Kings defeat Sabres in Buffalo for first time in 15 years

BUFFALO -- Anze Kopitar and rookie Michael Amadio each scored twice for the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday, their first win in Buffalo since Feb. 21, 2003.
Jonathan Quick made 33 saves for the Kings (31-22-5), who ended a three-game losing streak and trail the Anaheim Ducks by two points for third place in the Pacific Division.

"I don't think we were worried about the 15-year drought in here, but we had a three-game slide that we certainly wanted to stop," Kopitar said. "I thought today we came out ready to play, and I think in the end we definitely made it a little too interesting for our liking, but it is what it is. The guys battled hard, getting the first goal is huge, and then we followed it up with a few more. I thought it was a pretty good game on our part."
\[WATCH: All Kings vs. Sabres highlights\]
Marco Scandella and Rasmus Ristolainen scored in the third period for the Sabres (17-31-11), who are 1-2-1 in their past four games but had won eight in a row against the Kings at home.

"If you want to win games and be successful in this league, you've got to find a way to get a good start and maintain that for 60 minutes," Buffalo forward Jason Pominville said. "At no point in time on their side they probably felt any heat early on, maybe a little bit toward the end."
Amadio gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 11:26 of the first period when he took a shot that went off the skate of goaltender Robin Lehner.
"I thought the start of the game was different and was a big reason we won the game," Kings coach John Stevens said. "I thought we did a lot of good things. It wasn't just the first line, I thought we had a really good rotation through our lineup where guys were really playing fast, we got pucks up to speed, and we were getting pucks in behind, and we create a lot off our forecheck early in the game, which was good to see."
The Kings scored on three consecutive shots in a 5:33 span of the second period.
Kopitar made it 2-0 at 12:02. Dustin Brown picked up the puck after a turnover by Sabres forward Benoit Pouliot and fed Kopitar, who deked and scored on a backhand. Kopitar scored at 16:06 when he took a pass from Alex Iafallo and beat Lehner through the five-hole for his 25th goal and a 3-0 lead.

Amadio's second goal came at 17:35 and made it 4-0. He took a wrist shot from the slot for his fourth of the season.
Lehner made 26 saves through two periods; Chad Johnson played the third period and made six saves.
Scandella made it 4-1 with a slap shot 30 seconds into the third period. Ristolainen put a loose puck in at 16:42 to make it 4-2.
"We started playing our game," Scandella said of the third period, when the Sabres outshot the Kings 18-6. "We started getting pucks behind them, playing physical. Once we play our game, when we establish our game, we have a great team here. We move the puck well, we're fast, but when we don't do that we look slow, wasting energy, always backchecking and playing defense."

Goal of the game

Amadio's goal at 11:26 of the first period.

Save of the game

Quick's save on Scandella at 18:42 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Kopitar's goal at 16:06 of the second period.

They said it

"We told the team, and we hadn't realized, we haven't won here in what, 14 years? Was it 15? But this group had never played in here together, so for us it was time to win. So I think that was an added bonus for the organization. But the group that played tonight had never played here before." -- Kings coach John Stevens
"The one thing we control is our effort and the energy we bring and the compete we bring. If you want to have any type of success, you have to bring that. Some nights we're just not bringing it, and I really don't get it. I don't understand it. You're playing one of the better teams in, what, the last decade. They've won a couple of Cups, they play the right way. They're heavy, they play physical. I mean, they really took it to us in the first period for sure." -- Sabres forward Jason Pominville

Need to know

The Kings are the first road team to win in this series since the Sabres won at Los Angeles on Oct. 23, 2003. … Ristolainen has 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in his past 22 games.

What's next

Kings: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, WGN, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Sabres: Host the Washington Capitals on Monday (3 p.m. ET; SN1, MSG-B, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)