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Left it super late but eventually leave Sabres slain: Caps beat Sabres 5-4 (SO)

By Chris Cerullo

 2 Comments

March 15, 2023 9:56 pm

The Washington Capitals got right back on the ice after a road loss to the New York Rangers and met another New York team in the Buffalo Sabres at home inside Capital One Arena. Both teams entered the Wednesday night matchup tied at 71 standings points.

Ilya Lyubushkin flung a shot that found its way through a crowd to open the scoring. JJ Peterka finished off a great feed from Jack Quinn to extend that lead. TJ Oshie quickly got one back on a power play. Tyson Jost canceled that out late in the first.

Evgeny Kuznetsov put one home early in the third to make things interesting. Zemgus Girgensons responded to end some of that fun. Alex Ovechkin tipped one in halfway through the third and Tom Wilson tied things up with the netminder pulled.

Shootout bullets time.

  • Kuznetsov put the biscuit in the basket
  • Tuch did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Oshie put the biscuit in the basket
  • Thompson did NOT put the biscuit in the basket

Caps beat Sabres 5-4!

  • Another game where the Caps were in a 3-1 hole after twenty minutes. I didn’t love the goaltending they got from Charlie Lindgren. It felt like a much more even first period than the one against the Rangers but the Sabres just got the saves they needed and the Caps didn’t.
  • Good to see Dylan Strome extend his point streak to six games. That ties a career-high for him. If there’s a list of guys you really want to see finish this season strong, he’s probably near the top given his pretty expensive new contract.
  • Don’t love to see Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk on the ice for all four Buffalo goals. They’re playing the bulk of the minutes so it’s going to happen and I don’t think either was personally responsible for the goals but gotta keep an eye on that. The offense from Sandin is great but he needs to do the other half as well to justify 25 minutes a night.

  • The Sabres controlled more of the second period but neither team found the back of the net. I think there was a concerted effort to try and slow things down in the neutral zone and that led to a lot of nothing for half of the twenty minutes.
  • Definitely did not love to see both TJ Oshie and Rasmus Sandin go down with injuries. Good news though. Oshie would return shortly after feeling something wrong as he was lining up for a faceoff. Sandin returned after taking a bullet slap shot to the knee and needing a whistle to get off the ice.
  • Want to know the date of a bunch of important leaguewide stuff coming up? Well, you’re in luck.
  • The NHL salary cap is not expected to rise more than $1 million next season. That is not very helpful for a team like the Caps that is probably going to spend to try and reformat this team in the summer.

  • Caps had the majority of the puck and the chances in the third period. The brutal penalty call on Ovi did not help but Tom Wilson put one away on the ensuing makeup call to tie things up.
  • There have been some moments of absolute nothingness on defense lately and that Girgensons goal was one of them. The Caps’ forwards all stood there and watched that goal happen. Nicklas Backstrom being the main perpetrator.
  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 37th of the season and created another on the power play. Safe to say that guy is important.

The Caps have Thursday off and then host Jakub Vrana and the St. Louis Blues at home on Friday.

Headline photo courtesy of kurly

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