Capitals win in shootout, push Sabres slide to seven games

BUFFALO-- Martin Fehervary scored the tying goal for the Washington Capitals in the third period, and they handed the Buffalo Sabres their seventh straight loss, 3-2 in a shootout at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

Lars Eller scored, and Vitek Vanecek made 29 saves for the Capitals (17-5-6), who are 3-1-1 in their past five games. T.J. Oshie ended the shootout with a third-round goal.
Fehervary took a pass from Alex Ovechkin at the top of the left face-off circle to tie it 2-2 at 5:41. The defenseman was injured and did not finish a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.
"Yeah, I mean big comeback, for sure," Fehervary said. "Back-to-back games [are] always hard and we stepped up in the third period and we played really good, and it turned up as a win, so I'm really happy, and I think all [the] guys [worked] so hard. We won it as a team."

Will Butcher scored his first goal with the Sabres (8-15-4), and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 40 saves. He made 29 in a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Friday.
"You can't really choose which games you play and I'm happy I was given the chance to go again tonight," Luukkonen said. "Some say it's hard for the goalies, but you see the games come really fast and I think we played really well today, so that helped a lot."
Eller took a pass from Conor Sheary on a 2-on-1 and scored from the left side of the net to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 3:40 of the first period.
The Capitals thought they added to the lead at 13:13 when Oshie collided with Luukkonen in the crease and both players and the puck ended up in the net, but the goal was waved off.
Vinnie Hinostroza took a stretch pass from Robert Hagg and scored on a breakaway to tie it 1-1 at 13:48.

Butcher gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 2:09 of the second period. Rasmus Asplund passed to the slot and it landed on Butcher's stick as he skated into the middle to score five-hole for his first of the season in his 20th game.
"We all knew in the room, we just knew we were getting outplayed," Sheary said. "We weren't playing our game, we were turning the puck over leading to their transition and their offense. We knew if we put together a good 20 minutes we would give ourselves a really good chance to win, and when 'Marty' scored that goal, I think it really gave us a jump and we didn't really give them much in the third."
The Capitals outshot the Sabres 17-6 in the third. Luukkonen made a diving save on Evgeny Kuznetsov from the right side of the net on a Washington power play early in the period and stretched to get a pad on a Sheary backhand as the forward fell with a little more than seven minutes left.
"I didn't really know he saved it," Sheary said. "I thought I hit the post. I watched it again, but I just saw the puck bounce to the far side and I just kind of dove at it and swiped at it, but incredible save."
Sabres coach Don Granato said, "Two nights in a row against two extremely talented hockey teams in New York and the Rangers and obviously Washington. Lots of really good things. We had some doubt in our game going into these last two games, and we can't be influenced by things around us, you've got to be in the moment. And I thought our guys were tonight, obviously, now back to back.
"The results, you can be disappointed with the end result. You're never happy, you're never content until you're winning, but we know we're in the middle of a process. You've got to have that effort and that energy, and we did."
NOTES: Oshie's shootout goal was his 46th in the NHL, fourth in NHL history behind Frans Nielsen and Patrick Kane (49 each) and Jonathan Toews (51). ... Ovechkin has five assists in the past three games and extended his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists). He remained one short of the NHL power-play goals record held by former Sabres forward Dave Andreychuk (274). ... Luukkonen faced an NHL career-high 42 shots, surpassing his previous high of 41 from April 27, 2021 against the Rangers. He has faced at least 39 in four of his seven NHL games.... Fehervary did not play the final 30:43 Friday after a hit from Penguins forward Brock McGinn. ... Capitals forward Tom Wilson (upper body) did not play after he was injured Friday.