Buffalo Sabres (10-25-7 27pts) v. Washington Capitals (28-11-4 60pts)
Game Recap:
In Washington celebrating Nicklas Backstrom’s 1000th career NHL game, the Capitals would host the Buffalo Sabres. In the first period things would start slow for both teams, and then midway through the period Backstrom would be called for interference, but the Sabres would be unable to capitalize on their powerplay opportunity. Then late in the period Sam Reinhart would tip in a shot past Vitek Vanecek, and Dmitry Orlov would unleash a bomb to tie the game at one for the Caps.
Come the second period things would not start well for the Caps as a turnover in their own end would lead to a Victor Olofsson tally for Buffalo to retake the lead. Then while shorthanded Casey Mittelstadt would strike to grow the Sabres lead to two, but while having the extra attacker on the ice due to a delayed penalty, Anthony Mantha would net his second as a Capital to bring the Caps back within one. However, past the midway point of the period Anders Bjork would net his first as a Sabre to regain the two goal lead, and force Peter Laviolette to bring Craig Anderson in to relieve Vitek Vanecek in net for the Caps.
Then in the third period it would be very penalty filled, and the Caps would see two powerplay opportunities to their advantage, but could not score on either one. The Sabres would also get a powerplay opportunity, but would not capitalize either. However, in the final minute of regulation Tage Thompson would net the empty netter to seal the deal and give the Sabres the 5-2 victory.
Lineups:
Buffalo Sabres:
Jeff Skinner — Sam Reinhart — Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund — Casey Mittelstadt — Tage Thompson
Anders Bjork — Dylan Cozens — Arttu Ruotsalainen
Tobias Rieder — Cody Eakin — Kyle Okposo
Jacob Bryson — Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin — Henri Jokiharju
Matt Irwin — Colin Miller
Dustin Tokarski
Michael Houser
Scratched: Drake Caggiula
Injured: Linus Ullmark (lower body), Riley Sheahan (upper body) Carter Hutton (lower body), Jack Eichel (upper body), William Borgen (forearm)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Lars Eller — Daniel Sprong
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson
Brenden Dillon — Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara — Nick Jensen
Vitek Vanecek
Craig Anderson
Scratched: Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injured: Michael Raffl (upper body), Ilya Samsonov (upper body)
First Period:
WAS Penalty – 10:48 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Interference
BUF Goal – 18:50 – Sam Reinhart (15) from Dylan Cozens (5) and Henri Jokiharju (5)
WAS Goal – 19:37 – Dmitry Orlov (6) from TJ Oshie (21)
| End of First | BUF – 1 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 12 | 8 |
| Faceoff Wins | 6 | 9 |
| Hits | 4 | 10 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/0 |
Second Period:
BUF Goal – 1:36 – Victor Olofsson (12) from unassisted
BUF Penalty – 3:45 – Matt Irwin 2 minutes for High Sticking
BUF SHG – 5:42 – Casey Mittelstadt (7) from Anders Bjork (5)
WAS Goal – 9:59 – Anthony Mantha (13) from John Carlson (28) and Nicklas Backstrom (31)
BUF Goal – 13:23 – Anders Bjork (3) from Dylan Cozens (6)
| End of Second | BUF – 4 | WAS – 2 |
| Shots | 25 | 16 |
| Faceoff Wins | 12 | 21 |
| Hits | 10 | 21 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/1 |
Third Period:
BUF Penalty – :35 – Henri Jokiharju 2 minutes for Tripping
BUF Penalty – 9:34 – Rasmus Dahlin 2 minutes for Hooking
BUF Penalty – 14:01 – Matt Irwin 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Penalty – 14:01 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Penalty – 15:38 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Cross Checking
BUF ENG – 19:17 – Tage Thompson (5) from Rasmus Asplund (2)
| End of Third | BUF – 5 | WAS – 2 |
| Shots | 30 | 29 |
| Faceoff Wins | 19 | 30 |
| Hits | 13 | 27 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 0/3 |
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