Washington Capitals Report Card: Defense earns high grade against Sabres

The Washington Capitals earned a dominating 6-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres. If we graded the offense, they would get an A+ no doubt for their contributions up and down the lineup.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Richard Panik, Daniel Sprong, Garnet Hathaway and Alex Ovechkin all lit the lamp for the Caps. Vitek Vanecek got the start in goal and we’ll get to him later in the day with a grade for the goaltending.

Now let’s grade the defense, who helped play solid in front of Vanecek and contribute to the offense’s scoring. Here was how they paired up. Keep in mind they went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Trevor van Riemsdyk the odd man in.

Dillon-Carlson
Orlov-Schultz
Chara-Jensen
van Riemsdyk

More from Editorials

• Alex Ovechkin will score 50 goals in 2023-24
• It’s time for Capitals fans to chill out with the Anthony Mantha hate
• The Capitals Have Several Potentially Bad Contracts
• Nic Dowd looks to show reliability
• Dylan Strome’s Contract Could Be A Steal For The Capitals

Justin Schultz was all over the place. He helped play the puck into the zone to Evgeny Kuznetsov for the game’s first goal. He also nearly had a goal later in the game which ultimately went to Garnet Hathaway. Schultz finished with two assists and a block.

His partner Dmitry Orlov played stellar too. He had an assist on Richard Panik’s goal in the second period. He fed Panik with a perfect diagonal cross ice pass.

Nick Jensen continued his hot streak. After scoring two goals against the Flyers, he had a pair of apples last night. He first assisted on Nicklas Backstrom’s goal by starting a play that T.J. Oshie finished with a slick pass. Jensen also fed a down ice pass to Daniel Sprong and he worked his magic with another snipe.

Jensen and Zdeno Chara tied for the team lead in blocks. Even John Carlson was physical with a hit and a block. The Caps overall played stellar team defense which is exactly what Peter Laviolette is looking for. They have now won five in a row and go for six straight tonight against the New York Islanders.

Grade A: The defense played solid. Anytime you don’t allow a goal you deserve at least an A. The Sabres only had nine shots on goal the entire first 40 minutes. The Caps on the other had three goals on 11 shots. It was this start and a strong finish that helped seal the win.