The Capitals could not extend their winning streak against the Sabres, putting up one of their more disappointing efforts of the season thus far.
The puck dropped for the Washington Capitals forty-fourth game of the year. With the Capitals heading into the game riding a five game winning streak, everything was going good for this Washington team. Mike Richards made his season debut for the Capitals tonight.
Within the very first minutes of the game, the Capitals found themselves a step behind this Buffalo Sabres. The newly found Buffalo Sabres forward Phillip Varone found a loose puck that came off the pad of goaltender Braden Holtby, and put it past him to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. The Capitals didn’t have the best response. Although the Capitals had two power-plays during the first period, both yielded no goals.
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During Jack Eichel’s tripping minor, Buffalo’s forward Tim Schaller found himself on a shorthanded breakaway, where he was able to put one past Holtby, to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead with minimal time left in the first frame. Then with about two minutes left in the frame Capitals defender Taylor Chorney gave the Capitals their first penalty of the night.
Chorney’s minor would go and leak through into the second period, the Capitals were able to kill the penalty off, and the teams would go back to even strength. Shortly after, Caps forward Zach Sill would head to the box for the Washington Capitals second holding call of the night. That penalty would also go unanswered.
Time was ticking with the away team down 2-0 in the second period. It wasn’t until the puck found the stick of Evander Kane who would slip the puck past Holtby to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead with twelve minutes left in the second period. With just 13 saves in on 16 shots in tonights game, head coach Barry Trotz pulled Braden Holtby and replaced him with Phillip Grubauer. Varone, who scored the games first goal, would head to the box for tripping, giving the Capitals their third power-play of the evening.
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With some promising chances, the Capitals were unable to convert on the power-play. It was from this point on the Caps had gained momentum. This was until, TJ Oshie took a slashing penalty with about five minutes left in the second period. The Sabres would go to score on the man advantage with Cody Franson picking the pocket against Grubauer, he would give the Sabres their fourth goal of the night. After a few moments of some back and forth hockey, Chorney would be whistled for his second penalty of the night, and things were just getting disastrous for this Capitals team. Washington would head to the locker room down four goals, with just 20 minutes to play.
The Capitals headed into the third period, needing a massive effort from everyone. With just three minutes into the final frame of this game, Marcus Johansson scored the Capitals first goal of the game. Momentum seemed to be on the Capitals side early on in the third. The Caps would go on their fourth man advantage of the night, where they would be unable to convert. It was not a good night for the power-play, as the Caps went 0-4 on the man advantage. Within moments after both teams went back to even strength, Tom Wilson and Marcus Foligno dropped the gloves. Both players are given five minute majors for fighting, and play continues. With about seven minutes left in the third, the Capitals would go back on the penalty kill, as Aaron Ness was called for holding. After some chaos in front of Grubauer, Jason Chimera and Zach Bogosian went off for matching roughing minors. The Capitals would drop this game with a final score of 4-1.
While Washington has been hot as of late, they ran into a well rested Chad Johnson tonight. He stopped thirty-three shots, and helped lead the Buffalo Sabres to victory tonight. The Caps five game winning streak came to a screeching halt, as the team looks to rebound tomorrow night against the New York Rangers.