Alex Iafallo couldn’t walk far in LECOM Harborcenter on Saturday without encountering familiar faces from his childhood in Western New York.
There will be many welcome backs leading up to the 1 p.m. puck drop against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon in KeyBank Center. Iafallo, an Eden native, is back in Buffalo with the Los Angeles Kings for the first time since they last faced the Sabres on Dec. 21, 2019. This time, he’s part of a playoff contender.
A relentless forward with elite defensive awareness, Iafallo has helped the Kings ascend to second place in the Pacific Division, only four points behind the Calgary Flames entering Saturday. He’s on pace for 20 goals, a career high, with 14 and 29 points through 56 games.
Iafallo doesn’t surprise anyone who encountered him during his days with the Buffalo Regals, but he wasn’t drafted by an NHL team and didn’t have a breakout offseason season in college until his senior year at Minnesota-Duluth.
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Now, Iafallo is a top-six fixture with the Kings, routinely trusted with skating alongside Anze Kopitar, a two-time Selke Trophy winner, five-time All-Star and twice a Stanley Cup champion.
“It’s just fun coming home, seeing the spots and being able to skate in the rink,” said Iafallo, 28. “The atmosphere, friends and family in the stands in warmups. Little things add up and it’s pretty fun.”
Iafallo had dozens of family and friends at KeyBank Center when he played his first game against the Sabres in Buffalo in February 2017. He isn’t sure how big the postgame greeting party will be Sunday, but estimated there will be “quite a few” on hand.
The Kings are 8-3 over their last 11 games, capped by a 4-3 overtime win in Columbus on Friday. When acting head coach Trent Yawney needed to stabilize his third line centered by 19-year-old Quinton Byfield, he turned to Iafallo to bring consistent pressure on the forecheck.
Iafallo’s projected defensive wins above replacement – a metric that illustrates a player’s impact away from the puck in 5-on-5 situations – was tied with Patrice Bergeron and Marcus Foligno for first among all NHL forwards entering Saturday, according to Evolving-Hockey.com.
Evolving-Hockey’s goals above replacement model, which measures a player’s impact in all situations, ranks sixth on the Kings, and he trails only Kopitar in short-handed ice time among Los Angeles forwards. Iafallo wants to make more of an impact offensively, beginning with his left-handed shot.
Iafallo has 154 shots on goal through 54 games this season, compared to 118 shots in 55 games in 2020-21.
“I’m just trying to shoot more, trying to get to certain areas with the puck to just generate scoring chances,” Iafallo said. “Off faceoffs in the offensive zone or just trying to hound the puck more to get more shots.”
Iafallo has immersed himself in California life. He started surfing and even made his own board during the early months of the pandemic. Iafallo doesn’t forget about home, though. He made the cross-country drive to Eden shortly after the NHL season was suspended in March 2020 to help his parents, Tom and Barb, who worked on a Covid-19 unit at Buffalo General Medical Center. Iafallo delivered chicken parmesan dinners to Barb and her coworkers at the hospital shortly after returning home.
“I’m pretty excited for the game and hopefully get a win,” Iafallo said.
Injury updates
Sabres center Cody Eakin missed practice Saturday while being evaluated for an undisclosed injury. Eakin has not been ruled out for the game Sunday and the hope is that the injury is minor, said coach Don Granato.
Winger Vinnie Hinostroza is probable to play against the Kings after recovering from an ankle injury that’s kept him out of the lineup since Jan. 17, and he skated on a line with Mark Jankowski and John Hayden during practice.
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The Sabres had 57.38% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 over the past two games when Jacob Bryson and Rasmus Dahlin were on the ice together at 5-on-5, an encouraging development for Buffalo with Henri Jokiharju still injured.
The pairing seemed odd on paper. Both are left-handed shots and tend to be active in the offensive zone. But Bryson has played well on his right side and Dahlin has emerged as the club’s top defenseman.
“I think it’s a credit to the players and the hope is it’s also progress in what we’re trying to do,” Granato said. “They’re understanding the way we want to play, so that integration is even smoother when it happens.”
