The Washington Capitals won the short-term battle Friday night, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in a shoot-out. The long term war, however, is still an open question.
Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov, and Dimitri Orlov all missed the first of at least four games for violating Covid protocol earlier in the week. Forward Tom Wilson left the game with a lower-body injury. Caps officials say he will be evaluated tomorrow.
Once again, the Caps were inconsistent. Head Coach Peter Laviolette felt the team played an excellent first and third period but once again fell flat in the second.
“Most of it came from not putting the puck deep or putting it behind them,” Laviolette said. “There’s no question there’s some things we need to clean up defensively. That’s been a couple second periods in a row, so, for me, it’s time to have a chat.”
The Sabres Eric Staal opened the scoring in the first period by beating Vitek Vanecek at the 12:33 mark. Nicklas Backstrom tied the game at the 16:33 spot.
The teams traded goals in the second period, with Nick Dowd and Jakob Vrana scoring for Washington (their second and third of the season) while Dylan Cozens and Riley Sheahan answered for Buffalo.
With no goals in the third period or overtime, it went to a shoot out. In the fourth round, defenseman John Carlson beat Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark to give the Caps the win.
“I think overall it wasn’t our best game, said Backstrom, who scored his third goal of the season. “We’re happy we battled it out and (had a) really strong third period and got the ‘W’ that’s what matters. It’s all about collecting points.”
If Wilson isn’t able to play Sunday, the Capitals will have to turn to their emergency taxi squad. Next up could be highly touted prospect Connor McMichael. The 20-year-old had a strong performance at the World Junior Championships for Team Canada and is considered a cornerstone of its future.
Regardless of who gets the call, the entire locker room knows everyone must step up their game.
“It creates an opportunity for guys,” said Nic Dowd. “Guys want to step up, and we want to win hockey games in good ways and make us feel good about ourselves, and we’ll have to grind games out.”
The two teams will play Sunday afternoon again with a face-off scheduled for 3:00 pm.