LOS ANGELES — Southern California has been under a deluge all week, with rain dominating the news. The Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings did their part to keep folks indoors.

The teams failed to decide their game in either regulation or overtime, keeping the 16,884 fans inside Staples Center until a shootout. The Kings outscored Buffalo, 2-1, in the breakaway session, giving Los Angeles a 4-3 victory Thursday night.

Buffalo has gone to overtime in four of its past six games. The Sabres have one overtime

win and three shootout losses during this run of tight games. They are 6-6 in games decided in

the five-minute session and 2-5 in shootouts this season.

The Sabres spent the night in Los Angeles and were scheduled to fly this morning to San

Jose, where they visit the Sharks on Saturday night in HP Pavilion. It will be the sixth game

on Buffalo's seven-game road trip.

The Kings had several great chances during the opening period, including a short-handed,

two-on-zero breakaway that Ryan Miller stopped. The way the momentum was going, however, it was

only a matter of time before they opened the scoring.

Brad Richardson did the honors with 7:32 left. The Kings won a faceoff in the Buffalo zone,

with defenseman Drew Doughty taking a low shot from the blue line. Richardson got his stick on

the blast and sent it soaring over Miller's shoulder.

Buffalo, which scored twice in the opening minute of the second period during Tuesday's

loss to Anaheim, came out fast in the middle period Thursday, too. Clarke MacArthur carried

the puck into the Kings' zone on a three-on-two, and his pass intended for Mike Grier hit

defenseman Sean O'Donnell's stick. The carom slid past goalie Jonathan Quick with a mere 22

seconds elapsed.

The Sabres took a 2-1 lead on the power play midway through the second. Thomas Vanek

jostled for position in front of the net with Doughty, and the Sabres winger finally shook the

defenseman to tip home Tim Connolly's pass.

The assist gave Connolly points in 14 straight games, four shy of Gilbert Perreault's

franchise record of 18 set in 1971.

Los Angeles followed by finding the net twice in the period, but only one counted as a

goal.

The Kings celebrated an apparent tying goal on the power play with 6:24 left. Defenseman

Jack Johnson pinched to float a shot at Miller. The puck bounced off the goaltender, hit

hard-charging forward Oscar Moller and slipped past Miller.

Officials reviewed the play, determined Moller hit the puck into the goal with his hand and

waved it off.

There was no doubt about the play the next time L.A. lit the goal lamp. O'Donnell made

amends with a high slap shot from the point with 54.6 seconds left, sending the teams into the

second intermission tied at 2-2.

The Sabres started the third period in the same fashion as the second, scoring early. Jason

Pominville, playing his 300th consecutive game, spotted Craig Rivet pinching from the blue

line and fed a cross-ice pass to the captain. Rivet took his time before lasering a high shot

over Quick as the goalie slid across the crease with just 1:07 gone.

The Sabres, who were 6-0-4 when tied after two periods, let L.A. back in with 10:57 to go.

Ryan Smyth beat Drew Stafford to the top of the Buffalo crease, and a pass from Jarret Stoll

bounced off Henrik Tallinder's skate before hitting Smyth's leg and deflecting into the net.

Officials again reviewed the play but counted the goal.

Stafford had just returned to a line with Derek Roy and Vanek after being moved during

the second period. Patrick Kaleta became the right winger for Vanek and Roy, while

Stafford went to the a with Tim Kennedy and Adam Mair.

"The way it was breaking down was they wanted the [Anze] Kopitar matchup against the Roy line, so my decision was to maybe put Kaleta there to put one more physical guy against that line," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "It really wasn't based on play, per se, as much as my decision to try to get a guy that could maybe be a little bit physical, or Patty's a real good skater and can defend better."

Miller, who was supposed to sit out Tuesday's game in Anaheim, replaced Patrick Lalime

after just 10 minutes in that 5-4 loss. Ruff said that won't change the

scheduled playing time for Miller, who may stay in net for the final two games of the trip.

"We were fortunate that we were able to dominate play and make it fairly easy on Ryan,"

Ruff said of Tuesday's game. "I think he faced two shots in the second, two shots that meant

anything, and really only faced four or five in the third that meant anything. There wasn't a

lot of activity. It was just the mental side of it for Ryan, where you're anticipating a full

day and you don't get it."