Buffalo Run – The Caps conclude a set of back-to-back games tonight against the Sabres in Buffalo, a night after absorbing a 4-1 setback at the hands of the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Caps enter tonight’s game with four losses in their last five games, and they’re facing a Buffalo squad that’s been the hottest in the circuit since the Olympic break, with eight straight victories. All eight wins have come in regulation, five have been achieved by the margin of a single goal, and the stingy Sabres have surrendered two or fewer goals against in six of the eight contests.
The Sabres have been hotter for much longer, too. Since opening the season with 11 wins in their first 29 games (11-14-4), Buffalo has not gone more than a single game without collecting a point across a stretch of 36 games (29-5-2) since. Buffalo’s scalding .833 points pct. is easily the best in the NHL over that span, coming in more than a hundred percentage points ahead of second-place Carolina (.722).
“You know what’s funny,” begins Caps coach Spencer Carbery, “is when I watch, it hasn't changed a lot at all, because they've had our number over the last couple years, and it didn't matter what their record was. You saw their speed, and they've given us a lot of trouble over the last three seasons that I've been here, just with their ability to skate all four lines, their [defense] and the size of them.
“So, I haven't been surprised in the least bit of them now accumulating wins. And I don't know; sometimes it just takes a little bit of time. They've got a really young team, or it was a young team, right? And they're all littered with first-rounders through their whole lineup. First line to fourth line, top [defense] to bottom [defense] pair. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for those guys to feel or to grow into understanding how it has to look on a nightly basis.
“And once you find that, and once you realize that now, all of a sudden, you can go on a run and now you consistently become the Tampa Bay Lightning from eight years ago, where they just find now, ‘Okay, this is what it takes.’ It took me a couple years to learn that, and now you hit your max potential, and that just seems to me what their young players have now realized, how they need to play on a nightly basis to win in this League. That takes time – two, three, four, years -- and so that's that. What you're seeing with their group is they’ve got a ton of confidence, and they're playing at a high level.”
Milestone Man – Caps forward Connor McMichael is expected to suit up for the 300th game of his NHL career on Thursday night in Buffalo against the Sabres. Ironically, McMichael made his NHL debut against the Sabres at Capital One Arena in a Sunday matinee on Jan. 24, 2021, nine days after his 20th birthday and weeks after he helped Team Canada to a silver medal at the 2021 IIHF World junior Championship. McMichael’s debut contest was the sixth game of the truncated 2020-21 season in which only 56 games were played, and it was McMichael’s only NHL game for almost nine months, until an Oct. 19 game against Colorado the following season.
McMichael was activated from the taxi squad (remember those?) because Tom Wilson suffered a lower body injury in the previous game – also against Buffalo, two nights earlier – and the rookie skated the left side of a line with Lars Eller and Richard Panik.
In his debut just over five years ago, McMichael logged 9:54 in ice time, registered one shot on net, and was whistled for a hooking penalty in the first period in what was a 4-3 shootout loss for the Capitals.
McMichael’s debut came in a building wholly bereft of fans, who didn’t return to NHL buildings until much later in the season in most cities, and in limited quantities in most as well.
“You dream of playing in the NHL ever since you put skates on,” said McMichael in the immediate aftermath of that game, “so it was a really cool feeling. And although my parents aren’t here, they were watching from home. It would have been cool to have them here, but like I said they're watching from home and they're proud of me, so I had a lot of fun.”
After returning from the WJC tournament, McMichael made a quick stop at home in Ontario before reporting to Arlington to quarantine for a week while the Caps were on the road early that season, which began in mid-January.
“It definitely wasn't how I dreamed of it when I was when I was a kid,” he says now. “Obviously, there were no fans in the stands, none of my family, none of my friends. So, it was definitely different. I remember I was in quarantine for seven days. I think it might have been longer, but the team was on the road, and I was able to go to go to MedStar and skate by myself, waiting for them to come back.
“And then, yeah, I still remember the day that Peter Laviolette called me and told me I was going to be in the lineup the next day. And it was just a whirlwind of emotions, just a really proud moment for me, and something I always dreamed of. But yeah, like I said, it was definitely real different.”
And 300 games later, McMichael has a much different feeling when he takes the ice for a game.
“I definitely feel like I belong now,” he says. “I feel like those first few games – at least for me – you kind of had a little bit of that imposter syndrome going out there, playing with [Alex Ovechkin] and Johnny [Carlson] and [Nicklas Backstrom] and all those guys at the time. So. it was real cool for me.
“I would say after the first 10 games I played, I felt like I do right now. Every game just feels like another hockey game. I don't take a day for granted in this League, and every game I play is tons of fun, but the nerves have definitely gone down.”
Waiting for that second NHL game wasn’t fun; it was the better part of a year before he suited up for Washington again.
“It felt like a long wait for sure,” McMichael recalls. “Anytime you get one, you always want to just keep building on that. And it was a good year for me though; I got to go down to Hershey and play as an under-ager when I was supposed to go back to junior. So, at the end of the day, it all worked out, and it helped my development in that sense as well.”
Through his first 299 NHL contests, McMichael has amassed 63 goals and 78 assists for 141 points while averaging exactly 15 minutes per night in ice time. That figure is a single-season career best 16:57 in 2025-26.
“I've coached Mikey now for a lot of hockey games dating back to the minors, and then here now for three years,” says Carbery. “And he's just continued to push the envelope with his game and continue to get better and better and better, and to earn more opportunity just starting and trying to prove himself as an NHL player.
“And that took a little bit of time. If you remember, he made [the] Washington [roster] and he got sent back to Hershey a couple times. He ended up playing the Calder Cup playoffs back in Hershey. Then he makes the team when I get back there and sort of chipped away.
“He had a pretty good year that year, I think he had [18] goals, ends up earning an everyday role, and then last year has a big year. This year's taken a little bit of a step back, but I think just for his long term growth, I think it's going to be a good learning experience this year of what he needs to do to continue to push the envelope and get better each season in the National Hockey League.”
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren will tend the twine for the Capitals on Thursday night against the Sabres. He is seeking his ninth victory of the season and is making his 140th career appearance as a Capital, which will push him ahead of both Jim Carey and Pat Riggin (139) for sole possession of seventh place all-time among Washington netminders.
Lifetime against the Sabres, Lindgren is 2-2-2 in seven appearances – six starts – with a 3.38 GAA and an .876 save pct.
For Buffalo, we are expecting to see Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen between the pipes tonight. One of three goaltenders the Sabres have carried this season, Luukkonen has registered 15 of Buffalo’s 40 victories on the season (15-7-2). Since the conclusion of the Olympic break, the Sabres have alternated Luukkonen and Alex Lyon in net, and both goalies carry four-game winning streaks over that span. Luukkonen is 11-2-1 in his last 15 appearances – all starts – with a 2.62 GAA and a .917 save pct.
Lifetime against Washington, he is 6-1-2 in nine appearances – all starts – with a 2.89 GAA and a .905 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Sabres might look on Thursday night in Buffalo:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 34-Sourdif, 72-Beauvillier
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
38-Sandin, 3-Roy
42-Fehervary, 27-Liljegren
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
63-Miroshnichenko
64-Kampf
Injured/Out
None
BUFFALO
Forwards
19-Krebs, 6-Benson, 72-Thompson, 86-Ostlund
91-Doan, 9-Norris, 89-Tuch
17-Zucker, 71-McLeod, 22-Quinn
19-Krebs, 10-Carrick, 29-Malenstyn
Defensemen
23-Samuelsson, 26-Dahlin
4-Byram, 25-Power
64-Stanley, 5-L. Schenn
Goalies
1-Luukkonen
34-Lyon
Healthy Extras
8-Kesselring
44-Dunne
70-Pearson
73-Metsa
92-Ellis
Injured/Out
12-Greenway (abdomen)
15-Danforth (lower body)
20-Kulich (upper body)
21-Timmins (lower body)
48-Kozak (undisclosed)
