Buffalo Sabres (5-4-2 12pts) v. Washington Capitals (5-2-4 14pts)
Game Recap:
In Washington the Capitals would play host to the Buffalo Sabres for some Monday Night Hockey. In the first period the Caps would come out hot as Tom Wilson would deflect an Alex Ovechkin shot to give the Caps the 1-0 lead. Shortly after Tage Thompson would get called for holding to give the Caps their first powerplay opportunity, and while they had one really good chance, overall they didn’t do much with it as the Sabres would kill the penalty. Later in the period the Caps would go shorthanded as Carl Hagelin would go to box for holding, but the Caos would be up to the task and kill the penalty. After killing off the penalty the Caps would control the play and tire out the Sabres but unfortunately they would not capitalize on the zone dominance. The Caps would take the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period the Caps would continue to apply the pressure in the Sabres zone, and 2:30 into the period Connor McMichael would strike for his second of the season to give the Caps the two goal lead. However, moments later Alex Ovechkin would cough the puck up in the Caps defensive zone, and former Capital Cody Eakin would take advantage and score on the turnover to get the Sabres on the board and back within one. That wouldn’t last long though as Ovechkin would make up for the turnover and tip a Dmitry Orlov point blast to record his 741st career NHL goal to tie Brett Hull for fourth all tine on the NHL goals list and give the Caps their two goal lead back. Hagelin would be called for his second penalty to put the Sabres back on the powerplay, but the Caps penalty killers would be up to the task to keep the Sabres off the board and kill the penalty to keep the Caps 3-1 lead going into the 2nd intermission.
Then in the third period chaos would reign in the Caps zone as Anders Bjork would score during a massive scramble in the crease to bring the Sabres back within one. But the Caps would not back down as Tom Wilson would net his second of the game to regain the two goal lead. Then Cody Eakin would shoot the puck out of play for a delay of game penalty to put Caps in the man advantage, but the Sabres would not give the Caps the time and space to create any true scoring chances. Later in the period Dmitry Orlov would be called for Interference and the Caps penalty killers would be up to the task as they would kill off the penalty, and draw a powerplay of their own and would strike on the powerplay to take the 5-2 lead. Colin Miller would score with 64 seconds left for the Sabres, but the Capitals would hold on to take the 5-3 victory.
Lineups:
Buffalo Sabres:
Jeff Skinner — Tage Thompson — Rasmus Asplund
Drake Caggiula — Dylan Cozens — Vinnie Hinostroza
Zemgus Girgensons — Cody Eakin — Kyle Okposo
Anders Bjork — Arttu Ruotsalainen — John Hayden
Rasmus Dahlin — Will Butcher
Jacob Bryson — Colin Miller
Robert Hagg — Mark Pysyk
Dustin Tokarski
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Christian Wolanin
Injured: Craig Anderson (upper body), Victor Olofsson (undisclosed), Alex Tuch (shoulder), Casey Mittelstadt (upper body), Henri Jokiharju (lower body)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary — Lars Eller — Daniel Sprong
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby — Connor McMichael — Brett Leason
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Trevor van Riemsdyk — Justin Schultz
Vitek Vanecek
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Dennis Cholowski, Matt Irwin, Hendrix Lapierre
Injured: Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (lower body), Anthony Mantha (upper body)
First Period:
WAS Goal – 2:13 – Tom Wilson (2) from Alex Ovechkin (9) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (5)
BUF Penalty – 3:44 – Tage Thompson 2 minutes for Holding
WAS Penalty – 10:07 – Carl Hagelin 2 minutes for Holding
Second Period:
WAS Goal – 2:30 – Connor McMichael (2) from Justin Schultz (1) and Carl Hagelin (2)
BUF Goal – 3:43 – Cody Eakin (2) from unassisted
WAS Goal – 8:55 – Alex Ovechkin (11) from Dmitry Orlov (4) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (9)
WAS Penalty – 14:49 – Carl Hagelin 2 minutes for Tripping
Third Period:
BUF Goal – 3:16 – Anders Bjork (2) from Arttu Ruotsalainen (1) Robert Hagg (3)
WAS Goal – 6:45 – Tom Wilson (3) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (10)
BUF Penalty – 9:45 – Cody Eakin 2 minutes for Delay of Game
WAS Penalty – 14:40 – Dmitry Orlov 2 minutes for Interference
BUF Penalty – 16:31 – Zemgus Girgensons 2 minutes for Slashing
WAS PPG – 17:47 – John Carlson (3) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (11) and Alex Ovechkin (10)
BUF Goal – 18:56 – Colin Miller (1) from Mark Pysyk (2) and Vinnie Hinostroza (5)
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