Look Sharp – The Buffalo Sabres are in town tonight, providing the opposition for the fourth game of Washington’s five-game homestand. With three non-game days both before and after tonight’s game against the Sabres, the Caps are living the NFL life, playing just a single game in a span of seven days.
“Being home and being in our own beds for two weeks, it’s pretty wild to think about that, and obviously, I've enjoyed it,” says Caps goaltender Charlie Lindgren. “I've enjoyed being around family and being here in D.C. But I think we've gotten good rest, but we’ve got to take advantage of this homestand. We’ve got to win some games and come out of here making our opponents feel like Capital One is going to be a tough place to play.”
For the second straight game, the Caps are facing an opponent that ranks last in the League in lead time on the scoreboard. They jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead over Los Angeles on Tuesday, but they gave it all back in the last 34 seconds when the Kings struck twice to tie the game, the first of five unanswered Los Angeles goals in a 5-2 Washington loss.
Those two last-minute first period goals are just two of five goals the Caps have yielded in the final 71 seconds of a period in their last five games, one of several areas Washington is seeking to clean up tonight against the Sabres. The Caps have dropped three of those last five games, and those late-period goals have been problematic in those setbacks.
“Situational awareness, I think, would be the best thing,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And we've talked about being smart and intelligent in certain situations and scenarios during a game script. And that's end of periods, beginning of periods, shift after goals, all these situations. You go up, you're protecting a lead. What do I need to do in those shifts? There's a lot of different scenarios that we haven't done a good enough job managing the game and being intelligent.
“We have to get smarter and more intelligent, ‘What does this point in the game require of me? And ends of periods are great examples. You have a 2-0 lead. Okay, we just need to get out of here clean. We don't need to go up 3-0. We just need to make sure we go into the break.”
Stake Your Claim – In a move to shore up the right side of their defense corps after Vincent Desharnais underwent an appendectomy earlier in the week, the Caps have claimed right-handed defenseman Jack St. Ivany off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.
Drafted in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft – in his second year of eligibility – by Philadelphia, St. Ivany played two seasons at Yale and two at Boston College and also played for the US World Junior team at the 2019 World Junior Championship. After finishing up at BC, he signed with Pittsburgh, where he debuted in the NHL with the Pens in 2023-24.
The 6-foot-4, 197-pound native of Manhattan Beach, Calif. is 27 now, and he has amassed 57 NHL games across parts of four seasons, 53 games in three seasons with the Pens and a four-game run with Winnipeg earlier this season.
Known as a strong skater and puck mover, St. Ivany has nine assists and 27 PIM in his NHL career to date.
Number Nine, Number Nine – Nine games is an admittedly small sample size, even in a slightly expanded 84-game NHL late. But nine games into the 2026-27 season, sophomore winger Ryan Leonard leads the Caps in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists) in nine games. He is also tied for 13th in the NHL – and he leads the Caps – in penalties drawn with six.
Among all NHL forwards, Leonard is one of 88 who have amassed as many as eight points heading into today’s slate of NHL activity. And among those 88 forwards, Leonard’s average ice time per game figure of 14:13 ranks 88th among them all.
When Leonard made his late season NHL debut in nine April games at the tail end of the 2024-25 season, he managed one point – an empty-net goal – while averaging 14:11 per game, essentially the same amount of ice time he is getting now. In 75 games in his rookie season of 2025-26, Leonard totaled 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points, all while averaging 14:25.
The Caps’ offseason additions of veteran forwards Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner have enabled the team to manage the minutes of its forward group, and Leonard has been able to make the most of the ice he has had to this point in the season.
Although Leonard ranks eighth among Washington forwards in even-strength ice time, he ranks fifth among that group in power-play ice time (2:24). But we wondered whether a player with Leonard’s game-breaking ability – although still just 21 years age and several games shy of the century mark for his career – might need to get more ice time as the season wears on.
“I don't know about that,” says Carbery, pumping the brakes. “It'll be based on how everyone plays and what it looks like. It won't be a ‘Let's really try to manufacture Ryan Leonard more minutes here and take them away from player X. It's going to be a product of his play and forcing us to play him more.
“We've added a lot; we're a lot better offensively. Game breakers [like] Ryan Leonard, Cole Hutson, [Tuch], Kyrou, all these good offensive players. You've seen what's happened though to our team at 5-on-5; we're really good offensively, and we are not good defensively.
“So, this is my job, and now when you bring a lot of high-end difference maker offensive players, we still, at the end of the day, have to defend. And right now, we are sitting near the bottom of the league in expected goals against at 5-on-5. We're great offensively. Ooh, everybody loves that. But at the end of the day, to win in this League, you better be a great defensive team.
“So, where am I going with this? The Ryan Leonards of the world go down the list. Like I'm not picking on him. I'm telling our whole lineup we want to score, but we also have to focus on keeping the puck out of our net. And thus far this year, we’ve been below average at that.”
Nine games into this season, the Caps No. 9 finds himself playing a lot of late-game minutes when the Caps are trailing and need an offensive spark, like Tuesday’s Los Angeles game in which he skated 4:52 at even strength in the third period of a game in which he totaled 14:18 at night’s end. Then there are games in which Washington is aiming to protect a lead in the third period – like games against Carolina, Pittsburgh and the Rangers – in which he sees less ice later in games.
In Washington’s five wins, Leonard is averaging 13:33 per game, and 3:17 at even-strength in the third period. In the team’s four losses, he has averaged 15:03 per game, including 4:26 of even-strength time in the third.
Based on Carbery’s comments and the limited sample size, it would seem the quickest route to more ice time for Leonard is shoring up his game away from the puck. And he is good with that.
“It’s what you’ve heard from Carbs and me at times,” says Leonard, asked what are of his game he’s working on sharpening these days. “It’s cliché, but it’s my all-around game, and managing the game and taking what’s in front of me. I think I’ve been doing a better job with that so far this year and just continuing to grow with puck management and just being smart throughout the whole game.
“It’s managing the time of the game and taking what’s in front of you without forcing it. I think last year there were times when I was searching for something to come when you just really need to let the game come to you.”
And ideally, it’s improving in those areas without taking away from the game-breaking elements Leonard brings, the physicality and the ability to put his team on the power play.
“You want to play as much as possible and just be relied upon and have the trust of the team and the coaches,” says Leonard. “You can always add and take away, and you can always add to your game. But I think there are some things that are just ingrained to me that will never change. We’re just adding some things, and it won’t be that hard to do. When I’m doing video as much as I do with Carbs, you really see what’s in front of you.”
In The Nets – With Logan Thompson (lower body) unavailable for tonight’s game, Lindgren gets the net for the Caps against the Sabres, making his third start of the season. Each of Lindgren’s first two assignments were the second half of a set of back-to-backs; he lost an Oct. 3 game in Tampa and prevailed over Montreal on Oct. 14 in Washington.
Tonight marks Lindgren’s first start in a game that was not the second of back-to-backs since a Jan. 29 assignment against the Red Wings in Detroit. It’s also his first start at home in such a situation since Jan. 5, when he and the Caps prevailed 7-4 over Anaheim.
“It feels good just getting a morning skate,” says Lindgren. “A lot of times [with back-to-backs] you have late nights, and you just do stuff at the hotel. So, just to get in the morning skate, do a couple of drills, see some shots, and play on home ice against a really good Buffalo team, I’m excited for it. It’ll be a good test for us.”
Lindgren faced the Sabres twice last season, both times in Buffalo and both games as the second of a back-to-back set. The Caps lost a 4-3 shootout decision in Buffalo on Nov. 1, 2025, and they prevailed there by a 2-1 count on March 12, with Lindgren making 29 saves in the lowest scoring game between the Caps and Sabres since Jan. 15, 2021 when Vitek Vanecek bested the Sabres in Buffalo by the same score in his NHL debut.
“I definitely think about the [March] game last year,” says Lindgren. “Buffalo – for us – has always been a tough team to play, especially in Buffalo. And to be able to come out of there with two points last year was massive, and I can definitely gain some confidence from that.
“But at the same time, tonight’s a brand new game, and when you look at their roster and who they have – obviously, they don’t have [Alex Tuch] anymore – they have a lot of firepower. As a goaltender, you’ve got to be on your toes and ready for anything. They have a lot of high skill, and I expect to see probably a lot of plays off the rush. It’s going to be a good test, but I certainly can gain some confidence from that last start [against them].”
Lifetime against Buffalo, Lindgren is 3-2-2 in eight appearances – seven starts – with a 3.06 GAA and an .809 save pct.
For the Sabres, Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen gets the start against Washington. Buffalo enters tonight’s game with a team save pct. of .860, the second lowest in the NHL behind only Utah (.856). Luukkonen’s own save pct. (.864) is just a shade above the team mark; he has permitted three or more goals in each of his first seven starts of the season.
Lifetime against the Caps, Luukonen is 6-2-2 in 10 appearances – all starts – with a 2.81 GAA and a .906 save pct. Among all NHL foes, Luukonen has more career victories against just one team, the Chicago Blackhawks. He is 7-0-0 with a shutout in his seven career starts against the Hawks.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Sabres might look when they meet for the first of three times this season on Saturday night in DC:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
89-Tuch, 17-Strome, 25-Kyrou
21-A. Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
8-Ovechkin, 62-I. Protas, 72-Beauvillier
22-Jenner, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
Defense
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
42-Fehervary, 27-Liljegren
44-Hutson, 52-McIlrath
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
78-Gibson
Injured/Out
38-Sandin (lower body)
48-Thompson (lower body)
73-Desharnais (appendectomy)
Healthy Extras
53-Frank
63-Miroshnichenko
BUFFALO
Forwards
17-Zucker, 72-Thompson, 94-Helenius
6-Benson, 86-Ostlund, 22-Quinn
71-McLeod, 9-Norris, 91-Doan
48-Kozak, 19-Krebs, 47-Malenstyn
Defense
26-Dahlin, 23-Samuelsson
8-Zellweger, 25-Power
73-Metsa, 46-Crevier
Goaltenders
1-Luukkonen
92-Ellis
Injured/out
3-Rathbone (undisclosed)
10-Carrick (upper body)
15-Danforth (upper body)
20-Kulich (upper body)
21-Timmins (lower body)
24-Grzelcyk (lower body)
34-Lyon (upper body)
Healthy Extras
44-Gilbert
48-Kozak
