Sabres’ four-goal outburst in second period dooms Kings, 6-3

The Kings talked a stronger game than they played Tuesday, angrier after their 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center than they were during a stunning second-period collapse that launched this seven-game pre-Christmas trip and daunting stretch of nine straight road games with a monstrous thud.

The dull but efficient performance that allowed the Kings to score the game’s first two goals disintegrated completely under pressure. The Sabres scored four times in a span of 6 minutes 13 seconds, two of those goals coming 12 seconds apart.

“We just stopped playing,” center Anze Kopitar said in the somber locker room after a brief team meeting ended. “They got a first goal, second goal, and then we just stopped playing.”

Goaltender Peter Budaj, overextended in making his 25th appearance in the last 26 games, couldn’t stem the tide. Nor could backup Jeff Zatkoff, who gave up what turned out to be the game winner, the second of two superb goals by second-year standout Jack Eichel. Budaj returned for the third period, in which the Kings cut Buffalo’s lead to 4-3 before Evander Kane rebuilt a two-goal cushion on a setup from Eichel.

“It was just terrible hockey,” said Jeff Carter, whose four-on-four breakaway gave the Kings that 2-0 edge at 7:34 of the second period. “We come on a seven-game road trip, 1-0 after the first. 2-0. We get a bad bounce and then we just … shut down. It’s been going on for a while. Our second periods have not been good and they’ve been killing us. It’s everybody. It’s top to bottom. It’s unacceptable.

“You don’t make playoffs winning at home and then going on the road and … the bed. We’re fragile. We’re a fragile team.”

Their losing streak in Buffalo grew to eight, since a win here on Feb. 21, 2003, but that can be considered a fluke. Their 4-8-1 road record isn’t a fluke. They’ve earned it.

“First off, you’ve got to get some saves,” Coach Darryl Sutter said of the second-period debacle. “We’ve got a lot of goals scored on us lately with very few shots against.”

He also cited two goals in which the Sabres came out of the corner to score, by Ryan O’Reilly at 9:31 of the middle period to ignite the crowd and put the Sabres on the scoreboard, and Buffalo’s fourth goal, on which an unchecked Eichel curled into the high slot to rifle a shot into the upper-left corner of the net at 15:44.

“It’s not confusion when you get beat out of the corner,” Sutter said.

Kopitar, who ended a personal 16-game goal drought with a shot that trickled past goalie Robin Lehner three minutes into the game, said the Kings’ problems mounted quickly in their defensive zone.

“We weren’t good enough in our D zone, weren’t good enough making plays getting out of our D zone. They made a couple nice plays and they scored four,” he said. “It’s just unacceptable.”

Carter declined to specify what players discussed before the room was opened to the media.

“That’s for us to know, not anybody else,” he said.

But he made no secret of his exasperation over the team’s effort and over the Kings’ precarious position as they continue a trip that will be interrupted by the Christmas break. They’re not in a playoff position now, and it’s not early in the season anymore — and there’s no hope injured goalie Jonathan Quick will rescue them anytime soon.

“We get running around. We lose coverage. They score one goal. We’re up 2-1; 2-1 on the road is pretty good,” Carter said. “And then we just crumble, and we’ve been doing it all year. Home, away, everywhere.

“It’s time we take a big look in the mirror here because these next six games are pretty crucial to our year.”

That’s no exaggeration, and it won’t be easy. The Kings are scheduled to practice Wednesday in Buffalo and travel to Detroit to launch a back-to-back sequence against the Red Wings on Thursday and against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

“There’s lots to clean up, top to bottom, all the way through,” Carter said. “There’s nothing else we can do but go to work. Good practice [Wednesday], go into Detroit and get on board in this road trip. That’s all there is to it.”