Capitals honor Backstrom, lose to Buffalo, 5-2

The pregame ceremony to honor Nickals Backstrom’s 1,000th NHL game, all as a member of the Washington Capitals, will be something his teammates will remember for a long time. The final score, however, will not.

“When you lose, it’s not fun,” center Lars Eller said after the game. “I do think once we get away from this a little bit, we’re not going to remember the loss; we’ll remember the ceremony, and at the end of the day, we’ll remember that more than the loss, but right now it stings.”

The Capitals (28-12-4, 60 points) fell behind early and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night in a game that saw goaltender Vitek Vanecek replaced by veteran backup Craig Anderson late in the second period.

The night started with the team taking the ice for pregame warmups decked out in jerseys, all sporting Backstrom’s iconic number 19. General manager Brian McClellan gave Backstrom a silver stick for his achievement following a video tribute.

Ironically, the milestone comes in the last home game before fans are allowed back into Capital One Arena.

The Caps begin a four-game road trip Saturday in Philadelphia before coming home on April 27th. City officials will allow 10 percent fan capacity starting that night. It will be the first time Washington has played in front of home fans since the Covid pandemic began last year.

The game itself was less than memorable for Washington. Buffalo took the lead on Sam Reinhart’s 15th goal of the season with less than two minutes to play in the first period. Washington’s Dmitry Orlov tied it just 47 seconds later, but two unanswered second-period Buffalo goals (one shorthanded) would give the Sabres a lead they never relinquished.

“Turnovers played a huge factor,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game. “A lot of times, you turn the puck over because you’re not moving the way you’re capable of moving; you’re not on your toes. They were on their toes tonight.”

The lone bright spot, aside from Backstrom’s milestone, was the play of new winger Anthony Mantha. Acquired at the trade deadline for Jakob Vrana and draft picks, the 26-year-old scored his second goal in as many games as a Capital.

Buffalo was facing a delayed penalty when Mantha tipped in a John Carlson shot in front of the goal. At the time, it made the score 3-2, but Washington got no closer.

“I think we were lacking a little bit of a compete level and poor decision making at times, and it just cost us today,” Lars Eller said. “Sometimes not moving our feet sometimes trying to make plays that weren’t there sometimes we got picked off. We weren’t on our game tonight; not sure why but we weren’t sharp.”

Washington remains in first place in the MassMutual East Division as the New York Islanders lost to Boston 4-1 while third-place Pittsburgh picked up one point in a shoot-out loss to Philadelphia.