Capitals beat Sabres 4 3 SO

Capitals beat Sabres 4-3 (SO)

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The Washington Capitals traveled to Buffalo to take on the lowly Sabres, losing two consecutive first-team games at home. Can the Caps turn things around or will the Sabers win a fourth straight win?

Anthony Manta opened the scoring with a beautiful tick-tock goal. Jeff Skinner responded later in the first backhand to smooth things over. Nick Jensen returned the Caps to the lead with a wrist punch against Dustin Tokarski.

Jeff Skinner won his second match of the night to equalize again, and Viktor Olofsson slipped home once to give his team the first lead. Alex Ovechkin absolutely scored the decisive moment after the throw-in.

Nada’s in overtime, so here’s the shootout.

  • Thompson put the cookies in the basket
  • Backstrom did NOT put cookies in the basket
  • Mittelstadt did NOT put cookies in the basket
  • Kuznetsov put the biscuit in the basket
  • Touch did NOT put cookies in the basket
  • Ovechkin put the cookies in the basket

The Capitals beat the Sabers 4-3!

  • In the first period, the Sabers were completely helpless, and the Caps were unable to take full advantage of this advantage. You probably want a save from Samsonov on this backhand, but he was a bit blocked. The Caps had five five-on-5 scoring chances in the first 20 minutes, while the Sabres had zero combined.
  • I just realized that the Caps have about a million ex-Sabres on this list. Conor Shiri, Markus Johansson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (laughs), Matt Irwin and Johan Larsson have spent some time with Buffalo in the past.
  • Can we talk about how Jeff Skinner chose Party in the USA as his theme song? When is someone going to blow up The Climb after they score now? By the way, this song came out 13 years ago.
  • I thought the Caps were good again in the second … except for a five-minute stretch when the Buffalo scored twice. The Sabers landed all 13 shots in forty minutes. Samsonov was great in that break from Skinner, but then, just minutes later, he was severely emaciated when Skinner beat him again. Sam duality.
  • Alexey Ovechkin scored his 41st goal of the season and 771st career goal, scoring a one-shot flare right after the face-off. This faceoff won Evgeny Kuznetsov who extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an assist. Caps PR reports that only ten players have scored at least 11 consecutive points this season. The body of the revival is in full force.
  • Connor McMichael didn’t follow his man to the red line and it cost the Caps a goal. He was then quickly sent to the bench for the remainder of the period, which I think could be called “deserved”, but at the same time, it would be nice if a young player who has been playing very well lately is given a chance get yours. error back.
  • FOCO honors Niklas Backstrom with a dummy for 1000 points. Read Jan’s post to find out how to keep yours safe because they’ll be sold out soon this weekend.
  • Overall a good third place, but then again I wasn’t a fan of a handful of just chaotic shifts that can turn a good period into a bad one very quickly. At one time, Ovi played as a goalkeeper.
  • What a crazy overtime period. It was fun to watch.
  • Saint Peter’s Peacocks move to the elite eight! First 15th seed to ever do so.

Tomorrow the Caps will play at home against the New Jersey Devils, and before the game they are honoring Niklas Backstrom for his 1,000th assist!

Cover photo provided @real_jon_c/Twitter