Up next in the "best win" series, we enter the month of January. For this month's best win, it was on the Buffalo Sabres California road trip. After a frustrating loss the night before against the Anaheim Ducks, the club would look to respond the following evening against a very good Los Angeles Kings team.
Even though the Kings had a good regular season, this was during a tough part of their schedule. Los Angeles lost their last 11 out of 13 games coming into this matchup with Buffalo, so the Sabres had to be aware of how desperate the Kings were.
In what was a habit all season long, Buffalo saw themselves trailing early as Anže Kopitar gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. However, just a few minutes later, JJ Peterka tied it up for the Sabres. The Kings would score two more goals before the first period ended as they were up 3-1. Devon Levi was starting for the Sabres, but he was doing his job despite giving up three goals in the first 20 minutes.
In the last 40 minutes, it was all Buffalo. They tied the game up at 3-3 as Peterka and Jack Quinn scored in the second period. Alex Tuch and Dylan Cozens added two more goals in the third, as Buffalo won this matchup 5-3. Between the Ducks game and how this game was playing out, it looked like it was going to be another long night for the Sabres.
To their credit, they stuck with it and Levi played very well after a rough first period as Buffalo scored four unanswered goals in the second and third period combined. With the Kings loss, it was their 12th defeat in 14 games. Buffalo would later sweep the season series against Los Angeles as they shut them out in Buffalo a few weeks later.