L.A.'s Robitaille Logs 500th Goal

Luc Robitaille scored twice, including his 500th career goal, and added an assist as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 for their fifth straight win.

Robitaille's milestone goal came with 1:46 left in the third period. He took a pass from rookie Pavel Rosa to the right of goaltender Dwayne Roloson and slipped the puck just under his pads for his 22nd of the season and a 4-2 lead.

Robitaille clutched the puck in his left hand after the game.

"I've got kids, I've got to keep it," he said of his two young sons who were at the Forum.

A crowd of 10,821 broke into a standing ovation, with Kings coach Larry Robinson clapping on the bench.

"A lot of people don't give him enough credit for how much he's worked on his skating. That was his knock," said Robinson, who, at the end of his career, played with Robitaille. "You don't get 500 goals from being lucky."

The game stopped momentarily as the rest of the Kings hugged their assistant captain, who is in his 13th NHL season and 10th with the Kings. Fans held up signs boasting of Robitaille's accomplishment, including one that read "Luc 500. We love you."

"You always like to see history made, but you don't like to be the ones watching it on the other team," said Buffalo's Michael Peca, whose power-play goal at 8:01 in the second period made it 3-2. "But hats off to Luc. He's had a great career."

Robitaille became the 27th player in NHL history to score 500 goals and the 12th-fastest. He needed 928 games to make history.

"It doesn't mean anything if I stop there,"> he said. "I had a dream just to make the NHL. I never thought I'd get here. I love to play this game. I feel I'm lucky to be in the NHL every day and I'll never take it for granted."

Robitaille also had a first-period power play. Rob Blake's shot from the left side was kicked away by Roloson but Robitaille put the rebound into an open net with just under three minutes gone.

"Robby told me before the game he was going to get me tonight and he sure did," Robitaille said.

The Kings went up 2-0 when Peca gave away the puck in his own zone. Robitaille fed Jozef Stumpel in the left faceoff circle and he found a wide-open Rosa in the slot. Rosa pushed it in with 1:37 left in the period for his first goal since Dec. 17.

Buffalo halved the deficit 11 seconds later when goaltender Jamie Storr misplayed Dixon Ward's dump-in behind his own net and Vaclav Varada poked the puck into the vacated goal for his second in as many contests and fifth of the season.

Los Angeles regained a two-goal lead during a delayed penalty in the second period. Ian Laperriere got the puck behind the net and found Sandy Moger in the slot at 5:52 for his first goal since Oct. 25.

Peca atoned for his mistake on the power play with just under 12 minutes to go in the second. He got his 14th of the season and sixth in as many games to cut the margin to 3-2. Peca's three-game goals streak comes after teammate Miroslav Satan's eight-game streak.

The Kings have won seven of their last eight games but defeated Buffalo for just the second time in the last nine meetings (2-5-2).

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