Washington Capitals: Top 3 keys to victory against Sabres

#2 Stay out of the box

The Caps need to stop taking penalties if they want to beat the Sabres. In the first game of the season between those teams, the Caps spent 11 minutes in the box and allowed one power play goal on three opportunities.

Their next two games saw them spend 10 minutes in the box. The Sabres got five power plays but the Caps penalty kill showed up and killed off all five of the penalties.

They did the same thing in Pittsburgh and fought them hard but came up short in the shootout.

In the rematch against the Penguins, the Caps spent six minutes in the sin bin. Despite that being the fewest minutes, the Penguins scored two power play goals on three opportunities. To add insult to injury, the Caps were scored on while they were on the five on three attack.

The Caps hope to play a much more disciplined game. It’s been hard to keep disciplined this season but if they can do it on the ice maybe it’ll translate to better off ice behavior. Not taking a shot at anybody just saying since four key players are missing for the next four games and who knows how much longer.