Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 33 shots for his fourth career shutout and Jordan Greenway scored twice and added an assist to lead the Buffalo Sabers to a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
Kings star center Anze Kopitar had a night to forget – just like his teammates – with a minus-6 rating.
Rasmus Dahlin, JJ Peterka and Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist each to help the Sabers end a three-game home streak in which they scored just three times.
Kyle Okposo and Zach Benson also scored. The Sabres, who started slowly, flipped the script by scoring the first goal for the first time in eight outings and maintaining a lead after 20 minutes for the first time in 11 chances.
The seven goals represent the most by Buffalo since a 9-3 victory over Toronto on December 21.
Luukkonen’s best save came on a Kings power play four minutes into the second period, when he rushed to his left to stop Adrian Kempe’s one-timer from the right circle .
The shutout was Luukkonen’s fourth this season, the most in a campaign by a Sabers goaltender since Ryan Miller had six in 2011-12.
The Kings were out of contention for most of an outing and provided little support to goaltender David Rittich, who finished the game with 12 saves.
Rittich surrendered five times on 17 shots in 40 minutes for the Kings, who started the day ranked second in fewest goals allowed with 127. In relief, Cam Talbot allowed two goals on seven shots.
After a 4-0 win over Edmonton in interim coach Jim Hiller’s debut Saturday, Los Angeles fell back into the inconsistencies that led the team to fire Todd McLellan. Los Angeles is 4-9-6 in their last 19 games.
Marchand’s 1000th match spoiled
The evening for Brad Marchand’s 1000th game did not end on a festive note for the Boston Bruins who fell 3 to 2 in a shootout to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins forward reached this plateau having played his entire career, which began during the 2009-2010 campaign, with the Bruins.
However, the meeting started badly for the locals at TD Garden. Erik Cernak and Nikita Kucherov gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
Marchand, however, did not want to steal the spotlight. The Bruins captain joined forces on goal with Charlie McAvoy and James van Riemsdyk to bring the two teams back to square one.
Marchant thus recorded his 49th and 50th points of the season. He also brings his total to 515 assists since the start of his career. He also has 912 points in 1000 games.
Marchand, however, was not dispatched by his coach during the shootout and Andrei Vasilevskiy stood in front of Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak. Brayden Point was the only scorer of the session.
The Lightning goaltender finished the evening with 36 saves. Linus Ullmark recorded 23 saves in the loss.
Tatar makes the difference
Tomas Tatar scored the only goal in the shootout and the Seattle Kraken beat the New York Islanders 2-1.
Matty Beniers scored in regulation, Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves and the Kraken ended a three-game losing streak.
Kyle Palmieri scored and Ilya Sorokin stopped 29 shots in New York’s second straight loss.
Tatar used a series of feints and a forehand to beat Sorokin. Islanders forwards Oliver Wahlstrom, Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal were all frustrated in the shootout.
The Islanders took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone and Palmieri was sent to the penalty box at 3:11 of overtime. Jayden Schwartz canceled the power play when he was also penalized for a stick at 4:28.
Palmieri scored a power play goal to tie the game at 14:37 of the second period. Barzal found his teammate on his own and Palmieri extended his point streak to a career-high six games.
Sorokin stopped Brandon Tanev on a short-handed breakaway moments before Palmieri tied the game.
Beniers gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the first period when he beat Sorokin on the blocker side.
Grubauer started his first game since December 9. The Seattle guard suffered a lower-body injury and left the injured list earlier this week. He was a reserve during the last matches.
