Sabres score 4 straight, rally past Kings

LOS ANGELES -- The Buffalo Sabres rallied with four straight goals and handed the Los Angeles Kings their 12th loss in 14 games in a 5-3 win at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist, Jack Quinn had a goal and two assists and Devon Levi made 37 saves for the Sabres (21-23-4), who lost 4-2 at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

“We knew last night was probably one of our worst games,” Peterka said. “We wanted to play a different game. Going down wasn’t what we planned. Sticking to our game plan and forechecking hard [was], and that’s what guys did.”

Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist for the Kings (22-14-9), who are 2-7-5 in their past 14 games. Cam Talbot made 32 saves.

“That’s unacceptable,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re up 3-1. We’re maybe not playing our best, but the stupidity that went into that loss is unexplainable. I could come up here and tell you that, ‘Hey, in the past we’ve been close, maybe we didn’t get some luck around the net.’ But I haven’t, until now, been able to come in and say, ‘Boy, we played really dumb.’ And that’s what we did.”

After falling behind 3-1 in the first period, Buffalo responded with goals 2:08 apart in the second period.

Peterka cut it to 3-2 at 8:22 on a breakaway set up by Quinn’s pass while on his stomach at his own blue line, and Quinn tied it 3-3 at 10:30 on a wrist shot from the high slot.

Alex Tuch gave the Sabres their first lead of the game at 5:49 of the third period, one-timing Eric Robinson’s feed in the right circle to make it 4-3.

“I think when you have those games and you see that you can come back, it gives you energy for the rest of the season,” Peterka said.

Dylan Cozens scored at 8:54 on a wrist shot from the high slot that deflected off Drew Doughty’s stick for the 5-3 final. Cozens had left midway through the second because of an apparent injury.

Anze Kopitar gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 2:55 of the first period. He charged the net to put in Kempe’s pass at the left post for his 15th goal of the season.

“What I’m seeing is we’re not playing as a team right now,” said Kopitar, the Kings captain. “We’re worried about scoring goals too much and not buying into the stuff that made us successful the first 30, 35 games of the year. And it’s frustrating, so we’re going to have to correct it and we’re going to have to correct it in a hurry.”

Peterka tied it 1-1 at 5:01 with a sharp-angled shot to put in Cozens’ rebound.

Kempe put Los Angeles back in front 2-1 at 5:24 on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Pierre-Luc Dubois made it 3-1 at 9:44 on a power play, scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.

“I think we’ve got guys in this room who are too worried about themselves and worried about their points and worry about stuff like that,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “We had a 3-1 lead tonight, and guys started thinking it’s a cookie night, and we stopped playing the way we know how to play.

“We have an awful second period and then aren’t much better in the third. It’s about the team. It’s not about yourself, and a lot of guys on this team, we need to realize that.”

NOTES: Los Angeles forwards Trevor Moore and Kevin Fiala were each minus-4. … Kopitar was honored in a pregame ceremony for multiple milestones reached this season. He became the Kings’ all-time leader in games played (1,297) on Oct. 21, and assists (758) Dec. 3. Kopitar scored his 400th NHL goal Nov. 8 and moved into second on the franchise’s all-time points list (1,155) the next day. … Peterka set NHL career highs for goals and points in a game. … Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons left in the first because of an upper-body injury. There was no update. … Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson did not play and is day to day because of an undisclosed injury.