At the Final Horn | Sabres fall to Capitals in shootout

T.J. Oshie drifted slowly to the net and buried a shot between the pads of goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to clinch a 3-2 shootout victory for the Washington Capitals over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday.
Luukkonen, playing for the third time in five nights, made 40 saves during regulation and overtime. His evening included a diving pad save on Conor Sheary to preserve a 2-2 tie in the third period.
Vinnie Hinostroza and Will Butcher scored goals for the Sabres, who led 2-1 after two periods. Martin Fehervary scored the tying goal for the Capitals with 14:19 remaining in regulation.
Lars Eller also scored for the Capitals. Vitek Vanecek made 29 saves.

How it happened

The two teams traded goals in the first period, beginning just 3:40 into the contest when Eller buried a feed from Sheary on an odd-man rush. Hinostroza beat Vanecek with a wrist shot to his glove side on a breakaway at 13:48.
Butcher scored his first goal as a member of the Sabres to put them ahead at 2:09 of the second period. The defenseman found space in the slot as the trailing man on a rush and buried a feed from Rasmus Asplund. Washington tied the game on Fehervary's one-timer at 5:41 of the third.
The Sabres nearly won the game in overtime, but Tage Thompson saw a shot ring the far-side post with 43.9 seconds remaining. Thompson and Dylan Cozens both hit the post on their shootout attempts.
The Sabres finished with a 26-24 edge in scoring chances at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Roll the highlight film

Watch Luukkonen's lunging save on Sheary, which preserved the tie game in the third period.

Worth mentioning

• Kyle Okposo notched the secondary assist on Butcher's goal, banking a pass off the boards in the neutral zone to send Asplund in on the rush. It was Okposo's team-leading 19th point of the season and his 13th in the last 14 games.
• Jeff Skinner appeared in his 800th NHL game.
• The Sabres held Native American Heritage Night inside KeyBank Center. Check out the intro video that played in the arena below.

Up next

The Sabres head to Winnipeg to open a three-game road trip on Tuesday. Coverage on MSG begins at 7:30 p.m. The puck drops at 8.