Road Redemption; Washington Capitals vs Buffalo Sabres Preview

Tonight, in this second half of a back-to-back, the Washington Capitals will take on the Buffalo Sabres. After falling to the Penguins last night, marking just their 2nd regulation loss at home, the Caps look to take advantage of a Sabres team that has lost each of its last six games. Washington defeated the Sabres 5-3 back on November 8th.

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On Friday, the Washington Capitals were handed a bitter loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins. A strong third-period push couldn’t make up for a sluggish first 40 minutes in which the visiting Pens scored three goals in succession to doom the Caps. Ilya Samsonov was in net for Washington, and truth be told, if it weren’t for him, the score easily could have been 5-, 6-, or 7 over the Caps. With just under four minutes left in the first period, Danton Heinen scored his 8th of the season to put the Pens on the board.

In the second period, Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen would both score to add to Pittsburgh’s lead, making it 3-0. Shortly after McGinn scored his goal, he laid out Martin Fehervary with an arguably unnecessary check to the head. There was no penalty on the play.

Fehervary was taken out of the game and did not return.

With six minutes remaining in the middle frame, Tom Wilson also left the game and did not return for the third period after running down Pittsburgh’s goaltender, Tristan Jarry. If you ask me, it was a dumb decision by Wilson, whose team was already skating with the extra attacker on a delayed penalty against Pittsburgh.

At the 7:33 mark of the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov finally got the Caps on the board, spoiling Jarry’s shutout bid.

With Samsonov pulled for the extra skater, Lars Eller would bring Washington within one as he scored his 3rd of the season at the 17:14 mark. Unfortunately, deciding to pull the goaltender again in hopes of tying the game late ended with Jeff Carter scoring an empty-net goal lifting the Penguins to a 4-2 win.

The Capitals were 0-for-2 on the power play, with both opportunities coming in the second period. Washington did manage to kill off the Pens single power-play opportunity which came early in the 3rd period.

Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves on 32 shots, and the loss was just his 2nd regulation loss of the season. Vitek Vanecek is expected to start for the Capitals against the Sabres.

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The Buffalo Sabres also played on Friday night, in which they lost to the New York Rangers by a score of 2-1. The loss marked the Sabres’ 6th straight and their 11th loss in their last 12 games. Less than five minutes into the first period, Mika Zibanejad scored his 5th of the year. It came on the Rangers’ power play. It wasn’t until nearly halfway through regulation that another goal would be scored. Fortunate for the Rangers and unfortunately for the Sabres, it was Alexis Lafreniere who, with his 6th of the year scored to make it 2-0, a goal that would be the eventual game-winner.

In avoiding a shutout, Brett Murray scored to get Buffalo on the board at the 14:37 mark of the third period. Over the last six games, all of which have been losses, the Sabres have been outscored 27 to 13. Though they more than doubled up the Rangers in shots on goal in the 3rd period (18-7), it was not enough for Buffalo.

The Sabres nearly tied the game with just 57 seconds remaining in the match to force overtime, but the goal was called off for being offsides. However, there is still uncertainty whether the league’s review and final call was the correct one.

At home, the Sabres are just 6-8-1 and rank among the worst in the league regarding goals allowed (3.62; T30th), penalty kill (77.8%; 24th), and goals for (2.69; 24th). However, their power play is actually ranked better than Washington right now; Buffalo is converting on 19.1% of opportunities and ranks 17th overall.

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For the Capitals, Tom Wilson did not travel and Martin Fehervary is questionable to play versus Buffalo. Washington is still without Nicklas Backstrom (hip), and Trevor van Riemsdyk, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway are all unavailable due to COVID-19 protocol. The Sabres are without Craig Anderson, Malcom Subban, Robert Hagg, Alex Touch, Drake Caggiula, and Lukas Rousek.

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The Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres will play tonight, December 11th, at 7:00pm EST and can be watched on NBC Sports Washington+ and MSG-B.

Date: Dec. 11, 2021
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: KeyBank Center
What Channel Is The Capitals Game On: NBC Sports Washington plus
Radio: 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7
Betting Odds: The betting odds on WynnBET have the Capitals as -1.5 favorites on the road against the Sabres. The monyline is set at -215 for the Capitals and +190 for the Sabres. The over/under for tonight’s game is 6.0.
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