Capitals rally for shootout win against Sabres

WASHINGTON --Tom Wilson tied it with 1:08 remaining in the third period, and the Washington Capitals rallied to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 in a shootout at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin each had a goal and an assist, and Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves in his first start since Feb. 23 for the Capitals (33-29-7), who lost 5-3 at the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Washington remained five points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New York won 6-3 at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
"Huge win, huge points," Ovechkin said. "Obviously, last night we have a chance to come back but we didn't, and back-to-back play against a young, fast team was a challenge, and it was a good two points."

JJ Peterka scored, Peyton Krebs had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 35 saves for the Sabres (33-28-6) who have lost five of their past six (1-3-2). They are six points behind the Islanders with three games in hand.
"We got out of here with one point, and that's a big, big deal to get a point," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "But very disappointing that we feel that with more focus, which should have been there, we would have had the two."
Evgeny Kuznetsov cut it to 3-2 at 1:32 of the third after receiving a pass from Alexander Alexeyev between the face-off circles.
"Every game has to kind of be a playoff mentality for us, and there's no time like playoffs when you're down goals and able to fuel comebacks," Oshie said. "There was some desperation out there that you typically see in the postseason, some big goals out of our big guys, some incredible setup shifts before those goals."
Zemgus Girgensons restored Buffalo's two-goal lead to 4-2 at 5:22, scoring on a one-timer blocker side off a backhand centering pass by Krebs from behind the net.

Ovechkin then made it 4-3 at 10:30 when he deflected a point shot by Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Wilson tied it 4-4 during a 6-on-4. After Alex Tuch was called for roughing Matt Irwin at 17:36, Wilson scored glove side off a centering pass from Nicklas Backstrom at 18:52.
"We had the lead for the whole game and then a couple bad mistakes -- mine in particular," Tuch said. "It's not the time. It's unacceptable. I'm not a rookie. I've been in this league a couple years now and I know time management. I felt like I let the team down tonight."

Ilya Lyubushkin gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 4:43 of the first period on a wrist shot from the right point through a screen by Kyle Okposo.
Peterka extended it to 2-0 at 8:50 when Jack Quinn broke out 2-on-1 off a defensive-zone face-off, toe-dragged past van Riemsdyk and slid a pass to him for the tip-in.
Oshie cut it to 2-1 at 10:03, knocking in the rebound after Dylan Strome hit the post during a power play.
Tyson Jost responded at 18:06 to make it 3-1. After Casey Mittelstadt forced Conor Sheary to turn over the puck, Jost collected it and scored stick side from the slot.
"We were just playing to our identity, playing the way we know how and being patient, but also playing with quickness and five in the picture," Jost said. "We like the way we started. Obviously, it stings right now, so it's a tough one. There's definitely positives. It's just tough to kind of find [them] right now."
Kuznetsov and Oshie scored in the shootout for Washington.
"It was really good," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was a team effort. We need everybody on that rope and pulling things in our direction. There's no question our big guys had some bug games."
NOTES:Washington defenseman Nick Jensen left the game in the third period (undisclosed injury). Laviolette did not have an update after the game. … Luukkonen is 0-2-2 in his past four starts. His last win was Feb. 26 against the Capitals. … Strome has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a six-game point streak. … Ovechkin had one goal, one assist, five shots on goal and one hit in 19:32 of ice time after missing one game with a lower-body injury. He has 402 goals at home, surpassing Mike Gartner for fourth place on the NHL's all-time list. … Krebs has 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 59 games this season, tying his career high set last season in 48 games.