In a second act in the Buffalo home series, will the teams bring the offense again? Here is how to find out.
The Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres opened their season last night with some fireworks, as the Capitals outlasted the Sabres with a 6-4 final score. With contributions coming from up and down the roster for both teams.
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The Capitals newly formed first line got things going with a score from one of the leagues most underrated setup men, Nicklas Backstrom, with a great setup from a scorer not given enough credit for his assist ability, Alex Ovechkin. At nearly the half way point of the 1st period the Sabres would get a tally of their own from a new arrival which holds high expectations, Taylor Hall contributed quickly on the power play unit. Before the period was over the Capitals responded with their own special teams score via TJ Oshie from his office right in front of the goal between the circles.
After the Capitals and Sabres settled down and figured each other out the next score took a little longer into the 2nd period, this one came off the stick of John Carlson by way of an odd man rush. The score would stand at 3-1 most of the way through the period until Brendan Dillon got in on the action with a bomb from the redline through traffic making it 4-1. The Capitals wouldn’t get away that easy as the score was returned to a 2 goal split with a score from the Sabres Tobias Rieder on a delayed wrap around goal.
Even with a 2 goal lead, the momentum had taken a shift late in the 2nd period and would carry over to the 3rd. Less than a minute into the final period the Sabres would pull within one goal from a score by Jake McCabe with the Caps scrambling to gain position but slightly too late. This wouldn’t last long as Jakub Vrana wouldn’t allow the Sabres to get the satisfaction and momentum to mount a comback. He did it all with steal off the stick of Eric Staal right between the faceoff dots in the Buffalo zone and put the puck past Hutton with a wrister. This is where it would stay until only 2 minutes remained in the contest, instead of pulling away from the Sabres the Capitals allowed things to get interesting. With the extra skater on the ice, Victor Olofsson put home a soft rebound setup by Samsonov. This left enough time for the Sabres to take another shot at a tie to create an overtime chance, but Garnet Hathaway would seal the deal with an empty net goal.
While the Capitals came away with the win, there were too many holes left open for the Sabres to create opportunities. If the offensive scoring were to dry up, the defense and goalie play will need to improve to give them a strong chance in any contest. As both teams used this to shake off the cobwebs and get their skating legs under them, I would anticipate a lower scoring affair tonight. What do you think, are we in store for another offensive clinic or more of a goalie matchup? Here’s how to keep up and see for yourself:
Date: Friday, January 15th
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Where: KeyBank Center
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Washington
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
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Bonus Fantasy Hockey Coverage:
For those of you who enjoy the fantasy sports scene, here are a few of the players in this contest to consider putting into your starting lineup before the game starts:
Stats when playing against Buffalo Sabres:
Alex Ovechkin (50 GP: 33 G, 18 A)
Stat line from last nights game against Sabres: 2 A, 3 SOG, 19:36 TOI
Evgeny Kuznetsov (17 GP: 3 G, 11 A)
Stat line from last nights game against Sabres: 0 P. 0 SOG, 16:29 TOI
Stat line from last nights game against Sabres: +2, 1 SOG, 15:56 TOI
Stat line from last nights game against Sabres: 1 A, 0 SOG, 10:40 TOI
Zdeno Chara (101 GP: 13 G, 37 A)
Stat line from last nights game against Sabres: +2, 1 SOG, 20:16 TOI
Surprise Fantasy Game: Brenden Dillon
Having played the Buffalo Sabres 13 other times and never tallying a single point. Last night Brenden Dillon got off the goose egg and scored a goal on his only shot and was a +3 lending him to having a more balanced and defensively sound game. As long as he can keep up the defensive and occasionally tally a point he will be everything the team was targeting when signing the extension.
Sleeper Fantasy Game: John Carlson
In 30 previous games played against the Buffalo Sabres, Carlson has only produced 3 G and 8 A for 11 points and a -1 while averaging 23:35 TOI. Last night he tallied 1 G and 1 A in 23:43 TOI, however he did have a -2 meaning he was on the ice more times when the Sabres scored then when the Capitals scored. While his offense is in mid season form he will need to amp up the defensive side of his game to help out the youth in net.
Slacker Fantasy Game: Evgeny Kuznetsov
As seen above Kuznetsov has had pretty good production against the Sabres in 17 GP, he has accounted for just under a point per game with 3 G and 11 A for 14 points (0.82 P/GM). To go into Buffalo and not register a point, or appear to take any shots on goal makes it seem like he wasn’t even in the arena. For the Capitals to have success throughout the shortened season Kuznetsov is going to have to find the on switch pretty quickly.