Selections beat Sabers 5-4 (SO)

Selections beat Sabers 5-4 (SO)

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The Washington Capitals returned to the ice after a road loss to the New York Rangers and met another New York team in the Buffalo Sabers at home inside Capital One Arena. Both teams entered Wednesday night’s game tied with 71 points in the standings.

Ilya Lyubushkin fired a shot that made its way through the crowd to open the scoring. JJ Peterka finished off a great feed from Jack Quinn to extend that lead. TJ Oshie quickly recovered one on a powerplay. Tyson Jost canceled this at the end of the first.

Evgeny Kuznetsov put a home early in the third to make things interesting. Zemgus Girgensons responded to end this fun. Alex Ovechkin tipped one midway through the third and Tom Wilson tied the game with the out goaltender.

The time of gunfights.

  • Kuznetsov put the cookie in the basket
  • Tuch did NOT put the cookie in the basket
  • Oshie put the cookie in the basket
  • Thompson did NOT put the cookie in the basket

The Caps beat the Sabers 5-4!

  • Another game where the Caps were down 3-1 after twenty minutes. I didn’t like the goalie they got from Charlie Lindgren. It felt like a much more even first period than the one against the Rangers, but the Sabers just got the saves they needed and the Caps didn’t.
  • good to see Dylan Strom extend his point streak to six games. This earns him a career high. If there’s a list of guys you really want to see finish this season strong, he’s probably near the top given his pretty expensive new contract.
  • don’t like to see Rasmus Sandin And Trevor Van Riemsdyk on the ice for Buffalo’s four goals. They play most of the minutes so it’s going to happen and I don’t think either of them was personally responsible for the goals but I have to keep an eye on that. Sandin’s attack is excellent but he also needs to do the other half to justify 25 minutes a night.
  • The Sabers controlled most of the second period, but neither team found the back of the net. I think there was a concerted effort to try to slow things down in the neutral zone and it led to a lot of nothing for half of the twenty minutes.
  • I certainly didn’t like seeing both TJ Oshie And Rasmus Sandin go down with injuries. Good news though. Oshie would return shortly after feeling something bad as he lined up for a face-off. Sandin returned after being shot in the knee and needing a whistle to get out ice.
  • Want to know the date of a bunch of important league-wide stuff coming up? Well, you’re in luck.
  • The NHL salary cap is not expected to increase by more than $1 million next season. That’s not very helpful for a team like the Caps who are likely going to spend trying to reform this team this summer.
  • The Caps had the majority of the puck and the chances in the third period. The blunt penalty call on Ovi didn’t help, but Tom Wilson set one aside on the ensuing make-up call to tie things up.
  • There have been moments of absolute nothingness in defense lately and this Girgenson goal was one of them. The Caps forwards all stood there and watched that goal happen. Nicklas Backstrom being the main author.
  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 37th of the season and created another on the power play. Safe to say this guy is important.

The Caps have Thursday off and then host Jakub Vrana and the St. Louis Blues at home on Friday.

Title photo courtesy of kurly

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