Kings Erase a Two-Goal Hole, but Tage Thompson's Late Goal Sinks Them

Thompson scored twice for Buffalo, and the 3-2 loss dropped the Kings to 1-4-0 at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings climbed out of a 2-0 hole Saturday, then lost 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres on a Tage Thompson power-play goal with 6:20 left, according to TheSportsDB's scores feed.

The loss leaves the Kings at 4-7-2 and 1-4-0 at Crypto.com Arena, NHL.com reported, two days after they'd finally won a home game. ESPN's Pacific Division table has them seventh of eight, ahead of only Vancouver.

The comeback was real, and so was the way they gave it back. The Associated Press recap that ran on ESPN said Buffalo ran long stretches of the afternoon, then let L.A. back in by taking penalties it didn't need.

Corey Perry cut it to 2-1 on a power play late in the second, when a Trevor Moore one-timer from the right circle caromed in off him. It was Perry's first goal of the season, and it was waved off for goaltender interference until the Kings won a coach's challenge. Even the other goalie sided with them. "That's not goalie interference," Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said afterward, according to NHL.com.

Andre Lee evened it 1:29 into the third, standing alone in the crease to bury a Scott Laughton feed. Then Mikey Anderson went to the box for tripping, The Sporting Tribune reported, and the Kings' penalty kill had to face the wrong power play at the wrong time.

Buffalo's man advantage had gone 1-for-19 over a six-game stretch, NHL.com reported. It's now 2-for-3 in back-to-back games. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff's explanation comes down to one name: Rasmus Dahlin, who sat out three games in mid-October with an upper-body injury, and whose return to the top unit is when Ruff said the results started showing up. Dahlin had two assists Saturday.

The winner looked rehearsed: Jack Quinn slid a pass across the slot and Thompson hammered a one-timer from the left circle. Quinn had also scored Buffalo's first goal, on a first-period power play.

Southern California has been very good to Thompson. He scored three goals and set up two more Thursday as Buffalo won 7-6 at Anaheim, NHL.com noted. That's five goals in two stops. Saturday's pair gave him 223 for the Sabres, one past Rene Robert for ninth in franchise history.

According to The Sporting Tribune, L.A. got two power plays of its own in the final four minutes and couldn't cash either. Coach Peter Laviolette, who figured his team threw something like 80 pucks at the Buffalo net, said the little passes just weren't there against the Sabres' pressure. "We didn't get it done," he said.

They did it all without Adrian Kempe, out day to day with an undisclosed injury. His spot on the top line, next to Artemi Panarin and Alex Laferriere, went to Martin Chromiak in his NHL debut. Chromiak logged 17:31 and put one shot on goal, per NHL.com.

"It's a dream come true for me," Chromiak told reporters, according to The Sporting Tribune, before adding that he wasn't happy with the result.

San Jose visits Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday with 15 points in ESPN's standings, five more than L.A., which still has a top forward listed as day to day.

Source: nhl.com, retrieved November 1, 2026. Other sources: ESPN, thesportingtribune.com.