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Sabres get smoked: Caps beat Sabres 6-0

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The Washington Capitals have won four in a row and the Buffalo Sabres have lost ten in a row. Would both of those streaks come to an end or would both be extended?

Evgeny Kuznetsov threw an innocent wrister on net from the half-wall that found its way past Carter Hutton to open the scoring. TJ Oshie danced through multiple Sabres before Nicklas Backstrom promptly slammed home a rebound to double the lead. Richard Panik took a beautiful feed from Dmitry Orlov and fired it home for the Caps third.

Nick Jensen sprung Daniel Sprong who converted top shelf on a breakaway to continue the beatdown. Garnet Hathaway got a piece of a Justin Schultz point-drive to start the third period. Ovi ties Esposito to make it six.

First career NHL shutout for Vitek Vanecek.

Caps beat Sabres 6-0!

Let us dance.

  • The Sabres looked lively for the first five minutes of the first and then promptly went to sleep for the rest of the period. The Caps ended up dominating the period and outshot Buffalo 13-2. If you give a team that is as good defensively as the Caps can be when they have their ‘A’ game that much of the puck…you are in for a bad period.
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov struck just as a power play drawn by Alex Ovechkin absolutely dancing around Rasmus Dahlin expired. Kuzy fired home a wrister from the half-wall, surprising Carter Hutton, and earning the Caps Russian center his 400th career point in the NHL.
  • In the first period, Justin Schultz at five-on-five was on the ice for ten Capitals shot attempts to the Sabres zero and five Capitals scoring chances to the Sabres zero. That’s perfection, y’all.

  • The Sabres at least tried for a little longer in the second but were met with a somehow worse fate. Another three Caps goals were put on the scoreboard as the Caps yet again held control of the majority of the puck in a period that featured a Buffalo three-on-one chance that somehow ended up behind the Caps net on…a pass? The Caps held them to nine total shots through forty minutes of play.
  • Daniel Sprong has three goals in his last four games and points in all four of those games. He now has six goals in 17 games this season which is a 29 goal pace if he were to play a full 82 schedule. Pretty fantastic value for a player the Caps have under contract until 2022 (when he will become an RFA) for only $725,000.
  • Nick Jensen has had back-to-back multi-point games. Through two periods the Caps had four high danger chances at five-on-five and Jensen was on the ice for every single one. Stay hot, Nick.
  • The Dmitry Orlov step up interception, clean zone entry, and pinpoint feed to Richard Panik for the Caps third goal was a thing of beauty and deserved its own bullet. That was somehow Orlov’s first assist of the season even though he was been excellent overall since returning from his COVID protocol forced break.

  • The Caps have scored five goals in four straight games. Their third period wasn’t great but it didn’t need to be.
  • The rest of the Ovechkin crew are back home in DC! Can’t help but feel very happy for ole Ovi as he’s got his squad back with him now. Goals galore incoming? Ovi got the 717th of his career in this one to tie Phil Esposito for sixth all-time in NHL goal-scoring history.
  • Peter tried his best but Vitek Vanecek secured the first shutout of his young career. Big congrats, Vitek!
  • Congrats to Nicklas Backstrom on passing Calle Johansson for the second-most games played in Caps franchise history (984). He was rewarded with his 11th goal of the season after TJ Oshie danced around multiple Sabres.
  • Selection Sunday was yesterday. Who else has already fired up their bracket? If you need some help on mid-major teams hit me up on Twitter because I’ve been ranking and watching them every week for the college basketball subreddit.

The Caps are right back at it tomorrow night against the East Division-leading New York Islanders who apparently are never going to lose a hockey ever again.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Sabres

Screenshot courtesy of @Capitals

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