In Buffalo Tuesday night the Sabres doubled-up the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3.
Jack Eichel had a big night, scoring twice and adding an assist in the win.
A four-goal outburst in the second period erased a 2-0 deficit faced by the Sabres.
Ryan O’Reilly started the goal rush and Eichel and Brian Gionta added their markers to push the Sabres to a 4-2 lead.
“Our timing was great tonight,” O’Reilly said. “Once we kind of got on a role, we stayed with it. Goal after goal, you could feel the life in the building. Everything just kind of changed. We took the game over. I think that’s us being mature, taking advantage of those momentum swings and finding ways to score goals.”
Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter had given the Kings a 2-0 lead before the Sabres rallied. Carter scored a second goal in the game to break up the Buffalo run.
“We’re fragile. We’re a fragile team,” Carter said. “You get one bad bounce against you … they’ve got good players over there. They’re going to have shifts in our end. We get running around, we lose coverage … 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.”
Peter Budaj got the start in the Kings net but was pulled after Gionta scored to make it 3-2 Buffalo. Jeff Zatkoff relieved Budaj who returned to the net for the third period.
WATCH: All Kings vs. Sabres highlights
“You get the second, third, fourth, fifth goal and you forget about the mistake you make on the faceoff that they get their first goal on. I always think that’s the case when you’re getting one or less goals a game, your every mistake is magnified. We’ve had a few of those kerfuffle’s that cause goals and a game against a good team. I think you start to squeeze the stick a little bit and wonder where this is going and I think it was a credit to the guys. They took charge of the game and took the game over and erased whatever mistake there was earlier on with their play in the second and the third,” Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma said after the game keeping his team mindful of the little things that may have cost the game.
Robin Lehner picked up the win for Buffalo on 30 saves.
Budaj and Zatkoff made a total of 20 saves.
Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart also scored for the Sabes.
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