Washington Capitals: Top 3 keys to victory against Sabres

1 of 3

Lars Eller, Richard Panik, Brenden Dillon, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Capitals will play their first game inside Capital One Arena since March 4th of last year. That is a span of 324 days. They’ll welcome a familiar opponent who they opened the season up against in the Buffalo Sabres. The Caps came out victorious in both of those games and will look to draw on momentum from those to get back in the win column.

The Caps are 15-1-2 in their last 18 home openers. All time in home openers they are 26-15-2-2. The Caps have outscored their opponents 15-4 in their at three home openers. Nicklas Backstrom has 14 points with a goal and 13 assists in 12 career home openers including five assists in his last three games. Let’s dive in to the top 3 keys to victory.

Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports /

#3 Next man up

The Caps must instill a next man up mentality if they want to beat the Sabres and get back to their winning ways after dropping two straight overtime contests to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

To make matters worse the Caps will be without Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Samsonov with Samsonov testing postive to COVID-19. Here is how the lineup will look. Get used to this.

Forwards
Vrana-Backstrom-Wilson
Panik-Eller-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Sprong-Pinho-Sheary

Defense
Dillon-Carlson
Siegenthaler-Schultz
Chara-Jensen
Starting goalie: Vitek Vanecek

Home/Editorials