Down like a hundred players, the Washington Capitals had an afternoon date with the Buffalo Sabres that was awkward and weird and more than a little greasy, just like me in middle school.
The Caps scored first as the line formerly known as the fourth line helped Justin Schultz to his first goal with the team. The Sabres fired back in the second period with a pair of power-play goals from Miller and Olofsson respectively. Those goals were bookends for a Caps PPG from TJ Oshie.
The Sabres took the lead in the third period when Eric Staal scored on — you guessed it — a power play. Nicklas Backstrom banked a shot from no angle off Linus Ullmark to restore a tie that pushed us yet again into overtime. Which was fun but, yet again, gave us no decision.
Shootout bullets!
Caps lose.
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1/30 | 2/1 | 3/3 | 3/5 | 4/8 | 4/10 | 4/18 | 4/20 |
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2/27 | 3/1 | 3/7 | 3/9 | 3/25 | 3/26 | 4/2 | 4/4 |
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2/7 | 2/9 | 3/11 | 3/13 | 4/17 | 4/27 | 5/7 | 5/8 |
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1/26 | 1/28 | 3/15 | 3/16 | 4/1 | 4/6 | 4/22 | 4/24 |
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🤷 | 🤷 | 2/14 | 2/16 | 2/23 | 2/25 | 4/29 | 5/1 |
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2/4 | 2/20 | 2/21 | 3/19 | 3/28 | 3/30 | 5/3 | 5/5 |
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🌮 | 🌮 | 🌮 | 🤷 | 2/11 | 2/13 | 4/13 | 4/15 |
Congrats Nick! I wish you continued success and many more in a @Capitals jersey! #ALLCAPS https://t.co/A7nMArowyj
— Peter Bondra (@PeterBondra12) January 24, 2021
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsSabres Olive tie with a blue suit pic.twitter.com/t0lI0IQI93
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 24, 2021
Vitek Vanecek had a very strong game. He faced a ton of shot volume – 35 in the first two periods alone. He got beat a few times, but he sure didn’t hand Buffalo any goals on cushy rebounds. And then he faced Taylor Hall’s penalty shot and thanked his savior.
Always thank your goal post, goalies. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/OJMBoypshN
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 24, 2021
It’s still too early to draw conclusions, but I sorta wonder where Vanecek will sit in the depth chart once Samsonov recovers from COVID.
Anyway, this game was a mess. See you on Tuesday, when the Caps play Barry Trotz’s Islanders.
RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Sabres
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
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