Deepend Weekend – The Caps open a critical weekend set of back-to-back games tonight when they host the Buffalo Sabres’ lone trip into the District this season. Both the Caps and the Sabres are coming into tonight’s game after losses in their previous outings.
Buffalo comes into tonight’s game on the heels of a 4-1 loss to the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday, and the Caps enter after a 7-3 loss to the Devils in New Jersey on the same evening. The Caps took Friday off while Buffalo conducted a grueling practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
The Sabres are on the verge of clinching their first playoff berth since 2010-11, and they have not lost consecutive regulation games since early December when they dropped three in a row – the first three games of a six-game road trip – from Dec. 3-8 of last year.
Since then, the Sabres are 35-8-4, and their .787 points percentage is far and away the best in the circuit over that span. If Buffalo were to maintain that pace over a full 82-game slate, it would result in a 129-point season. Across those last 47 games dating back to early December, the Sabres’ rate of 2.60 goals against per game is tops in the NHL and their rate of 3.68 goals scored per game is tied (with Montreal) for second in the NHL, behind only Tampa Bay (3.96).
Tonight’s tilt is one of just two home games remaining for the Caps among their last half dozen games of the season, and they are 9-1-2 in their last dozen games at Capital One Arena, and they’ve outscored the opposition by a combined total of 43-26 in the process.
The Caps also played well in their previous two meetings with the Sabres this season. Both of those games were played in Buffalo, and both were the back end of a set of back-to-back games for Washington.
“I feel like they’re in a very similar spot in their cycle,” says Carbery of the Sabres. “You look at teams like Ottawa, and Utah in the west, where they’ve just been knocking on the door for three or four years. And what I feel like happens is eventually those young players that were young, now mature and are veteran players. And now they understand what it takes in the NHL on a nightly basis and they understand how difficult winning is.
“And I don’t want to put words in their mouth, but you start to have a real disdain for losing, and you want to put an end to that, so you are doing everything you possibly can every single day to stop that from happening, whether it’s in the offseason or whether it’s in the season. And it just feels like their team has taken that step with a lot of young players that always have been really talented, whether it’s [Rasmus] Dahlin or [Owen] Power, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, the list goes on and on. And now, it looks like they’ve taken another step to being able to play real quality, winning hockey.”
As for the Caps, they can take some comfort and confidence with how well they’ve played at home and overall lately, and how well they played against the Sabres earlier in the season, and particularly the most recent meeting on March 12, when Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves and the Caps authored a 2-1 comeback win.
“I think we’ve got a lot of confidence in our group,” says Caps defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. “Obviously, last game was tough. That's a dangerous Devils team, especially when they're kind of full blown run and shoot there, when they don't really have much to lose. It almost makes them more dangerous.
“With guys like [jack] Hughes and [Jesper] Bratt, their whole lineup can fly around. So, it almost makes them that little bit more dangerous. And we just didn't do a good job of managing the puck and managing momentum.
“But we had some good memories recently against Buffalo. Obviously, they're a team kind of similar to Jersey, where they can make a lot of plays and do a lot of good things. And maybe that's just a bit of a wake-up call we needed against the Devils there, to how dialed in you need to be at this time of year if you want to make a push.
“And yeah, it's no secret that we probably have to win the rest of them. So, tonight is a Game 7 type mentality, and hopefully we can put a better foot forward.”
Back In The Saddle Again – Aliaksei Protas will return to the Washington lineup tonight after missing two games with an upper body injury sustained in Las Vegas a week ago when he collided with former teammate Nic Dowd in what was a head-to-head collision.
“He’s good to go,” says Carbery of the big, all-purpose forward. “It’s huge. He’s a huge part of our team at 5-on-5 and the penalty kill. So, a welcome addition.”
Protas also missed some time with a lower body injury around the same time last season; he suffered that injury a year ago tonight in a home game against Chicago, the game in which Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals to catch Wayne Gretzky (894) on the all-time goals list. Two days later on Long Island, Ovechkin snapped the deadlock with a power-play goal against the Islanders.
“I’m feeling great,” says Protas. “I don’t think it’s been that bad; it’s more the fact that it [involves] the head and I needed to stay off for a little bit. And now I’m feeling good.”
There is never a good time for any player to get injured, but to be watching games and not being able to play in them at this time of year is stressful.
“There's no great time for injuries, for sure. But yeah, especially right now, when we fight for our lives, for sure you want to be there with the boys and you want to help. But it is what it is, and the boys are doing a great job battling. And hopefully I'll be back soon and help them as much as I can.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson starts for Washington tonight, getting his 10th consecutive starting assignment and his 17th in the Capitals’ last 19 games. He has a 9-5-2 mark with a 2.69 GAA and a .904 save pct. across that span.
Lifetime against the Sabres, Thompson is 2-3-0 in five appearances – all starts – with a 4.85 GAA and an .827 save pct.
For the Sabres, we are expecting to see Alex Lyon in the nets tonight. The Sabres have carried three goaltenders all season, and Lyon leads the lot with 20 wins (20-9-4) coming into tonight’s game. He is now one victory shy of matching his single-season career best; Lyon won 21 games for Detroit two seasons ago.
Lifetime against the Capitals, he is 3-2-2 in eight appearances – seven starts – with a 2.81 GAA and a .905 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Sabres might look on Saturday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 21-Protas
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
72-Beauvillier, 34-Sourdif, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 38-Sandin
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
44-Hutson, 3-Roy
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
27-Liljegren
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
63-Miroshnichenko
64-Kampf
Injured/Out
None
BUFFALO
Forwards
19-Krebs, 72-Thompson, 91-Doan
17-Zucker, 9-Norris, 89-Tuch
6-Benson, 71-McLeod, 22-Quinn
12-Greenway, 48-Kozak, 29-Malenstyn
Defensemen
23-Samuelsson, 26-Dahlin
4-Byram, 25-Power
64-Stanley, 73-Metsa
Goalies
34-Lyon
1-Luukkonen
Healthy Extras
5-Schenn
8-Kesselring
21-Timmins
44-Dunne
70-Pearson
92-Ellis
Injured/Out
10-Carrick (arm)
15-Danforth (lower body)
20-Kulich (ear)
86-Ostlund (upper body)
