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Caps beat Sabres 3-1… but still no shutout for Vanecek

By Peter Hassett

 22 Comments

February 18, 2021 9:20 pm

The Washington Capitals kept to their winning ways with a convincing yet sloppy victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

After Alex Ovechkin took a couple swings against Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark, Nicklas Backstrom said “bro i got this” and did it himself. Tom Wilson extended the lead in the second period with a very welcome shorthanded goal. In the third, Conor Sheary cleaned up a rebound on a great rush play. But then Victor Olofsson ended the shutout with a power-play goal that clipped the top of Vancek’s net.

Caps win!

  • Tom Wilson had a tremendous game, giving the Caps their first shorty of the season. And it’s good he did, as he totally duffed another golden scoring chance a few minutes later. Wilson had a free puck in the slot, but instead of taking the shot, he made a drop pass. That’s the essence of Wilson.
  • Wait, no it’s not. That’s not the essence of Wilson at all. That’s the essence of, like, Alexander Semin or someone. Anyway, no more drop passes. Caps forwards: please let me know as soon as you have received this memo.
  • Rookie goalie Vitek Vanecek had yet another near-shutout until the Orlov penalty in the third. But VV had to get pretty lucky to have been close at all. The Sabres rang the post twice in the first period, and VV’s skaters had to clean up quite a few big rebounds off him. Still, I think he’s making progress, especially as the defense in front of him gets their act together.
  • Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark got on the highlight reel with the big save above, but goalies usually make wild saves like this when they’re way out of position. In our Discord, I said it was reminiscent of 2009 playoffs Varlamov; Nathan called it Fleurying. I think Nathan said it better.

Screenshot courtesy of Sportsnet

  • The Sabres are a pretty good team actually. It seems like they’re just having an inordinate amount of trouble turning their good play into actual goals, especially during five-on-five play. RIP their season or whatever, but the Caps are built different.
  • The first coach to find a ton of minutes for Jakub Vrana is going to look like a genius. Great pull from NBCSW.

  • The Eller line didn’t have a nigh-perfect game like they did against Pittsburgh, but they still produced with an excellent rush goal finished off by Conor Sheary. They’re a lot of fun to watch.

Two wins in a row? That’s officially a trend. There’s been some real respectable play lately, dating back to that last loss against Pittsburgh, if you ask me. But this weekend’s gauntlet will be a real test. Meet you here, then.

RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Sabres

Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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