Right when people thought the Washington Capitals were going to take home another loss, the Caps snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. They prevailed 5-4 in the shootout.
Ilya Lyubushkin struck first for the visitors at 4:43. The Sabres doubled their lead at 8:50 from JJ Peterka. At 10:03 the Caps got on the board with T.J. Oshie’s 18th goal of the season which was a power play tally that was assisted by Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin. Tyson Jost made it 3-1 Buffalo at 18:06 which would be the score after one. Caps outshot the Sabres 8-6.
The second period was scoreless as the Caps outshot the Sabres 10-9. In the third the Caps turned it on and outshot the Sabres 19-9. They would tie it in wild fashion.
Evgeny Kuznetsov pulled them to within 3-2 92 seconds into the third period for his 12th goal of the season. It was assisted by Alex Alexeyev and Oshie. Zemgus Girgensons made it a 4-2 game at 5:22. That didn’t stop the comeback Caps.
Alex Ovechkin made it a one goal game at 10:30 for his 37th goal of the season, putting him at 817 in his career and 77 from Wayne Gretzky. The assists came from Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dylan Strome. Tom Wilson tied it late in the game at 18:52 on the power play for his eighth goal of the season. Nicklas Backstrom had the assist.
The shots in overtime were 3-2 Buffalo while the Caps led in shots 39-27 overall. The game would require a shootout. Evgeny Kuznetsov pulled off a SICK move as he slowly moved the puck toward the net and did a deke in the last minute to beat Ukko Pekka Luukkonen.
On the other end Alex Tuch got stopped by Charlie Lindgren. T.J. Oshie put the Caps up by two. Then Tage Thompson got stopped by Lindgren to preserve the win and send the Caps fans home happy with their season still alive.
The Caps are back in action on Friday night at home against the St. Louis Blues for a St. Patrick’s Day matchup.