March 12 vs. Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (32-27-7)
Buffalo Sabres (40-19-6)
The Caps conclude a midweek set of back-to-back games on Thursday night in Buffalo against the Sabres. The game finishes a quick two-game road trip; the Caps fell to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Wednesday night by a 4-1 count, their fading playoff hopes taking another body blow and their remaining game total now down to just 16.
Coming off a 7-3 home ice win over the Calgary Flames on Monday, the Caps were in dire need of stacking up some victories. They started strong on Wednesday in Philly, taking a 1-0 lead over the Flyers on Ryan Leonard’s power-play goal, his third goal in four games and his second on the power play across that span.
But the Flyers pushed back with two goals in each of the last two periods. They scored a pair of transition goals in the immediate aftermath of dominant Washington shifts in the offensive zone in the second period, and they extended their lead to two goals on Jamie Drysdale’s 4-on-4 strike midway through the third period. An empty-net goal sealed the Caps’ fate and sent them to defeat for the fourth time in their last five games (1-4-0).
The Caps had some decent shifts in the offensive zone, but a couple of them ultimately fueled Philly’s transition attack, and many of their best looks at the Philadelphia net skittered just wide or missed the mark.
Washington finished the game with only 22 shots; it had 18 attempts blocked and it missed the net on a whopping 30 shot attempts in 60 minutes.
“And then that's part of execution, right?” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “Like hitting the net, getting the shot through, not getting it blocked.
“I know I keep saying this, but that's a microcosm of our group this year. We're doing so many things right, we're working and we've got sustained pressure. You’re thinking either we're getting a grade A [scoring opportunity] or they're getting a breakaway. That's the way it's gone for our group. And we've got to find a way to make a few plays there, get a shot through, get rewarded for having such a good shift, as opposed to going, ‘What the heck just happened? We had a great shift in the offensive zone. We did so many things right, and we just gave up a goal.’
“And those are the things that you just look back and you're just shooting yourself in the foot when you do so many good things, but you're not getting rewarded for it. And actually, counter to that, it's ending up in the back of your net.”
Washington has been limited to three or fewer goals in six of its last seven games, and it has managed two or fewer lamplighters in four of its last five games. The Caps have managed only six goals in their three games against the Metro Division rival Flyers this season, and this will be the first season since 2017-18 that Washington comes away with no standings points from its two visits to the City of Brotherly Love.
Now, with their margin for error whittled down even thinner, the Caps take on the hottest team in the NHL in its own building. Buffalo comes into Thursday’s game rested, and it is carrying an eight-game winning streak. The Sabres were staggering when the Caps last visited here on Nov. 1 – in a 4-3 shootout loss – but Buffalo is soaring now. With 86 points, Buffalo is two points behind Carolina for the highest total in the Eastern Conference, though the Canes have played 64 games to the Sabres’ total of 65.
“I'm not going to sugarcoat it and sit here and say that if you lose a game like this, obviously, we're running out of runway here,” says Carbery. “But to say that we're going to break that down tomorrow and see how many games [we need to win], it's just not going to happen. We're going to show up in Buffalo and we're going to play our butts off, and we’re going to try and win a hockey game.”
Over the years, visits to Western New York have been less than fruitful for the Caps. Washington is winless in its last five visits to Buffalo (0-3-2), and the Capitals scuffled mightily here in early days of the franchise’s history when the Sabres played their home games at the vaunted Auditorium – “The Aud,” to locals – going 0-7-0 in its first seven visits here, and getting outscored by a combined total of 47-16 in the process.
The Caps were 1-19-3 in the first 23 trips they made to Buffalo in their franchise history. Washington is 32-49-6-4 all-time on the road against the Sabres.
Buffalo has won 40 of its first 65 games, and its .662 points pct. is its best in almost two decades, since it rolled up a .689 mark (53-22-7) in 2006-07. The Sabres went all the way to the Conference Finals that season before bowing to Ottawa in the Eastern Conference Final, a year after losing to Carolina in a seven-game set in the 2005-06 ECF series.
Most recently, Buffalo doubled up the San Jose Sharks 6-3 here on Tuesday night. Tonight’s game is the fourth game of the Sabres’ five-game homestand, and they’ve won four straight games in their building.
