690 at HSBC Arena.

The nine-goal defeat matched a franchise record, which last happened on Nov. 27, 1985, when Hartford beat the Kings, 9-0, in Los Angeles.

The Sabres’ Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville each scored three times and goaltender Ryan Miller made 32 saves against the Kings, who ended a disjointed four-game trip that began with losses at San Jose and Anaheim with a 1-3 record.

Goaltender Mathieu Garon, who made 30 saves in a 6-0 victory at Boston on Thursday, was no match for the Sabres, who sent him to the bench after four first-period goals.

“We got beat in all the areas,” captain Mattias Norstrom said. “We talk about consistency day in and day out, but we come off the win at Boston with this type of performance.”

The Kings, who played without injured regulars Pavol Demitra (leg), Jeremy Roenick (finger), Eric Belanger (groin), Aaron Miller (back) and Lubomir Visnovsky (illness), could not match the energy of the Sabres, who also were short-handed.

Buffalo played without several starters, including Adam Mair, Daniel Briere and Rory Fitzpatrick, but ended a two-game losing streak by out-hustling, out-hitting and outperforming the Kings.

“We wanted to come out on them right off the bat, and I think we did that,” said a smiling Pominville, who started the game with only five goals.

Led by forward Mike Grier, Buffalo started fast against the Kings, who were caught scrambling on defense and did not seem ready for the Sabres’ aggressiveness.

Defenseman Jay McKee scored from the slot off a perfect setup pass from Grier 66 seconds after the opening face-off. Thirteen seconds later, Grier fed Chris Drury, who knocked home a goal from the top of the crease to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead 1:19 into the first period.

After giving up a goal to Ales Kotalik at 4:33, Garon temporarily was benched in favor of Adam Hauser, who made his NHL debut. Garon returned less than two minutes later but his second stint in net did not go much better when he gave up a goal to Hecht, who beat him shortside from the right circle to give Buffalo a 4-0 lead at 10:46.

That’s when Murray put Hauser back in and, although he gave up a goal to Hecht at 17:06, the rookie finished the period strong and the Kings finally had something go their way when Jeff Cowan scored to cut Buffalo’s lead to 5-1 entering the second period.

That positive feeling did not last long for the Kings.

Buffalo scored two man-advantage goals and one short-handed to take an 8-1 lead after two periods.

In the third, Pominville joined Hecht with his own hat trick with the Sabres’ third power-play goal. Daniel Paille completed the scoring with his first career goal.

“We played two complete opposite games,” Coach Andy Murray said in comparing Saturday’s effort to the Kings’ win over Boston. “In that particular game, it was very difficult to find a player who did not play extremely well and in tonight’s game, it’s very difficult to find someone who did play well.... I don’t know if I’ve ever been involved in a game like this.”