Alex Tuch scored three goals for the Buffalo Sabres, which proved too much to overcome for the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-1 loss at the KeyBank Center on Thursday night. The Kings saw their six-game point streak come to an end, dropping their fourth of the last five against the Sabres.

Buffalo netminder Alex Lyon proved too much to handle for Los Angeles, making 37 saves and improving to 13-6-3. He set a Sabres franchise record in the process, recording his tenth straight victory.

The only King who managed to get a shot past him was Adrian Kempe, who scored the squad’s only goal of the evening in the second period to make it a 3-1 contest. He extended his team-leading point total to 41 and is now also tied with Kevin Fiala for the most scores on the team (18).

Tuch both opened and closed the scoring for the Sabres en route to his fourth career hat trick. He got on the board just over seven minutes into the first period, adding his 20th goal of the year on a Buffalo power play. 

Mattias Samuelsson also contributed a goal in the opening frame to double the lead. Tuch scored the third goal of the day against Darcy Kuemper at the 6:29 mark of the second, firing in a straight-on shot from long distance.

Kuemper saved 28 of 31 shots on the evening as he fell to 13-10-9. He had been on a two-game winning streak before the Kings fell short on Thursday.

To grab his third and final goal, Tuch maneuvered past Los Angeles defenders and flung in an empty-net goal with a minute remaining in the final period. The New York native has always had success against the Kings, and by extending his point streak against them to five, he now has the highest point streak by a Sabres skater against the club since Jason Pominville (from Dec. 2008 to Oct. 2017). 

Buffalo has now recorded 20 wins in a 24-game span for the first time in franchise history. Their 20 wins and 41 points in that stretch are the most in the NHL.

With two games remaining on their road trip, Los Angeles will look to rebound on Saturday as they visit the Philadelphia Flyers. This will be the first of two games between the sides, with the Flyers (24-20-9) coming in as losers of three straight and four of their last five.

Puck drop is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. PT.