Washington Capitals: Top 3 winners against the Sabres

The Washington Capitals outlasted the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-3 win behind two goals from Tom Wilson and a historic goal and assist from Alex Ovechkin. We also saw the NHL debut of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby as well as a goal from Connor McMichael.

It wasn’t an easy 5-3 win as there were some mistakes along the way including a turnover by Ovechkin that led to a breakaway goal from former Cap Cody Eakin. Other than that Vitek Vanecek made the key stops he needed to make, 25 to be exact. Add it all up and it was a good Monday night team win. Here were the top 3 players who rose to the occasion.

#3 Axel Jonsson-Fjallby

Apologies to Connor McMichael. That was a sweet goal and congrats on scoring your first at home. You’re on fire, kid. But I gotta give this one to Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. I remember watching him at Development Camp back in 2017 and I was impressed with not only his flow but his speed on the ice.

But what was really impressive last night was his defense. He had a hit and two blocked shots while skating 5:44 including 23 seconds shorthanded. So he can kill the penalties when needed to be. After the game, he got the postgame axe which is very fitting.

#1 Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson scored twice last night. He had the game opening tally with a deflection off another deflection shot from Alex Ovechkin. Wilson had four shots on goal and his second goal came in the third period which would go on to be the game winner off a backhanded shot. After struggling to score but doing all the other things right, it’s good to see that David Pastrnak might be right.

Wilson cracked up after the game that it was his fault Ovechkin didn’t pass Hull:

“If it wasn’t for me, he would have passed Hull. (Ovechkin) tipped it off my arm or something. I should have just got out of the way and we would have been talking about Jagr.”

Wilson also had a hit and two blocked shots while skating in 21:16 minutes of ice time, good for fourth on the team. 3:05 minutes of that were on the power play while 2:11 was on the penalty kill.

He did not take any penalties which is good. He leads the team with 16 penalty minutes, actually tied with Dmitry Orlov. But he does have three goals and seven assists for 10 points and a plus/minus of +8. He’s also got 30 hits and 11 blocked shots while continuing to be that physical presence the Caps need without being too much of an enforcer.

Those are our top 3 winners from last night’s game against the Sabres. The Caps hit the road beginning Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings before concluding the trip Friday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.