Washington Capitals (34-20-7 75pts) v. Buffalo Sabres (28-24-8 64pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals head into Buffalo to conclude their six game road trip, but it would be the Sabres who would get the jump on the Capitals as Jason Pominville would bury one in front of the net to give the Sabres the 1-0 lead. Vladimir Sobotka would then be called for tripping, but the Capitals would not be able to capitalize on the powerplay opportunity. The Sabres would find a breakdown in the Capitals and Sam Reinhart would make it 2-0 for the Sabres. Jakub Vrana would be called for hooking late in the period, but the Capitals would be able to kill the penalty off.
The Capitals would start the second period on fire as they would generate some solid chances, but it would be a mishandling of the puck by the Sabres defense that would lead to an Alex Ovechkin break and score his 44th goal of the season to cut the Sabres lead to one. Then there would be a scary moment when Jeff Skinner and newly acquired Carl Hagelin would get tied up leading to Skinner going down awkwardly and leave the ice with the assistance of the trainer. Hagelin would be called for tripping, and the Capitals would kill the penalty. The Capitals would get another powerplay opportunity as Nathan Beaulieu would be called for delay of game, but the Capitals would not take advantage of it. Then Nic Dowd would take down Beaulieu in the corner to give the Sabres their third powerplay opportunity and Jack Eichel would find Rasmus Dahlin on the point for the powerplay goal and regain their two goal lead late in the second period.
The Capitals came into the third period down by two, and they were flying to create chances, but Nicklas Backstrom would get called for holding to halt that rush. However, the Capitals would kill off the penalty and would get some traffic in front of Carter Hutton as Andre Burakovsky would deflect a Christian Djoos point shot to pull the Capitals within one, but would be down by two once again when Sam Reinhart would tip in a Matt Hunwick point blast for his second of the game to give the Sabres their two goal lead back. And then with the goalie pulled, Reinhart would score his 3rd of the game to ice it for the Sabres 5-2.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Chandler Stephenson
Michal Kempny — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Christian Djoos
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Travis Boyd, Nick Jensen
Buffalo Sabres:
Jeff Skinner — Jack Eichel — Evan Rodrigues
Conor Sheary — Casey Mittelstadt — Sam Reinhart
Zemgus Girgensons — Johan Larsson — Jason Pominville
C.J. Smith — Vladimir Sobotka — Tage Thompson
Jake McCabe — Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin — Zach Bogosian
Nathan Beaulieu — Matt Hunwick
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched: Casey Nelson, Danny O’Regan, Scott Wilson
Injured: Marco Scandella (upper body), Kyle Okposo (concussion)
First Period:
Sabres Goal – 3:40 – Jason Pominville (14) from Jeff Skinner (19) and Jack Eichel (46)
Sabres Penalty – 5:53 – Vladimir Sobotka 2 minutes for Tripping
Sabres Goal – 12:51 – Sam Reinhart (15) from Evan Rodrigues (14)
Capitals Penalty – 18:02 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Hooking
End of 1st – WAS – 0 BUF – 2
Shots 10 13
Faceoffs 11 08
Hits 09 06
PP 0/1 0/1
Second Period:
Capitals Goal – 2:28 – Alex Ovechkin (44) from Evegny Kuznetsov (40)
Capitals Penalty – 4:42 – Carl Hagelin 2 minutes for Tripping
Sabres Penalty – 13:56 – Nathan Beaulieu 2 minutes for Delay of Game
Capitals Penalty – 17:44 – Nic Dowd 2 minutes for Tripping
Sabres PPG – 19:29 – Rasmus Dahlin (8) from Jack Eichel (47) and Rasmus Rstolainen (32)
End of 2nd – WAS – 1 BUF – 3
Shots 25 26
Faceoffs 25 18
Hits 15 10
PP 0/2 1/3
Third Period:
Capitals Penalty – 1:26 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Goal – 4:16 – Andre Burakovsky (8) from Christian Djoos (6) and Michal Kempny (14)
Sabres Goal – 5:43 – Sam Reinhart (16) from Matt Hunwick (1) and Conor Sheary (16)
Sabres ENG – 19:05 – Sam Reinhart (17) from Carter Hutton (1)
End of 3rd – WAS – 2 BUF – 5
Shots 33 38
Faceoffs 34 25
Hits 19 12
PP 0/2 1/4
Next Up:
Washington (34-21-7 75pts) v. NY Rangers (27-26-8 62pts)
Buffalo (29-24-8 66pts) @ Toronto (36-20-4 76pts)