Kings clobber Sabres 5-3
By Rick Anderson
January 19, 2000

The Buffalo Sabres' 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night proved they are consistent at one thing this season, and that's the act of being extremely inconsistent. After beating the Mighty Ducks 5-0 the night before, the Sabres came out flat on their faces and lost to another team who's been struggling all year.

"I don't know how one night we're ready and the next night we're not," said Michal Grosek. "We didn't follow our system. It's very frustrating."

Martin Biron is the perfect example of inconsistency for the Sabres. Monday night he shut out the Ducks, making 17 saves. Tuesday night Biron was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 14 shots.

Ziggy Palffy celebrates after putting one past Dwayne Roloson

Ziggy Palffy got a lead pass from Bryan Smolinski early in the first period with both teams short a man and broke in alone on Biron, beating him through his pads at the 4:26 mark.

Luc Robitaille increased the Kings lead to 2-0 at the 17 minute mark of the first period while Brian Holzinger was in the penalty box. Robitaille batted down the puck after it flew up in the air off Smolinski's stick and it went past Biron.

"They break two sticks on a power play, and somehow we end up giving them wide-open shots when they should have nothing," said Lindy Ruff. "It's frustrating."

Brad Chartrand sent Biron to the bench when he took a slap shot from inside the blue line and Biron mishandled it. The puck got under his stick and into the net giving the Kings a 3-0 lead. That was enough for Biron and Sabres coach Lindy Ruff sent in Dwayne Roloson.

The change in goalies seemed to pick up the Sabres a little as Michal Grosek got the Sabres on the board just 34 seconds later. The Kings took a three goal lead again when Robitaille notched his 20th goal of the season after being fed by Palffy and all he had to do was to tap it in past

Roloson. Goals were coming half a minute apart as Maxim Afinogenov scored his 12th of the season only 33 seconds later as he beat Kings' goalie Jamie Storr with a wrist shot. Palffy got his second of the night and 16th of the year at the 15:60 mark of the second period.

The Sabres ended the scoring when Geoff Sanderson notched his 7th on a powerplay 11:41 into 3rd period. "We didn't work too hard at our system," said Sanderson. "When we're giving up two-on-ones and three-on-twos like you saw it's a sign we're not playing good defense." The Sabres defense let the Buffalo goalies out to dry in this one. Even Michael Peca was down on the defense after the game.

"It was an unacceptable game on our side defensively," said Peca. "The 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s and 3-on-2s are things we don't do. On Monday we played our system flawlessly and we came out today and didn't get the job done."

Ruff was equally harsh on the defensive performance. "We had a chance to get the lead and our defense gets caught and we give Palffy a breakaway and he buries it," he said. "We got behind and then we made some terrible decisions."

The Kings were coming off a three-game losing streak and the Sabres were just the tonic they needed to recuperate.

"There were lots of things we liked about the game tonight and lots of things that are still areas of concern," Kings coach Andy Murray said.

Storr, coming off the injury list because of suffering from post-concussion syndrome, played outstanding in goal in the third period as the Sabres outshot the Kings 11-3. He also sparked his team early in the first period when he stopped Afinogenov when the Russian rookie had a breakaway on him.

"It's a gambling play, but it gives the shooter fewer options," said Storr describing how he stopped Afinogenov. "I don't want to do it on every play, but I felt that I had to try and make him make a move earlier. Those players are so talented that they can undress you when they come in -- and I'm not at the point right now where I feel like getting undressed on a breakaway."

About the Kings revitalized effort, Storr said, "The guys have been playing great the last two to three weeks. We have been battling every night. Anytime you can continue to do that you are going to win. Tonight, it was like God saying 'you worked so hard you deserve more than a loss or tie.'"

Once again the Sabres failed to take advantage of a "weaker opponent." It was the Kings third win in their last 14 games. As a result, the Sabres sink 4 games below .500. Thursday night, they play their toughest opponent in the western swing when they face the Phoenix Coyotes.

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