In a game this regular season in this road trip in the Eastern Conference on the road at the KeyBank Center, the Los Angeles Kings (22-17-13) played well but came up short vs. the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday evening (Jan. 29). The Kings had plenty of opportunities and scoring chances around the net in front of Sabres' goalie Alex Lyon yesterday on the road in Buffalo.
Tough calls and a lack of scoring production offensively dooms Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings to a three-goal loss to Buffalo on the road
But the Kings and head coach Jim Hiller weren't able to make the game very close on the scoreboard yesterday in the game's second and third period in the final frame.
There was a better second and third period starting in the middle frame yesterday that the Kings played on the ice yesterday on the road vs. Buffalo. The problem was that the Kings fell behind on the scoreboard 2-0 in the game's first half in the first 30 minutes in the first and second periods.
Adrian Kempe scored the game's only goal for the Kings in the middle frame in the second period. Kempe's goal was assisted by Kevin Fiala and defenseman Brandt Clarke. But the Sabres restored the lead on the scoreboard to three goals not too long after Kempe's goal in the middle frame yesterday.
The 38 shots on goal that the Kings had offensively yesterday was the most shots on goal LA had in a game in this past few weeks since the shootout win over the Minnesota Wild on home ice, 5-4, in early January this month.
Here are three takeaways from the Kings' 4-1 loss to the Sabres on the road in Buffalo on Jan. 29.
Goalie interference call stings the Kings in the second period vs. Buffalo
When it looked like Hiller and the Kings had cut Buffalo's lead on the scoreboard early in the middle frame in the second period to just one goal, the goal was disallowed by LA due to goalie interference by veteran forward Corey Perry.
The weird part about the disallowed goal was that the ref originally motioned for a good goal on the ice and on the scoreboard. But the refs ended up waiving off the goal soon after.
"I saw the goalie reset. Pretty comfortable that if the goal was going to get taken away, that Buffalo would probably have to take a look at it. If they thought he didn’t have a chance to reset, they would have to challenge it. That was what was going through my head, but I don’t decide that."Jim Hiller
I felt like the referees didn't really help the Kings in any way yesterday. There were some calls, including the negated goal due to goalie interference from the refs called yesterday for the Kings vs. the Sabres. Outside of the disallowed goal due to goalie interference yesterday, the not one of the individual calls was a game-decider in and of themselves on the ice for the refs.
But when you add up all the calls and bounces that went against Hiller and the Kings yesterday, it amounts to a tough road loss on this road trip vs. the Sabres in Buffalo in the East in the Atlantic Division.
Offensive struggles slow the Kings vs. Buffalo
I think this game would've had at least a bit of a different result on the scoreboard yesterday had the Kings built more momentum in the offensive zone on that side of the ice vs. the Sabres on the road in Buffalo without the disallowed goal.
It didn't take long after the Kings' disallowed goal that the Sabres had a quick two-goal swing on the scoreboard in the middle frame in the second period. Buffalo scored under two minutes after the Kings' disallowed goal due to goalie interference in the middle frame in the second period.
The Kings and Hiller got a goal from Kempe in the middle frame in the second period to get some form of life on the scoreboard and on the ice going into the second intermission before the final frame.
In the game's final frame in clutch time in the third period, the Kings had nearly a double-digit number of scoring chances and LA had over double the number of high and medium-danger scoring chances vs. the Sabres offensively in the zone (per Natural Stat Trick).