FINAL – Kings 1, Sabres 4 – Armia, Anderson, Smith

The LA Kings concluded their two-game homestand with a record of 0-1-1 as they fell by a 4-1 score on Saturday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings opened the scoring on the man advantage, as forward Artemi Panarin made it back-to-back games with a power-play goal. Forward Adrian Kempe worked the puck to forward Anze Kopitar in the bumper position, where the captain showed good awareness and poise with some space. He passed to Panarin in the left-hand circle, with just enough on the shot to hit the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead.

Buffalo answered back early in the second period as forward Tage Thompson tied the game at one. The Sabres held the offensive zone after forward Jeff Malott lost possession along the wall. Goaltender Anton Forsberg made the first save on a shot from forward Peyton Krebs, but Thompson collected the rebound, deked around Forsberg and pulled the puck back in front, burying his 36th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1.

The Sabres pulled ahead midway through the third period, as forward Sam Carrick scored the go-ahead goal. The Kings challenged the play, feeling that forward Zach Benson played the puck with a high stick on the zone entry, but the goal was upheld after a video review. Carrick’s goal came on the backhand, in a 2-on-1 situation after defenseman Joel Edmundson stepped up for a hit, and he buried from close range for the 2-1 lead.

After the missed challenge, Buffalo went on the power play and found an insurance goal to pull ahead 3-1. With the puck high in the air, defenseman Cody Ceci tried to knock it out of the slot but wound up sending the puck directly between Forsberg’s legs, into the back of the net with a deflection on the way, to put the Sabres up by a pair.

Forward Josh Norris finished the scoring for the visitors, as he picked the empty net late to secure the 4-1 victory.

Hear from forward Joel Armia, defenseman Mikey Anderson and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following today’s defeat.

Joel Armia

Mikey Anderson
On the team’s inability to close out games like this
Yeah, it sucks. I think the effort is there, it’s hard to fault the effort, but it’s executing. To get a chance to score, if you can get up two or three, it helps the flow a little bit more. This year it’s seemed we haven’t been able to do that. You know, things are going really good, you let a team hang around, every team can catch fire and get a stretch and they finished their chances. That’s the way it goes.

On getting results around the league but not being able to close those games out
I mean, we know where it’s at. You need points every night right now, you can’t get out of it without anything. So, it sucks to be in a spot to come out with points and to get nothing. Everyone around us, we’re all in the same boat. So it’s scoreboard watching, but enough, you’ve got to do it yourself to get yourself in.

On if it feels like the Kings are close to running out of time to get these wins
We just said it, you can win one game and you go up two spots in the standings. You lose one game, you’re down three. I think the racetrack is going to be until game 82, so at this point, it’s reset, you come back tomorrow and you’re ready to go and you focus on getting two points against another team that’s ahead of us in the standings.

On the challenge tonight and how it impacted the team
We don’t see all the angles, we see it real time and then you maybe see one angle they show on the big screen. I’m sure whatever they saw in the back, thought it was worthy of a challenge. You trust them, they’re good at what they do. Sammy and Travis, they’ve done it, they’re smart. It sucks we couldn’t get the kill for them and that’s how it goes.

D.J. Smith
On the Kings’ inability this season to find a way to win these games
You’ve got to be able to just play the exact same game for 60 minutes. You don’t need to be playing high risk or whatever in the last 10 minutes. For whatever reason, we haven’t been able to close games out. We didn’t have the lead, it’s tied, but I don’t like us giving up a 2-on-1 with under 10 minutes to go, off kind of a broken play.

On the coaches challenge and any explanation provided on that play
It comes down to the interpretation of it and it’s a close call. Obviously, we lose this one, but we thought it was and we obviously thought it was worth the risk. Then a bad bounce right behind it, where a shot goes off one of our guys, it goes in the net and you lose the game. It’s a tough way to lose, because I thought for a lot of the game we were even, or as good as them. We had, not lots of chances, but played a pretty even game against a team that doesn’t lose very often. The penalty aside, you’d like to see us be a little tighter in certain situations.

On the game-winning goal and Joel Edmundson’s read on that play
Well, I think in that situation, it’s just tracking rules apply. It’s the D on the outside, the forward on the inside and maybe it’s just a bad bounce, at the end of the day, hits a skate, bang, pops up to the guy and then they make the play. Sometimes, the D’s on the outside, forwards on the inside and guys make good plays, bad plays all the time. Sometimes, they end up in the net, sometimes they don’t. Tonight, it did and that’s just the way it’s going for Buffalo. They’re that team this year, that things are going in for them all the time. Regardless, we’ve got to make our own luck.

On Joel Armia’s return to the lineup and the play of that line
He was good. He can make plays, he’s smart player, I like that line. To be honest, there really wasn’t anyone that didn’t give us everything they had and played well. Now, in saying that, we’re traveling and it’s a back-to-back, I’ll look to put some new guys in tomorrow and have some fresh guys. I got Turc and Jo and we’ve got to win ourselves

On the games winding down and an urgency to win games
We’ll talk about it as a group, but you have no time to wait around. I mean, Buffalo came out here and they don’t lose very often, they’ve taken some teams apart. I didn’t think that happened tonight. I would have liked to see us finish that off, I think that would have catapulted us, beating a real good team. It didn’t happen. We have to turn the page. We’ve got no time and we’ve got to go and try and win a game tomorrow. Regardless, I think the leadership in that room is strong and that team will be ready to play tomorrow, but we’re not happy about it right now, hat’s for sure.

Notes –
– Forward Artemi Panarin (1-0=1) scored his 24th goal of the season, extending his point streak to a fifth game (3-5=8), dating back to March 13 at the New York Islanders. With his power play tally today against the Sabres, Panarin extends his point streak against Buffalo to a 10th game (5-8=13), dating back to April 10, 2023 (w/ NYR).
– Panarin becomes the 43rd different skater in League history to record a point streak of 10 or more games against the Sabres; he joins Lucas Raymond (5-15=20 in 11 GP), Auston Matthews (11-7=18 in 11 GP) and Jonathan Huberdeau (6-15=21 in 13 GP) as the only skaters with an active point streak of 10 or more games against Buffalo.
– Captain Anze Kopitar (0-1=1) recorded his 22nd assist of the season, extending his point streak to a fifth game, (4-2=6), dating back to March 13 at the New York Islanders.
– Kopitar is the third skater to post a five-game point streak with the Kings at age 38 or older, joining Larry Robinson (6 GP in 1989-90) and Corey Perry (5 GP in 2025-26).
– The captain notched his 700th career point (228-472=700) on home ice this afternoon, Marcel Dionne (288-412—700) for the most home points in franchise history
– Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) collected his team-leading 33rd helper of the campaign, his pace-setting 59th point (26- 33=59) of the season. Kempe’s helper this afternoon is his sixth career assist and 12th career point (6-6=12) against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Kings return to action tomorrow evening, as they visit the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center to begin a three-game roadtrip.