Washington Capitals down Sabres for first win of season

The Washington Capitals start the season with a win in Buffalo.

The Washington Capitals downed the Buffalo Sabres 6-4 to get their first win in the Peter Laviolette era. Every time the Sabres scored the Caps had an answer for them. The offense was awesome. Ilya Samsonov played a good game but let a few squeakers by him, stuff that comes with the first game jitters.

The Caps got on the board at 5:43. As Alex Ovechkin got tripped up he set Nicklas Backstrom with a perfect look in front of the net and he cashed in. If he had a down year last year, he’s off to a good start now and is living up to his new contract.

After T.J. Oshie was called for elbowing, the Sabres got on the power play and they scored with Taylor Hall’s first goal as a Sabre. The goal came at 8:48. Like I said, every time the Sabres scored the Caps had an answer.

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The Caps got a power play when 2018 first draft pick Rasmus Dahlin was called for holding Tom Wilson. With the Caps on the attack, Ovechkin ripped a shot and Oshie was there to rebound it in. It was a huge play in front of the net and Oshie would be ultimately rewarded later on.

The Caps would lead 2-1 after 20 and would lead in shots 14-8. John Carlson would make it 3-1 as he broke away from the defense and ripped in a shot. The goal came at 7:05. He wouldn’t be the only defenseman to score.

Brenden Dillon would score his first as a Cap on a shot from the point way downtown. The goal came at 13:23. He was due for a goal and he got it. We’re glad he signed that contract over the offseason!

Tobias Rieder would make it a 4-2 game before the second period would end. Shots were even in the second period at nine apiece. Jake McCabe would make it 4-3 with a goal 20 seconds in the third period before the Caps own Jake would answer.

That’s right, Jakub Vrana got a look up in front of the net and he capitalized to put the Caps ahead 5-3. The Sabres would later close the gap to 5-4 with a goal from Victor Olofsson before Garnet Hathaway put an exclamation point on the game with an empty net goal.

After the game Laviolette presented Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do headbands to their offensive and defensive players of the game. They were bestowed on T.J. Oshie and Brenden Dillon. It was a good start to the season and the Caps hope to go 2-0 with a win tonight.