The Buffalo Sabres locked down their third straight road win on Saturday against the LA Kings but it wasn't easy down the stretch for them. With about three and a half minutes left in the third period, with the Sabres trying to protect a 3-2 lead, Tage Thompson would go off the ice for roughing.
However, it was in response to an ugly hit that Peyton Krebs took along the boards from Joel Edmundson and Thompson wasted no time dropping the gloves to defend his teammate. There is no question that the timing was awful, but even Lindy Ruff had no problem with Thompson taking the penalty there.
Edmundson lit up Peyton Krebs and Tage Thompson jumped to his defense but not much going on there.
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) October 31, 2026
Tage gets the sole 2 min roughing penalty #LetsGoBuffalo #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/spnfA9hLMy
"I think there is a real fine line but he's looking after his teammates," Ruff said. "He thought it was a bad hit and those are the ones you scream at your teammates that you need to kill this off. I thought our guys hunkered down and did."
The Buffalo Sabres' penalty kill has struggled this season and ranks near the bottom of the league in penalty kill percentage (67.4%). The Sabres had already given up one power-play goal against the Los Angeles Kings and were clinging to that one-goal lead. With the power play coming late in the third period, the Kings would also pull the goalie to give them a 6-on-4 advantage.
However, the Sabres really did a great job limiting their chances on that final penalty kill and helped secure the win.
Buffalo Sabres continue to show they will stick up for their teammates
Two seasons ago, this was a major problem with this Buffalo Sabres team, as too often big hits or cheap shots would not have a response. However, that changed last season, and that attitude has carried over to this season as well.
As Ruff notes, there is a fine line when it comes to these things, and fortunately for the Sabres, it didn't cost them any points. If the Kings were to tie it up on that power play and win in overtime, it might be viewed a little differently, but as the Sabres' head coach notes Thompson wasn't doing it for himself. He was doing it to defend Krebs, and it was now on the rest of the team to go out there and kill off the penalty.
In the end, it was the right decision by Thompson to protect his teammate and send a message that those types of plays against the Buffalo Sabres won't be tolerated.
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