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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Los Angeles Kings have survived the first third of the season without starting goaltender Jonathan Quick. Theyll be pushed to the limit, however, as they embark on a nine-game road trip that begins in Buffalo on Tuesday night.Its fun. Its a little different, said center Tyler Toffoli, according to the Los Angeles Times. Weve been at home for so long, so going on the road is going to feel weird at first but weve got to start off the trip right, with a win at Buffalo, and just keep going from there.The road trip will indeed be quite the test for Los Angeles (14-11-2). It includes two back-to-back scenarios before wrapping up in Edmonton just before the start of the new year on Dec. 29.The Kings played eight of their past 10 games at home, posting a 6-2-1 record. Theyll hope to fare better than they did in their most recent long road trip; Los Angeles went 1-3-1 in a five-game road trek in mid-November.I know it might not be mathematically the midseason break, but it feels like that, especially for the players, defenseman Matt Greene said, according to the L.A. Times. Once you hit Christmas the pedal goes down until the All-Star break and it goes down a little bit more after that, so youve got to eat up these points and get into the holiday break.Center Jeff Carter leads the Kings in points with 22 (12 goals, 10 assists). Peter Budaj has performed admirably in place of the injured Quick, who has been out of action since the very first game of the season. Budaj has a record of 13-7-2, along with 2.18 goals against average and .910 save percentage.Los Angeles is coming off a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.The Sabres (10-11-6) are hoping to have the services of forward Kyle Okposo against the Kings. Okposo missed Mondays practice due to an illness.When I was hurt I got to watch him a lot and learned a lot about how he plays, center Jack Eichel said of Okposo, according to the teams website. I think hes probably one of the most underrated players in our league, just how good he is with the puck, without the puck, in all areas of the game. Hes strong on it, hes very skilled, and he can make passes.He was not feeling well last night and just had to stay at home, Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said, per the teams website. We hope he recovers and does well and can play.If Okposo does play, hes expected to be on a line alongside Eichel and Evander Kane. He switched places with Sam Reinhart in the lineup at Sundays practice.Buffalo is coming off a disappointing 4-1 home loss to Washington on Friday. The Sabres are 1-2-1 in their last four games. . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste.MOSCOW -- Damian Warner was in the mix for a decathlon medal after the first day of competition at the world track and field championships, but he thought he could do better. It turns out he was right. Warner put up a personal best score of 8,512 points Sunday to finish third in the decathlon and give Canada its first medal of the championships. Warner was in fourth place after the first day of competition, and mounted a charge to the podium Sunday with personal bests in the pole vault and javelin. "I said yesterday I wasnt happy with my first day, said I was going to come out swinging today and thats what I did," Warner said. "I stuck with it, I was motivated to get on the podium and I just let that carry me through the events." Warner moved into medal position in the javelin throw, the ninth event of the decathlon. His throw of 64.67 metres gave him 808 points and moved him ahead of Germanys Rico Freimuth. He clinched the bronze with a 10th-place finish in the 1,500 metres, giving him a total of 8,512 points over the two-day, 10-discipline event. Its the first major medal for the native of London, Ont., who placed fifth in the event at the 2012 London Olympics. Canadas last world championship decathlon medal was by bronze by Michael Smith in 1995. World-record holder Ashton Eaton of the United States won gold with 8,809 points, while Germanys Michael Schrader was second with 8,670. Later in the 1,500 metres, Winnipegs Nicole Sifuentes and Torontos Kate Van Buskirk advanced to the semifinals of the womens 1,500 metres. And Vancouvers Inaki Gomez placing eight in the mens 20-kilometre race walk. Warner opened the second day of the decathlon with a time of 13.96 seconds in the 110-metre hurdles to score 980 points. In the discus he recorded a seasonal best of 44.13 metres to score 749 points, then leaped to a personal best of 4.80 metres in the pole vault for 849 points. He than made the move into medal territory witth his javelin throw and held third place through the 1,500.dddddddddddd "This is such a great feeling, all the hard work my coaches and I put into this the last couple of years," he said. "In 2011 I finished 18th, saw the three medallists running around the track with their countrys flags draped over their shoulders, I told my coaches that I want that to be me, pretty special feeling to achieve that." "I hope this motivates the rest of the team," he added In the womens 1,500 metres, Sifuentes finished sixth in her preliminary heat in four minutes, 8.54 seconds to qualify automatically for the semifinals. Van Buskirk finished seventh in her heat in 4:08.65, and her time was good enough to go through as one of the six fastest outside the automatic qualifiers. "All I wanted was to advance, that was my plan," Sifuentes said. "I was a bit out there the whole race, but at least I didnt get boxed in. I knew even if I wasnt top six (to auto-qualify) I would get in on time." Torontos Sheila Reid was seventh in her heat and failed to move on. Gomez finished the race walk with a seasonal-best time of 1:22:21. "It was tough, it was hot out there," Gomez said. "The pace picked up around 12 kilometres. I tried to stay with the Spanish racer who ended up winning bronze. At 16 kilometres I noticed I had two cards on the board, so I had to be careful from that point. Had to make sure my technique was flawless. I wanted to finish top eight, I accomplished that." Benjamin Thorne of Kitimat, B.C., was 20th. Toronto sprinters Gavin Smellie and Aaron Brown ran in the semifinals of the mens 100 metres but failed to qualify. Brown finished fifth in the semi won by eventual champion Usain Bolt. "I got out pretty well, obviously Usains acceleration is crazy," Brown said. "I was running next to him out there. No complaints here, happy with how I performed." ' ' '
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