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Quick Hits: Sabres at Capitals

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For the 9th time in 21 games, the Buffalo Sabres scored less than 2 goals in a game. With that being said, it is easy to assume that the offensively-gifted Washington Capitals walked away without any issue, a 4-1 Washington victory to be exact.

This marks the 22nd time in the last 28 games against Buffalo that the Capitals have recorded at least 1 point, according to the Buffalo Sabres Public Relations Department.

“We obviously don’t have bounces with us. We had 2 or 3 posts in the first period. We’ve been struggling scoring, haven’t been getting the shitty goal so to say,” goaltender Anders Nilsson said postgame.

With the way the Sabres this afternoon against the Capitals, who knows when the offense will begin to come back around.

Buffalo began the late afternoon matchup a little sluggish, as one might expect with the Thanksgiving hangover. Only problem in Washington was that the Capitals did not start off with that same sluggishness.

The Sabres struggled early on with the all-around offensive talent of the Washington Capitals and lacked any positive offensive pressure in Washington’s end. This observation became furthermore evident as the period grew on.

Daniel Winnik would pop the top off of the Capitals’ offensive pressure, only a quarter way into the first period.

Winnik grabbed a strong rebound off the pad of Anders Nilsson, but William Carrier foiled Winnik with a stick check on his first attempt. Not to be deterred, Winnik stayed with the play, recovered the puck and flicked it over Nilsson’s glove and into the net.

Winnik’s 3rd goal of the season, at 5:05 of the first period, pushed Washington out to a 1-0 lead.

Washington would capitalize on their lead, following a busted play by the Buffalo Sabres defense. Justin Williams skated into the zone, looking to create a play. Instead of shooting, Williams passed along to the trailing player. Unfortunately, there was no Capitals player. Fortunately, there was a Sabres defender.

The puck ever so graciously bounced off of Josh Gorges’ stick and directly onto the stick of Marcus Johansson.

With no hesitation, the game was 2-0 at 13:25 of the second period. It goes in the book as Johansson’s 8th of the season, with a late assist added to the stat sheet for Justin Williams.

Buffalo’s dormant offense would finally show minuscule signs of life, halfway through the third period. Kyle Okposo found himself battling two Capitals players at once, when he dished the puck off to Sam Reinhart.

Reinhart would skate over to around the faceoff circle and unleash an absolute twisted wrister, which beat Philipp Grubauer.

Reihart’s 2nd goal of the season, at 9:58 of the third period, would cut the Capitals’ advantage in half.

This is as close as Buffalo would get to Washington.

Minutes later on the power play, Alex Ovechkin took an absolute blast of a shot from his “office” on the power play. While the puck did not get past Nilsson, Brett Connolly had stationed himself in front of the net perfectly.

Connolly perfectly received the rebound in front of a gaping net, a no doubter. Connolly’s 2nd goal of the season, at 16:05 of the third, put Washington up 3-1 for good.

With this regulation loss, the Buffalo Sabres record falls to 7-9-5 (19 points) and leaves the club alone in 15th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Buffalo Sabres next take the ice on Tuesday night, when they head across the border to take on the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. Puck drops shortly after 7:30 PM and the game will be broadcast locally on MSG.

Quick hits, boooooooooooooooooooi!

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    • Nilsson, the backup gawd.

Good lord. Whatever Tim Murray saw in Anders Nilsson, he needs to attempt to look for the equivalent of that offensively. Pulled a guy off the scrap heap and turns out he might know how to play hockey just a little.

Despite the lack of offensive output mentioned throughout, Nilsson put together another good performance tonight stopping 29 of 32 shots.

Nilsson was quoted about discussing the offense in front of him, but he did go on to mention he doesn’t worry much about goals scored because he simply can’t control that.

Worst case scenario, let Nilsson keep racking up the saves in net and deal him soon. Wait, it’s only almost December? Sheesh, I’m grounded for the trade talk.

    • The Great Ovechkin

Alexander Ovechkin boasted a gaudy 41 points (26 goals, 15 assists) in 39 career games, heading into tonight’s contest.

After the game wrapped up, y’all can add one more point to that tally after Ovechkin snatched up an assist in 15:24 time on ice tonight.

Have you checked out his overall career numbers? God damn, he’s good: 983 points (537 goals, 446 assists).

alex
take a fucking picture, ovi.
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