Washington Capitals fall to Sabres in shootout
The Washington Capitals had an overtime occasion for the fourth straight game. Three of the last four have gone to shootouts including Sunday afternoon’s game against the Buffalo Sabres being the second consecutive match. Unlike Friday, which saw the Caps come out on top, Sunday’s game saw the Caps come up just short in Connor McMichael‘s debut.
The Caps had an energetic first period. The boys were buzzing as the kids would say. At 6:58 a shot from Justin Schultz from the point downtown went in the net for his first goal as a Capital. The Caps took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission despite trailing in shots 16-9.
The second period has been an issue for the Caps all season long and Sunday was no different. The Caps continued to take penalties and it cost them in the end. Zdeno Chara was called for tripping Taylor Hall. The Sabres answered on the ensuing power play at 10:07 from Colin Miller.
The Caps responded with a power play goal of their own after Rasmus Ristolainen was called for tripping Nicklas Backstrom. Who else but T.J. Oshie to come through and if only we were all there to sing country roads.
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Oshie was positioned in front of the net and deflected in a shot at 11:51 of the second to put the Caps back in front. Backstrom had the secondary assist.
The Sabres got another power play opportunity when Nic Dowd was called for tripping Jack Eichel. Victor Olofsson would score at 13:04. 2-2 was the score after two with the Sabres leading in shots in the second period 19-9.
In the third, Dowd went to the box again. This time for cross checking Rasmus Dahlin. Eric Staal would score on the power play attack to give Buffalo the lead at 7:24.
At 7:50 the Caps got a power play chance when Brandon Montour was called for interference against Conor Sheary. The Caps would tie it at 9:28 thanks to a sharp angle shot from Backstrom for his fourth goal of the season. It was a beautiful shot from an impossible angle. Jakub Vrana and John Carlson had the helpers.
The Sabres would get a penalty shot after Schultz held Hall on a breakaway attempt but this time the post was our best friend and Vitek Vanecek was relieved about that.
3-3 would be the score and the game would require overtime… again. The Caps had nine shots for the third straight period but outshot the Sabres this time 9-8. The Caps were outshot 5-4 in the overtime and for the second straight time we’d go to a shootout.
In the shootout, Carlson, Oshie and Backstrom were stopped while Eichel was the lone scorer on the other end, his goal being the difference as the Sabres snapped a nine game losing streak in D.C. winning the game 4-3.
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The crazy season continues on Tuesday night with the Caps taking on the New York Islanders in a playoff rematch from last summer. They’ll be wearing some fresh new jerseys that were just unveiled this morning.