Capitals defeat Sabres in first game with Ovechkin, others out

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals won their first game without Alex Ovechkin and three other players, 4-3 against the Buffalo Sabres in the shootout at Capital One Arena on Friday.

The Capitals played without forwards Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goalie Ilya Samsonov, who each will be out at least four games in accordance with NHL COVID-19 protocols. Forward Tom Wilson left the game with a lower-body injury early in the third period and is day to day.
"It is adversity," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said, "and sometimes when you are faced with adversity those are the sweetest wins and those are where you have to overcome some obstacles. We felt good about the lineup. We certainly miss the guys that aren't in there, but we felt good about the lineup. It was a really good win, really good hard-fought win for us."
Jakub Vrana had a goal and an assist, and Nicklas Backstrom and Nic Dowd scored for the Capitals (3-0-2). John Carlson scored the only goal in the four-round shootout, and Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves.
"He's really calm back there, and he really stepped up in the shootout," Backstrom said of Vanecek, who is the backup to Samsonov. "Especially when we missed a few there at the start. That was huge."

Dylan Cozens scored his first NHL goal, and Eric Staal and Riley Sheahan scored for the Sabres (1-3-1). Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in his return after missing two games following the death of his father.
"Losing is never acceptable," said Staal, who scored his first goal with Buffalo. "But there's also a process to how you win. We're working at that. There are parts that are good, and there could be areas that have a little more improvement. We all need to be a little bit better and push ourselves to get those wins and be overall better."

The Sabres' top line of Taylor Hall, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart did not have a point.
"Yeah, they had so much opportunity, lots of chances, unbelievable puck control, and we need [the] Eichel, Reinhart, Hall line to just get one or two and I'm confident they're going to explode," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "They're just so dangerous, so lethal. Jack had [hit] a post in [regulation] time, [and] a post on his penalty shot."
The teams play again here Sunday in their fourth game of eight against each other. Washington has won the first three.
Staal gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 12:33 of the first period off a pass from Victor Olofsson, who stripped the puck from Capitals defenseman Zdeno Chara behind the Washington net.
Backstrom tied it 1-1 at 16:18 when he scored on a rebound.
Dowd gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 4:14 of the second period with a one-timer off a Vrana pass from the right corner.
"[Vrana] made a nice play and [Garnet] Hathaway had a good screen in front, and I was able to put it on net and it found some twine," Dowd said.

The Sabres tied it 2-2 at 10:43 when Cozens stole the puck from Capitals forward Brian Pinho in the neutral zone and scored from the right face-off circle. The forward was selected by Buffalo with the No. 7 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and played his fifth NHL game.
"Obviously something I've dreamed about my whole life, and when you finally put it in the back of the net, it's exciting," the 19-year-old said. "I saw a couple other guys coming down as options to pass to. I took one quick look at the net, saw my spot and just let it go. I don't really remember too much. I kind of blacked out a bit, but it found its way in."
Vrana scored on a rebound to give Washington a 3-2 lead at 13:07, and Sheahan tied it 3-3 42 seconds later on a backhand from the slot on a delayed penalty at 13:49.
NOTES: Sabres forward Kyle Okposo (lower body) is expected to make his season debut Sunday. … Sheahan's goal was his first with Buffalo. … Carlson had an assist on Dowd's goal to pass Dale Hunter for fifth in Capitals history with 376. … Chara had an assist on Vrana's goal for his first point with Washington.