Caps 2, Sabres 1
The Caps again went into a third period with the game in the balance. That didn’t work out so well against Los Angeles, Phoenix or San Jose (twice) in the past 12 days. But this time they came through with a power-play goal by Marcus Johansson and held on for the win at Buffalo.
Washington had been outscored in the third period 9-5 and gone 1-4 in those recent contests. With a game at Pittsburgh tomorrow it couldn’t really afford to continue that pattern against the Sabres. Johansson ended up tipping home Mathieu Perreault’s shot after a rebound attempt to break the tie. The Caps finished with 39 shots on goal, but Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller (37 saves) kept his team in it during four short-handed situations in the first period alone.
Perreault finished with a goal and an assist. He scored at 6 minutes, 9 seconds of the second period after a crazy carom on a Matt Hendricks dump-in attempt. The puck bounced right in front of Miller and Perreault was all alone. Jason Chimera started that play with a fine backhanded pass out of the defensive zone and across the ice. Jason Pominville tied it for Buffalo on the power play just 2:43 later. Johansson’s game-winning goal came at 10:20 of the third. It was the rookie’s ninth of the season.
Again, signs of life for the power play. The Caps generated a ton of quality chances on the four they failed to convert in the first period and scored a power-play goal for the second game in a row. Hey – that’s 2-for-6! Whatever. It’s a start. Now just keep the penalty kill from going in the opposite direction. That unit has allowed a goal in four straight and has killed just 5-of-9 since Monday.
Alex Ovechkin earned his 38th assist of the season by carrying the puck into the offensive zone and ripping a shot on goal. For as much grief as he’s taken this season – some of it justified, of course – that puts Ovechkin ninth overall in points in the NHL. He’ll soon pass Sidney Crosby (66 points), who hasn’t played in over seven weeks thanks to lingering concussion symptoms. Meanwhile, Semyon Varlamov had a few shaky moments in goal, but overall did his job by stopping 28 of 29 Sabres shots. He ranks sixth in the league in save percentage (.923) – though that’s in just 24 games. Most of the league leaders are into the 40s in games played.
With the win, Washington improves to 31-19-10 with 72 points. It crept to within three points of Tampa Bay for first place in the Southeast Division – though the Lightning still have a game in hand. The Caps are also now six points ahead of the No. 7 New York Rangers and eight ahead of No. 8 Carolina. All three of those teams have played 60 games. They also dealt another blow to Buffalo’s playoff chances. The Sabres are stuck on 60 points after losing their fourth in a row. They remain at No. 9 thanks to two games in hand on Atlanta, which also has 60 points in 60 games. That puts Washington 12 points clear of a non-playoff position with 22 to go.
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