Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves in his return from an injury, and Jason Zucker scored the only goal to help the Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Wednesday.
Luukkonen, who had missed two games because of a lower-body injury, earned his sixth career shutout and improved to 4-0-0 since November 5.
Zucker scored 38 seconds into the third period by tipping a shot from Rasmus Dahlin on the power play, marking his 200th career NHL goal.
Los Angeles pushed hard to score, with Anze Kopitar trying to get the puck past Luukkonen, but the goalie held strong. Quinton Byfield of the Kings had a close chance at the doorstep, but missed the shot with David Rittich pulled for an extra attacker.
Rittich made 18 saves for the Kings, who have now lost three of their last four games.
The Sabres dominated most of the first period, leading 9-3 in shots on goal and 18-8 in total attempts by the 12-minute mark, but Rittich stopped them.
Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles KingsAbout eight minutes into the game, Jiri Kulich took a shot from the high slot, but Brandt Clarke blocked it. Kulich then grabbed the rebound and took a quick wrist shot, but Rittich made the save.
The Kings started to pick up their play as the period went on and had their best chance when Adrian Kempe tipped a shot in front of the net with just under a minute and a half left. Luukkonen stopped the shot.
In the second period, the Kings continued their pressure, but Luukkonen remained strong. He stopped Trevor Moore’s shot from a sharp angle during a power play about 6 1/2 minutes in and made a pad save on Byfield at the side of the net with 7 1/2 minutes left.
Los Angeles held the Sabres to just three shots on goal in the second period.
The Sabres have now scored a power-play goal in seven straight games.
