Game Thread- Buffalo Sabres @ Los Angeles Kings

Yes a tad bit earlier than usual, but what the heck.

http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/clubhouse/buf_logo.gif AT http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/clubhouse/los_logo.gif
2-4-0-0 .........................4-2-0-0

Leader Scorers
Sabres- Miroslav Satan- 4 pts
Kings- Ziggy Palffy- 12 Pts

Probable Goaltending Matchup
Martin Biron (1-1-0-0, 3.42 GAA, 87.8%) vs. Roman Cechmanek (3-2-0-0, 2.41 GAA, 91.3%)

Special Teams
Sabres- 21st on PP, 19th on PK
Kings- 8th on PP, 28th on PK

Key Injuries
Sabres- Tim Connolly (Out), Eric Boulton (Out), Jochen Hecht (Out)
Kings- Jason Allison (Out), Adam Deadmarsh (Out), Mattias Norstrom (Out), Aaron Miller (Out)

Notes

- The Sabres are coming off a 6-1 destruction at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. They will be playing the 4th game of a 6 game western road trip.

- The Kings are coming off a shutout victory over the previously undefeated Flyers. The Kings have won 4 of their last 5 and will be playing the 4th game of a 7 game road trip.

- Ziggy Palffy continues to tear up the NHL and currently is the scoring leader with 12 pts in 6 games.

- Only Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Carolina have fewer goals than the Sabres this season.

- Miroslav Satan is a league worst -7

- Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel have each scored in all 6 games this season.

Prediction:
Kings 5 (Palffy, Visnovsky, Brown, Klatt, Avery)
Sabres 2 (Drury, Delmore)

we're going to kick some butts tomorrow... :rolly:

Let's go Kings!!

3-0... Kings. (Palffy, Robitaille, Frolov).

Small sidenote (and of course, it is only 7 games, but):

After 7 games last season (with Allison, Deadmarsh, Norstrom, etc) the Kings who had played Detroit (twice), Colorado, Vancouver (before they really got it going) along with NYR, PHO and ANA were 4-1-2-0 (10 points)

If the Kings beat Buffalo, they'll be 5-2-0-0 (10 points) without Allison, Deadmarsh & Norstrom among others having played:

Detroit, Ottawa, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago & Buffalo and by rights should be 7-0-0-0.

Almost as tough a schedule and without their best forwards.. This team is doing impressive things I'd say.

If you take away their horrible finishes in Detroit and against Boston the Kings have been absolutely fabulous this season.They have had a lead in every game they have played.

Even with the 2 losses the Kings are still ties for 1st place in the Western Conference. :yo:

Shouldn't Huet start one of the two games (Buf-Chi)? Is Cech pen down for tonight's start?

Get out the rake, because there's going to be a lot of muck.

Kings win 2-1 in OT in an ugly, grind-it-out game.

Kings 5

Sabers 1

L.A ~ Robitaille, Stumple(2), Visnovski, Palffy

Sabers ~ Briere

Shouldn't Huet start one of the two games (Buf-Chi)? Is Cech pen down for tonight's start?
i would guess roman is starting again tonight...andy murray likes to go with the hot players...RC just came off a shutout of the flyers tuesday.

I say Kings 4 Sabres 1

Kings goals- Gleason, Frolov, Palffy and Lucccccccccc....

This is a really good test for us early this season. It is a game that we SHOULD win. Those seem to be the hardest ones to actually win though. I hope to see another good game. We need to keep pace with the "mighty" ducks after all. They are 2 4 0 1 for five points as has been pointed out in another thread. They are "right there" and now that Feds is among the leagues leading scorers (ask any "mighty" ducks fan, even if it is wrong, they will tell you he is) we are going to have to look over our shoulders at them all season.

Ok, all kidding aside, I think we will pull a tie out of tonite. The Sabres are fighting for their lives right now and I think we might have a little bit of a let down. 3-3 for our first tie.

Frolov gets his third
Klatt gets his fourth
Gleason gets his....first.

This Sabres team is going to be tough tonight. Coming off of a 6-1 loss to the Canucks they will have something to prove. Let's just hope they wait to prove it against the Ducks.

I'd love to say "watch out Kings" since the Sabres have been playing like total **** lately and are on the verge of a great game, but it's probably not going to happen. And now we just decided to dress 2 career AHL'ers tonite over 2 veterans. Have fun pounding on us tonite.

I don't think this is going to be a blowout at all. Like DFA said, it's going to be messy

I don't think this is going to be a blowout at all. Like DFA said, it's going to be messy
well just hope none of our guys get hurt in this messy game...

Also for those who watch "break the ice",Michael Cammalleri will be the in studio guest

Also for those who watch "break the ice",Michael Cammalleri will be the in studio guest
i hear trent klatt will be on the paperboys on fox...

This Sabres team is going to be tough tonight. Coming off of a 6-1 loss to the Canucks they will have something to prove. Let's just hope they wait to prove it against the Ducks.
absolutely. they have a very decent team on paper, and there were a team that i picked to improve a great deal this season. its just a matter of time before they get things together and begin playing up to their ability. they are absolutely not to be underrated or underestimated.

After a 6-0 loss to NYI: BUF-4 DAL-3
After a bad 3-1 loss to EDM: BUF-2 CAL-0
After a 6-1 loss to Vancouver: I'll say BUF-3 LAK-2

Drury, Satan, Peters
Visnovsky, Klatt

After a 6-0 loss to NYI: BUF-4 DAL-3
After a bad 3-1 loss to EDM: BUF-2 CAL-0
After a 6-1 loss to Vancouver: I'll say BUF-3 LAK-2

Drury, Satan, Peters
Visnovsky, Klatt
drury always kills the kings.

Stupid penalty by Brennan gets the whole thing rolling for Buffalo. I still fail to realize the need to dress a goon, they contribute nothing on the ice, they kill your ability to roll 4 good lines and they usually always take dumb penalties. It's one thing to have a guy like Laraque who can actually play, but dressing a cementhead does this team no good.

I am THOROUGHLY UNIMPRESSED with Alex Frolov... That high stick was careless... then coming out of the penalty box he had a clear chance to knock an unsuspecting player of the puck and clear it... skated right by him.... The he doesn't rotate on the second goal...

Palffy earlier in the game had hit him with a great pass entering the zone... he refuses to shoot it...

He's got a LOOOOOOOOOONG way to go before he's a consistent player for this team.... :mad:

He's got a LOOOOOOOOOONG way to go before he's a consistent player for this team.... :mad:

Obviously. Too many Kings fans have too high of expectations for him right now. We are still talking at least 4-5 years before he is going to really hit his stride. Until then, he will look like an akward, lankyish (and sometimes sluggish) player most of the time and tease us with his raw talent some of the time.

Palffy earlier in the game had hit him with a great pass entering the zone... he refuses to shoot it...

I wouldn't fault him on that play though. Frolov made a great play to get positioning in behind the defender but it was just one of those times where your momentum and speed coupled with a defender on your back makes you lose the puck. He made the right decision to drive the net but it was too difficult a play to convert on.

But his play on the penalty kill was pathetic. Two brutal plays.

Overall, the team stinks. Palffy's penalty was completely moronic. I don't know what the hell he was thinking. That sure as hell isn't the type of play you expect your captain to make.

The Brennan-Peters fight was great. Both guys landed some huge bombs. Here's hoping for Round 2.

I don't get this team though. They play very well against Eastern powerhouses like Philly & Ottawa and the play like crap against Eastern minnows like Boston & Buffalo. Tough to get a read on this team.

Palffy ain't playing too smart either. And he should know a lot better than Frolov.

For years the Kings have played up or down to the level of their opponent. It's something I don't really understand, but have come to expect. It has to be a coaching and leadership thing.

What an awful performance by the Kings tonight. Nothing more can be said, they haven't shown up for this one.

How can you beat Philly 4-0 and then come out so flat vs. Buffalo.

Lets just hope to God Visnovsky is not seriously injured. Without him, I shudder to think at how pathetic our defense looks.

I really hope LA was scouting some defenseman from Carolina at that Carolina-Pittsburgh game. They seem to have some surplus and at this stage we could REALLY use one. Oh, and 1 Jeff O'Neill would be nice as well. :p

The only logical reason to watch the third period is to see another tilt between Peters and Brennan.

Two words.. Holy $h1t. My take is on one of the Buffalo PP goals i think it was the one that Satan scored, wtf was Modry doing at the point? Its not just him though. Hey Holland, make sure you pick up that glove when the other team is about to score. Did anyone else catch that? Will somebody please hit somebody? How many times have we gotten laid out tonight?

BTW the hit on Visnovsky was BULL$H1T! Or at least i thought it was. Should've been Interference. Umm Go Kings.

well just hope none of our guys get hurt in this messy game...

:rant: :rant: :rant:

that was brutal.

buffalo absolutely owned us behind the goal lines at both end. they also absolutely owned us when it came to clearing the puck - they did at will, and we never did. we were completely outworked and outmuscled, and by a relatively small team at that. as for palffy and visnovsky's injuries, i think that they were purley a product of laying back and allowing the other team to get physical with you. not that on those particular instances palffy or visnovsky should have hit the other player first or anything like that, but i think that when a team sits back and avoids contact like we did tonight, and allows the other team to dictate the physical play, that team becomes a team full of targets, and viola, injuries.

I don't think this is going to be a blowout at all. Like DFA said, it's going to be messy

Well, it was messy, for one team. And hey, it was a blowout, too ;)

I'm not trolling guys, I swear! Sabres fans need to gloat when the gloating's good, which isn't often. Good luck with your so-far stellar season. I'd like to see the Kings be one of the top teams in the West over the powerhouses like Det, Dal, Col.

Also, good luck with all the injuries. We know what that's like (though not as bad).

Nothing was clicking, they couldn't make three consecutive passes, Buffalo just flat owned every inch of the ice. Typical Kings - play up to the competition and down to the competition.

It's going to be like this until the Kings start getting some of their vocal team leaders back from IR (the loss of Matty and Miller I think are more significant than the loss of Allison and Deader). They'll play lackadasical at times and AM is not the firery screamer that can shake a team up during intermission. He relies on his leaders to do that and with each of them on the shelf, this team is going to play sluggish at times and take some teams for granted other times. This was one of those nights and Buffalo took it to the Kings from face-off to the final buzzer.

Typical comment

ironic

One word can summarize this game from a Kings standpoint: Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

That was such a terrible game that I did something I have never done before in my entire tenure as a Kings fan: I turned off the television after the second period. Props to the Sabres for playing a fairly solid game, but that effort by the Kings was utterly disgusting.

5-1? W*T*F :rant:

Kings 5

Sabers 1



You were very close Brath.

I just got out of bed and what did I see.......1-5.
A defeat OK but 5-1 against the Sabres while you beat Philly two days before is embarrassing.

You were very close Brath.

I just got out of bed and what did I see.......1-5.
A defeat OK but 5-1 against the Sabres while you beat Philly two days before is embarrassing.


hahahah, ya I wish it was the other way around!!!
I have herad that Palffy left the game with a cevical strain...PLEASE...tell me he is not injured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE are SCREWED if Palffy goes down!

murray in the postgame press conf. said it was a clean hit on ziggy and that he's got some inflamation...probably d/d, hopefully he'll be back in a couple of games. what happened to visnovsky?



yahoo.com:

"It was a disappointing night for the Kings, who lost D Lubomir Visnovsky to a back injury and RW Ziggy Palffy to a cervical sprain in Thursday's 5-1 loss to Buffalo"

Stupid penalty by Brennan gets the whole thing rolling for Buffalo. I still fail to realize the need to dress a goon, they contribute nothing on the ice, they kill your ability to roll 4 good lines and they usually always take dumb penalties. It's one thing to have a guy like Laraque who can actually play, but dressing a cementhead does this team no good.

Sorry bro, but this comment is just completely lame! Every time a physical player on our team takes a penalty it's dumb, but when idiots get called for holding, and hooking it's ok. He plays with emotion, and we lack it big time!
Your comments are the exact reason why we are the most fragile bunch in the league. Start naming all other twenty nine teams in the league and the "four" good lines that they roll. Every team in this league dresses at least two heavyweights that can hadle the business. We're lucky to get one.
As far as the Laraque comment, that's the easy way out. Can you tell me which goon in this league plays like you want them to play. They're here to protect, not to bag 20 goals.
Teams must love to play us! They know they can get free shots at our superstars........IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!