The Washington Capitals got right back to business and picked up their second victory of the young season, slaying the Buffalo Sabres in back-to-back nights to kick off the 2021 season with a bang.
The white-clad Caps needed heroics from two Czech youngsters but ultimately sealed a stingy 2-1 victory in the hot wing capital of the country.
The Sabres outshot the Caps 31 to 21 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 36 to 34.
By Chris Cerullo 3 years ago
It was a big Friday night for 25-year-old Czech rookie Vitek Vanecek. After years in the Capitals farm system, he finally made his NHL debut against the Buffalo Sabres. He stopped 30 of 31 shots to deliver a win for his team and secure the first W of his NHL career. His teammates sung his praises after the game. He was given a post-game award.
And then, naturally, he got a shaving cream pie to the face.
By Peter Hassett 3 years ago
With a narrow win on Friday night, the Capitals emerged victorious in the back-to-back season opening series in Buffalo. But this was not quite the commanding performance that had the Caps coasting on Thursday night.
The Caps took took three penalties in the first period, but ably killed them to escape tied. The second period was similarly blah, but Jakub Vrana scored a pretty rush goal to give the Caps the lead.
The Sabres scored on their first shift of the third period, with one of their many Rasmii loosing a wrister from the blue line. Tom Wilson answered back with a wrister to the top shelf from the faceoff dot to restore Washington’s lead.
Caps win!
By Peter Hassett 3 years ago
Vitek Vanecek, 25, will make his NHL debut Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, realizing a dream that he has worked hard to achieve.
Vanecek, a Capitals’ second-round draft pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, has spent the last five seasons in the AHL with the Hershey Bears.
Happy Friday. Yes, we literally just did this last night. The Capitals are still in Buffalo and will play the Sabres, once more this evening, before heading to Pittsburgh for Sunday’s showdown. Would love to see another win in the books, but maybe this time it could be a bit cleaner? Is it a little early for me to start being a bit picky? Probably, but I can’t be stopped. I’ll tell you what I won’t complain about, if we start the game off with another Nick Backstrom goal.
The puck will be dropping tonight at 7 PM EST and you can catch the NBC stream and hang out with us. At the end of the evening, save some time to read Pete’s recap.
By Elyse Bailey 3 years ago
