At the Horn: Capitals 2 - Sabres 3 (SO)

The Buffalo Sabres held on for a shootout victory to snap a six-game losing streak with their 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Monday at KeyBank Center.
Dominik Kahun scored the game-deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout. Linus Ullmark made 33 saves through regulation and overtime and another six in the seven-round shootout.
The game marked the goaltender's first start since sustaining a lower-body injury that caused him to miss 17 games. He served as the backup in Saturday's games.
Victor Olofsson scored his 20th goal of the year to open the scoring, becoming the 16th Sabres rookie to record 20 goals in a season and the first since Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart did so during the 2015-16 season.

Eichel also scored against the Capitals to snap a seven-game goal drought. Dahlin recorded two assists and scored on his first career shootout attempt.
Alexander Ovechkin scored his 48th goal of the season and picked up the primary assist on Dmitry Orlov's game-tying goal.
Braden Holtby made 24 saves for Washington and another five in the shootout.

What happened

Olofsson opened up the scoring 4:53 into the game, carrying over the chemistry he developed with linemates Marcus Johansson and Dominik Kahun from their first game together on Saturday.
Dahlin started the play by waiting for Johansson to open up in a passing lane as he beelined up the ice. Once he got the puck, he sent it over to Olofsson, who didn't miss his one-timer.
Eichel put Buffalo up 2-0 with his power-play goal at he 53-second mark of the second period. The Sabres effectively moved the puck around the perimeter to set up Eichel's shot into what ended up basically being an empty net.
The Capitals clawed back in the third period. Ovechkin scored 3:33 in and then Orlov received some fortuitous bounces to tie the game with 6:49 left in regulation. Orlov's point shot deflected off Brandon Montour and then off the skate of Rasmus Ristolainen before finding the back of the net.
The Sabres thought they took the lead with 2:48 to go thanks to a long-range shot from Montour. However, the officials immediately waved it off when they ruled that Jeff Skinner interfered with Holtby in front of the net. The game then headed to overtime.
Orlov was called for tripping with 2:50 left in the extra period, ending a potential Capitals scoring chance. The Sabres recorded three shots on the power play.
The marathon shootout then ended in the seventh round with Kahun's backhand shot. Then Ullmark shot the door on Richard Panik's attempt.

What it means

The Sabres are now 30-31-8 on the season and 20-11-4 at home.
The shootout was only Buffalo's third of the season.
With his 35th assist in his 59th game of the season, Dahlin matched his output from his 82-game rookie campaign. Dahlin's second assist of the game (his 36th of the season) now gave him seven points (2+5)) in five career games against the Capitals. His seven points and 1.4 points per game against Washington represent his highest career outputs against any NHL team.
Dahlin also became just the 11th Sabres defenseman to participate in the shootout and the fifth to score, according to @SabresPR.

Roll the highlight film

Take a look at Olofsson's 20th goal as well as the nifty play by Dahlin to get the puck to Johansson:

Coming up

The Sabres will practice tomorrow and Wednesday before hitting the road for Thursday's game at Montreal. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with pregame coverage on MSG starting at 6:30.