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Sabres rally late, top Kings

Nov 20, 2010 - 6:28 AM Buffalo, NY (Sports Network) - Tim Connolly scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Buffalo Sabres continued their domination of the Los Angeles Kings in western New York with a 4-2 victory.

Thomas Vanek, Jochen Hecht and Patrick Kaleta also tallied for the Sabres, who have won three consecutive home games after beginning the season 0-6-1 at the HSBC Arena.

Jason Pominville collected two assists in the win, and Ryan Miller made 34 saves.

Dustin Brown and Wayne Simmonds lit the lamp for the Kings, who have notched only one win in their last 12 trips to Buffalo. Rookie Jonathan Bernier, the 11th-overall pick in the 2006 draft, allowed four goals on 26 shots to take the loss.

"We have to get better at shutting teams down when we do have the lead," said Kings forward Anze Kopitar.

Los Angeles has dropped three straight games for the first time this season.

While the Sabres were on a power play, Pominville let go a shot from atop the right circle that deflected off a body in front and was slowed down by Bernier. Connolly crashed the crease and nudged the puck across the goal line to put Buffalo up 3-2 at 2:10 of the third period.

Hecht ripped a one-timer past Bernier to make it 4-2 with 4:39 remaining.

"That's the best third period we've played (at home)," said Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff. "I didn't like the way we started. We weren't clicking, we weren't working."

Brown gave the Kings a 1-0 lead, pushing the puck along the right-wing boards and snapping a wrister from the faceoff circle that sailed between the arm and torso of Miller at the 4:57 mark of the first period.

Buffalo tied the game 37 seconds into the middle stanza. Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera drifted in from the left circle and fired a low shot that went in off Kaleta.

Simmonds scored on a shot from between the circles to give the Kings a 2-1 lead at 8:25 of the second period. The Sabres responded a little less than seven minutes later on the power play, as Vanek tipped in Derek Roy's slap shot from the point.

Game Notes

Buffalo improved to 5-3-1 in November after going 3-7-2 during the season's first month...Los Angeles forward Justin Williams had a career-high 11-game point streak come to an end...The Kings suffered their first loss in six games against an Eastern Conference team this season.