The Buffalo Sabres visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, October 31, 2026, with puck drop set for 4:00\u202fPM EDT.<\/p>\n
Matchup: Buffalo Sabres (6-4-3, 15 points in 2026-27) at Los Angeles Kings (4-6-2, 10 points in 2026-27)<\/p>\n
Date: Saturday, October 31, 2026<\/p>\n
Puck drop: 4:00\u202fPM EDT (1:00\u202fPM PDT local)<\/p>\n
Venue: Crypto.com Arena<\/p>\n
How to watch: LAK: ABTV , SN1 \u00b7 BUF: MSG-B<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres News & Notes<\/p>\n
Buffalo outlasted Anaheim 7-6 on Thursday behind a natural hat trick and five points from Tage Thompson, who also assisted on two others during a six-goal run that erased an early deficit. Peyton Krebs drew praise from teammates after a multi-point night on Thompson\u2019s wing. The Ducks pushed late and closed within one, but the Sabres held on at Honda Center to extend the California portion of their road trip. <\/p>\n
Los Angeles Kings News & Notes<\/p>\n
Los Angeles beat Ottawa 6-5 in overtime Thursday at Crypto.com Arena, a game decided in the extra session and highlighted by contributions from Drew Doughty and Quinton Byfield under coach John Tortorella\u2019s staff. The night was marred by a second-period hit from Senators forward Hayden Hodgson, who drove Brandt Clarke into the boards and was ejected for boarding. The NHL\u2019s Department of Player Safety suspended Hodgson two games, citing charging and boarding on the play. <\/p>\n
The overtime result followed an in-season overhaul of how the Kings handle three-on-three play. The coaching staff has put a defined plan in place and made 3-on-3 situations a practice priority, an approach the team says is now showing up in games. Los Angeles continues its homestand Saturday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres, a 1 p.m. start at Crypto.com Arena, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen expected in goal for Buffalo. <\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres Projected Lines<\/p>\n
Line 1: Peyton Krebs \u2013 Tage Thompson \u2013 Zach Benson<\/p>\n
Line 2: Josh Doan \u2013 Noah Ostlund \u2013 Jack Quinn<\/p>\n
Line 3: Jason Zucker \u2013 Ryan McLeod \u2013 Josh Norris<\/p>\n
Line 4: Tyson Kozak \u2013 Sam Carrick \u2013 Beck Malenstyn<\/p>\n
Pair 1: Mattias Samuelsson \u2013 Rasmus Dahlin<\/p>\n
Pair 2: Olen Zellweger \u2013 Owen Power<\/p>\n
Pair 3: Dennis Gilbert \u2013 Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Goaltenders: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen \u2013 Colten Ellis<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres Special Teams<\/p>\n
Power play, First unit: Jack Quinn \u2013 Zach Benson \u2013 Noah Ostlund \u2013 Tage Thompson \u2013 Rasmus Dahlin<\/p>\n
Power play, Second unit: Jason Zucker \u2013 Ryan McLeod \u2013 Josh Doan \u2013 Owen Power \u2013 Josh Norris<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, First unit: Ryan McLeod \u2013 Zach Benson \u2013 Mattias Samuelsson \u2013 Owen Power<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, Second unit: Josh Norris \u2013 Beck Malenstyn \u2013 Dennis Gilbert \u2013 Olen Zellweger<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Kings Projected Lines<\/p>\n
Line 1: Artemi Panarin \u2013 Alex Laferriere \u2013 Adrian Kempe<\/p>\n
Line 2: Trevor Moore \u2013 Quinton Byfield \u2013 Corey Perry<\/p>\n
Line 3: Andre Lee \u2013 Scott Laughton \u2013 Joel Armia<\/p>\n
Line 4: Erik Haula \u2013 Samuel Helenius \u2013 Taylor Ward<\/p>\n
Pair 1: Erik Gustafsson \u2013 Brandt Clarke<\/p>\n
Pair 2: Joel Edmundson \u2013 Drew Doughty<\/p>\n
Pair 3: Mikey Anderson \u2013 Brian Dumoulin<\/p>\n
Goaltenders: Darcy Kuemper \u2013 Anton Forsberg<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Kings Special Teams<\/p>\n
Power play, First unit: Adrian Kempe \u2013 Quinton Byfield \u2013 Alex Laferriere \u2013 Artemi Panarin \u2013 Erik Gustafsson<\/p>\n
Power play, Second unit: Corey Perry \u2013 Erik Haula \u2013 Trevor Moore \u2013 Drew Doughty \u2013 Brandt Clarke<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, First unit: Scott Laughton \u2013 Trevor Moore \u2013 Joel Edmundson \u2013 Drew Doughty<\/p>\n
Penalty kill, Second unit: Erik Haula \u2013 Joel Armia \u2013 Mikey Anderson \u2013 Brian Dumoulin<\/p>\n
Players To Watch<\/p>\n
Tage Thompson \u2014 Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Thompson is coming off a five-point night \u2014 three goals and two assists on four shots in just 17:49. Box Score Junkie has him at 57.3% Corsi-for this season with 67.2 shot attempts for per 60, and he\u2019s converted nine goals on 6.1 expected, a +2.9 edge. An obvious anytime-scorer play.<\/p>\n
Artemi Panarin \u2014 Los Angeles Kings<\/p>\n
Panarin led all Kings skaters with seven shots last time out while logging 24:07 and posting a goal and an assist. That volume at that ice time makes him the first name to check on a shots-on-goal prop, especially with Fiala and Zuccarello both on injured reserve and the scoring load concentrated.<\/p>\n
Injury Report<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n
Justin Danforth (RW) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Upper Body, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Konsta Helenius (C) \u2014 Out, Upper Body, expected back Wednesday, November 4<\/p>\n
Jiri Kulich (C) \u2014 Out, Concussion, expected back Wednesday, November 4<\/p>\n
Alex Lyon (G) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Upper Body, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Matt Grzelcyk (D) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Lower Body, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Conor Timmins (D) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Lower Body, expected back Friday, November 6<\/p>\n
Jack Rathbone (D) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Sunday, November 8<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Kings<\/p>\n
Brandt Clarke (D) \u2014 Day-To-Day, Upper Body, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Mats Zuccarello (RW) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Upper Body, expected back Tuesday, November 10<\/p>\n
Kevin Fiala (LW) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Lower Leg, expected back Saturday, November 7<\/p>\n
Alex Turcotte (C) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Jakub Dvorak (D) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Upper Body, expected back Saturday, October 31<\/p>\n
Jan Jenik (C) \u2014 Injured Reserve, Undisclosed, expected back Saturday, November 7<\/p>\n
Betting Odds<\/p>\n
Moneyline (DraftKings, as of October 31 at 4:10\u202fAM ET): Buffalo Sabres -122, Los Angeles Kings +102.<\/p>\n
Odds change through the day; check the sportsbook before betting. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n
Next Up<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres: host the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, November 4.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Kings: host the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday, November 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Sabres visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, October 31, 2026, with puck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[73000,3039,884,1107,229,5133,1530,883,5,5236,3714,145,4,5573,11077,1295,1108,1712,7800],"class_list":["post-700239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-buffalo-sabres","tag-2026-27-nhl-regular-season","tag-artemi-panarin","tag-brandt-clarke","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-buffalosabres","tag-crypto-com-arena","tag-drew-doughty","tag-hockey","tag-injury-report","tag-line-combinations","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-game-preview","tag-peyton-krebs","tag-quinton-byfield","tag-sabres","tag-tage-thompson","tag-ukko-pekka-luukkonen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117537256441854735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}