Luukkonen returns from injury with shutout, Sabres edge Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves for his sixth NHL shutout in the Buffalo Sabres’ 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

“He’s an unbelievable goalie,” said Jason Zucker, who scored in the third period. “I love the way he plays. He’s calm in the net. There’s a poise to his game that I think carries through our ‘D’ corps, into our forwards and throughout the entire bench.”

Luukkonen, who earned his first shutout of the season, was making his return after missing two games with a lower-body injury. He is 4-0-0 in his past four decisions.

“I feel like the team played extremely well in front of me,” Luukkonen said. “They blocked shots and made it easier for me. You know, to have a shutout, it’s a team thing usually, so I think it was really good effort from the whole team."

Rasmus Dahlin had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games for the Sabres (9-9-1), who are 5-2-0 in their past seven games.

David Rittich made 18 saves for the Kings (10-7-3), who have lost three of four.

“There’s nights that I’m really frustrated with how we played, and it’s hard to be disappointed with the guys tonight,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “They tried, it didn’t go their way. Live with it and move on.”

Zucker put the Sabres up 1-0 38 seconds into the third on the power play. Dahlin took a wrist shot from the high slot, and Zucker was at the top of the crease to redirect the puck.

“Every game, you’re learning something, right?” Zucker said. “Whether you’re winning or losing, you’re not playing a perfect game. And even tonight, I thought our second period start was horrible. But we were able to kind of turn it around in the third, have a better start to the third and get back after it. So whether we win or we lose, we’re trying to learn from it and take it to the next game.”

Dahlin has 10 points (four goals, six assists) during his point streak, which includes three goals and three assists on the power play.

Rittich was pulled for an extra attacker with 2:37 remaining, but the Kings couldn’t come up with the tying goal despite sustained possession in the offensive zone.

“Maybe we’re gonna get it out of the zone next time,” Luukkonen joked. “But, you know, that happens sometimes, and I feel like we fought, fought well. Everybody did their job. It doesn’t always go perfect, and you kind of have to battle through it."

The Kings came close on several scoring chances, including a 2-on-1 break late in the second period when Trevor Moore tried to make an extra pass to Phillip Danault instead of shooting.

“Just one too many passes,” Hiller said. “We thought ‘Mooresy’ should have shot it. If the pass gets through and Phil taps it in the back door, we’re saying, ‘Wow, what an incredible goal.’ So you can’t take that decision-making off the players. They have to play hockey and choose what’s right in the situation.

“On a night like tonight where it was hard to find a goal, you don’t want to pass too many up,” Hiller said. “Maybe that was one that we passed up.”

NOTES: Buffalo was 1-for-3 on the power play after coming into the game 2-for-19 on the road (10.5 percent). … It was Luukkonen’s second career shutout against the Kings. He made 33 saves in a 7-0 win in Buffalo on Feb. 13. … Los Angeles was shut out for the first time this season.