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Home opener shootout success: Caps beat Sabres 4-3

By Chris Cerullo

 8 Comments

January 22, 2021 9:49 pm

The Washington Capitals opened their 2021 home campaign against the Buffalo Sabres and did so for the first time sans Alex Ovechkin since 2003. I repeat…2003. Could they enter bizarro world and come away with two points?

Eric Staal sent home a layup in front after Victor Olofsson stripped Zdeno Chara behind the net to open the scoring. Nicklas Backstrom converted a rebound off a Tom Wilson tip-in try to tie things up.

Nic Dowd one-timed the Caps into their first lead of the night off of a great Caps cycle and smart feed from Jakub Vrana. Dylan Cozens sniped home his first NHL goal to tie the game once more. Vrana got one of his own shortly before Riley Sheahan locked the game up again.

No goal in overtime so we got the ole boring skill contest.

  • Oshie did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Eichel did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Backstrom did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Hall did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Vrana did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Cozens did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Carlson put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Reinhart did not put the biscuit in the basket.

Caps beat the Sabres 4-3!

  • In the first period the Caps sure had the quantity advantage in terms of sending pucks at the Sabres net but they were incredibly porous defensively and gave up basically all of the quality to Buffalo. I could see that the Chara-Jensen pairing was struggling early (this would continue the entire game) and that foresight proved true when Zdeno gave up the puck behind the net and Eric Staal punished him by finishing the layup. They then got burned again and it led to Conor Sheary having to take the only penalty of the period. Not a great start, but tied after twenty minutes.
  • Tom Wilson is the Caps best player in their first five games and that’s pretty obvious. Fantastic screen and tip that led to Nicklas Backstrom‘s rebound goal and some clutch, timely stickwork on the penalty kill.
  • News broke during the first intermission that Columbus is closing in on trading Pierre-Luc Dubois as early as tomorrow morning. Ian let us know that the Caps do have a valid interest in acquiring the young center. However, it’s looking like the Winnipeg Jets could be the favorite to land him.

  • Would you believe me if I said the Caps were even worse in the second? Something tells me you would. They lost the quantity and quality battle…by a lot. Folks this team is struggling defensively. There’s no other way to put it.
  • A Brian Pinho turnover led to Connor McMichael‘s WJC teammate, Dylan Cozens sniping home his first career NHL goal. Hint, hint.
  • Chara grabbed his first point as a Washington Capital in the second and then towered over all of his teammates in the celebration.
  • I thought Vitek Vanecek should have probably had the third Sabres goal but it was still a wide-open net drive backhanded shot. Vitek saved the Caps bacon on about three or four other occasions in the second alone. He was also absolutely fantastic in the shootout to earn the Caps the extra point.
  • To make things even worse, Tom Wilson headed to the locker room early for the second intermission. He returned at the start of the third for one shift and then immediately departed for the room again. The Caps announced that he wouldn’t return due to a lower-body injury and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. That is bad, bad, bad.

  • The third was much better for the Caps. You can tell this team is going to struggle offensively without number 8 and 92 though. That period is how they should look to play without them. Mute the other team defensively and a heavy forecheck plus cycle down low offensively.
  • Rasmus Dahlin, in my honest opinion, slashed Lars Eller on a mini-break in the third. The refs disagreed and did not give the Sabres a penalty against the Caps for 179 straight minutes. The one they did though was with 10 seconds left in the game and gave the Caps a four-on-three OT advantage.
  • I want to see Trevor van Riemsdyk get his Caps debut on Sunday and maybe one other debut at center ice should happen with McMichael.

Well, the Caps didn’t look great again. They have a second shot at the Sabres on Sunday in the second matchup of this Russian-less run of games.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Sabres

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