POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 4, Sabres 3 (SO)

Bounce Back In Buffalo -Coming off a rather unsightly 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on home ice on Tuesday, the Caps were seeking a bounce back effort on Friday night in Buffalo against the Sabres. Washington had an excellent start and played a much more consistent overall game, and at night's end the Caps were back in the win column with a 4-3 shootout victory.

There were patches of dominance for the Caps, and a couple of stretches where they were hemmed in their own end, particularly in the middle of the second period when the Sabres struck twice in a span of two and a half minutes to take a 3-2 lead.
Caps coach Peter Laviolette called his timeout at that point, and Washington got back on the rails for most of the rest of the way.
"In the second there, we kind of let up at the same time they were pushing a little bit," says Caps defenseman Nick Jensen. "It's not like we gave them everything they got; I think they earned a lot of that [offensive] zone time. And they made some plays and they made that push and we really didn't match it.
"But we picked it up after that third goal. We had a big shift after that to get everyone back into it."
They did. Alex Ovechkin tied the game late in the second with his 41st goal of the season and Ilya Samsonov stopped each of the last dozen shots he faced the rest of the way, including five in the five-minute overtime. Samsonov then stopped two of three in the shootout while both Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin delivered dazzling shootout strikes to send Washington home with a pair of points.
"That was a very important two points for us," says Kuznetsov. "These points we need and more, especially in a back-to-back, and knowing that it will be a pretty tough game [Saturday vs. New Jersey]. So that's a huge two points for us."
Rocket In My Pocket - For a few seasons in the middle of the previous decade, Ovechkin scored a fair amount of goals directly off of face-off wins in the offensive zone. Typically, Ovechkin would line up in the pocket on the face-off, behind and to the side of the center man rather than directly behind him. When it works, the pivot pulls the puck to the player in pocket, and he pulls the trigger. It's a play that requires a quick release, a hard shot, and some good radar for the upper corners of the cage.
Both Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov had some success setting up Ovechkin on this play some years back, and recently it has returned to the captain's offensive-zone repertoire. On several occasions earlier in the season, the play just fell short of fruition, whether by misfire or by the puck coming to Ovechkin's skate blades rather than his wheelhouse. It's all about timing, execution and precision.
Over the last couple weeks however, the captain has found his range from the pocket on the face-off play. Three times in Washington's last six games, he has struck off the draw, once on the power play and twice at even strength, and all three times at critical points of the game.
First and most noteworthy, Ovechkin netted goal No. 767 on this play in the third period of a March 15 game against the Islanders at Capital One Arena. This is the goal that pushed Ovechkin past Jaromir Jagr and into sole possession of third place on the NHL's all-time goals ledger, but it also snapped a 2-2 tie and lifted Washington into a 3-2 lead with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.
Kuznetsov won the right dot draw to Ovechkin, who snapped it past former Caps teammate Semyon Varlamov after only two seconds of game time had elapsed.
On March 18 in Carolina, the Caps trailed the Hurricanes 3-2 late in the third period when Washington went on a power play immediately following a television timeout. Backstrom won the left dot draw, and Ovechkin - stationed more toward the left point than the "pocket" we've been referring to - fired it home from the top of the left circle after four seconds had ticked off the game clock.
And finally, on Friday night in Buffalo, Ovechkin tied the game at 3-3 with less than four minutes remaining in the middle period. This one was textbook; Kuznetsov pulled the puck to Ovechkin's tape, linemate Marcus Johansson occupied Buffalo's Victor Oloffson, and Ovechkin drilled it to the shelf. It was so efficient and so swift that only one second came off the clock between the puck being dropped and it hitting the twine.
"He didn't for like five years probably from there, right?" says Kuznetsov. "It's been a long time. It was a bouncy puck, and every time the puck is bouncing like that, I think it's hard for the goalie. Especially a big man and he is shooting from there, it's tough to catch that puck."
This One Goes To Eleven -With his assist on Ovechkin's goal, Kuznetsov extended his point streak to 11 games (seven goals, seven assists). Kuznetsov's streak is the longest of his career, the longest by a Caps player this season, and the second-longest active streak in the NHL behind only Nashville's Roman Josi, who has picked up a point in a dozen straight games (four goals, 22 assists).
With 42 assists on the season, Kuznetsov is cruising toward a fourth season with 50 or more helpers. His single-season career best is 57 assists in 2015-16, his second full season in the League.
Road Warrior -Samsonov earned his 19th win of the season on Friday night in Buffalo, extending his single-season career best. A dozen of his wins have come on the road this season, where he has a 2.86 GAA and a .909 save pct. as opposed to a 3.06 GAA and an .885 save pct. on home ice.
Friday's victory marked the 31st road win (31-7-4) for Samsonov in just 40 career road starts. That's tied for sixth-most in the League since Samsonov's career began in 2019-20, and it's tops among all goalies with 40 or fewer starts during those three seasons.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were on the road on Saturday, facing the Baby Bruins in Providence and taking aim at the 3,000th win of the legendary franchise's history. But the Bruins and goaltender Troy Grosenick had other ideas, blanking the Bears 2-0.
The Bears outshot the Bruins 28-18 on the night, and former Bear and Capital Tyler Lewington supplied the game-winner for Providence at 6:26 of the third period. The Bruins added an empty-netter in the final half-minute to seal the deal.
Hershey goaltender Zach Fucale fell to 10-11-4 on the season, stopping 16 of 17 shots he faced.
The 30-24-5-3 Bears are right back at it on Saturday night in Hartford, where they will face the Wolfpack.
By The Numbers - With his fifth goal of the season, Jensen established a single-season career best. He scored four with Detroit as an NHL rookie in 2016-17 … John Carlson led the Caps with 25:36 in ice time, and also with six shots on net and nine shot attempts, and with three blocked shots … Tom Wilson and Dmitry Orlov had four hits each to pace the Capitals … Kuznetsov won eight of 11 face-offs (73 percent) on the night and Lars Eller won 11 of 17 (65 percent).