Stuffed: Caps beat Sabres 3-1

November 25, 2016 8:41 pm

Oh thank goodness, there’s Caps hockey. Let’s all take a break from that conversation with our extended families about how the real world has become Purge: Anarchy and instead talk about how the Caps whipped the Sabres on Black Friday.

Daniel Winnik and his horseshoe mustache kicked us off by sticking with a scoring play started by Lars Eller. Marcus Johansson doubled Washington’s lead by rescuing Justin Williams’ interrupted pass and burying the puck behind Anders Nilsson.

Sam Reinhart ended Grubauer’s shutout bid in the third after some sustained pressure by Kyle Okposo. Hardworking Brett Connolly occupied the slot and slammed a goal with 4 minutes to go.

Caps beat Sabres 3-1!

Blah blah blah Daniel Winnik‘s goal was tenacious and gave that line their first points in a few weeks, but here’s what I really wanna talk about: his facial hair. Pictured above, this mustache is not a fu manchu as many believe. It is, in fact, a horsehoe. The difference is that fu manchus are free-flowing. Don’t feel bad, Travis Tritt goofed this up too.
Zach Sanford hasn’t scored yet. That’s unfortunate because I don’t know if or when he’ll get another look as good as this one. Also disappointed by that non-goal: Chris “from the comments” Cerullo:

Going to the VC to see @zachsanford21 score his first tonight #thebank @russianmachine

— Chris Cerullo (@CJC_95) November 25, 2016

Braden Holtby had the night off, so Philipp Grubauer got the start. This was fortunate for two reasons: 1) Grubi’s parents were in town for his birthday, so they got to see him start a Caps game for the first time, and 2) the Buffalo Sabres are not very good. Grubi flirted with a shutout, but Kyle Okposo‘s moves leading up to Reinhart’s goal were stunning.
In addition to Holtby, Nate Schmidt got the night off as well. That’s odd. Dude is criminally underappreciated; it’s not just his smile. Taylor Chorney got a sweater instead, and he did… fine.
Is it worth making a bullet about Jay Beagle winning more than 60 percent of his faceoffs? Well, he did, and I did.
Alex Ovechkin had a sleepy game, going without a shot on goal until the game’s back half and making a couple goofs, including one that led to Burakovsky’s delay-of-game penalty with 8 minutes left. Even without Ovi leading the way, the Caps got more than 30 shots on goal. You can chalk that up to the Sabres being bad a defense but also to shared responsibilities for offense. Five players had at least three shots on goal.
I loved Marcus Johansson‘s goal. Justin Williams wanted to pass to Nick Backstrom, but his pass hit a defender’s skate. Without a net-crasher, that play would have been over, but Johansson was darting towards the slot. That kind of goal was unthinkable from the Johansson or any of the Caps a few years ago. #thankful