Quick, Kings shut out Sabres

LOS ANGELES --Jonathan Quick made 26 saves to help the Los Angeles Kings to a 2-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Staples Center on Thursday.
The Sabres have been shut out in their past four trips to Staples Center. All four games ended 2-0.
Jarome Iginla and rookie Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings (34-29-7), who remain four points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Blues defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Thursday.

WATCH: All Sabres vs. Kings highlights
"We're a team that was trying to get some more speed in our lineup, so that gives us another fast player," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said about Kempe. "He's [20] years old. I'm not going to get too philosophical, but he's got a lot to learn about the game, I think. Just think about the two goals we scored -- the oldest player on our team scored a goal and the youngest player scored a goal. Hopefully, in between, we can flip a little bit around and somebody else will score next game."
Dustin Brown had two assists to give him 501 points for his NHL career.
Quick got his first shutout of the season and the 43rd of his NHL career. In eight games against the Sabres, Quick has three shutouts.

Robin Lehner had 34 saves for Buffalo (28-31-12).
Iginla scored 36 seconds into the third period on a pass from Anze Kopitar to beat Lehner for his third goal since the Kings acquired him from the Colorado Avalanche on March 1. Iginla has 11 goals this season.
Kempe scored with 5:20 remaining. It was his second goal of the season.
"It was a big goal and a great feeling," Kempe said. "It was a tight game, we were up 1-0, so it was great to have a goal. It's a good feeling for me too."
The Kings outshot the Sabres 15-2 in the first period.
"I think we struggled to get our legs in this game and they played a hard, heavy game and got us back on our heels," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "We had a couple of long shifts in the defensive zone and they were pouring it on."

Goal of the game

Kopitar got the rebound of a shot by Brown and slipped a pass behind two Buffalo defenders to Iginla, who scored from inside the left faceoff circle.

Save of the game

Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian lost the puck to Kings forward Trevor Lewis in the Buffalo zone. Lewis passed to Andy Andreoff, who shot from the slot, but Lehner made a pad save at 2:46 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Brown cleared the puck from the grasp of Lehner after a shot by Kempe and passed it back to Kempe, who beat Lehner from the right faceoff circle.

Unsung performance of the game

Kings defenseman Derek Forbort had three blocked shots and four hits in 21:54.

They said it

"I thought the first period was a really good period for us. We had good chances, good shots, and at that point you just want to not let them hang around. They started pushing back a bit in the second [period] and made it a little bit closer. -- Kings forward Jarome Iginla
"I thought it was a game exactly how we thought it was going to be. It was going to be a hard-fought game, it's going to be a battle for every inch of ice. We were in that fight. Our guys were in that fight." -- Sabres coach Dan Bylsma
"I thought it was good. It was a tough start with a mistake and a bad bounce there. Towards the end we were creating [chances], but again, you just have to do it for a full 60 [minutes], it's not good just to do it for five or 10 minutes." -- Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly on the third period

Need to know

Kopitar has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games. … Iginla is three goals behind Joe Sakic (625) for 15th on the NHL all-time list. … Buffalo has a scoreless streak of 263:53 in its past four games at Staples Center. … Los Angeles has scored three or fewer goals in seven of its past eight games. They defeated the Washington Capitals 4-2 on March 11 at Staples Center, but the final goal was into an empty net. The Kings are 4-2-2 during that span. … Sabres forward Hudson Fasching played his first game since sustaining a groin injury Oct. 30. … Los Angeles played the final of a seven-game homestand (4-2-1). ... Buffalo ranked first in the League in power-play percentage (23.6) entering the game. They were 0-for-2 against Los Angeles.

What's next

Sabres: At the Anaheim Ducks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the Calgary Flames on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN1, SNW, FS-W, NHL.TV)