At The Final Horn: Sabres 3 - Capitals 4 (SO)

Dylan Cozens scored the first goal of his career, and Eric Staal and Riley Sheahan each scored their first with the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, but the team fell to the Washington Capitals 4-3 in the shootout at Capital One Arena.
The Sabres had three different players each score their first goal with the team in the same game just once prior to tonight, according to NHL Stats and Information. The only other time was on October 6, 1982 when Dave Andreychuk, Paul Cyr and Hannu Virta achieved the feat.
Buffalo's oldest and youngest current players scored the club's first two goals. Staal, 36, opened the scoring and Cozens, 19, tied it midway through the second.
Cozens, playing in his fifth NHL game, recorded his first point with an assist on opening night and was happy to add one to the goal column.
"It's a dream come true," he said during the first intermission on MSG. "Obviously the first step is making it here and to finally get that first goal, it's super exciting."
Sheahan, technically the newest Sabre after signing a one-year deal at the end of training camp, tied it again shortly after Washington had regained the lead.

Linus Ullmark returned to the net for Buffalo and played well in a 29-save performance through 65 minutes. He made a critical stop with 9.2 seconds remaining on a John Carlson shot during a delayed penalty.
Nicklas Backstrom, Nic Dowd and Jakub Vrana scored for Washington. Vitek Vanacek made 25 saves in regulation and overtime.

What happened

Staal's first of the year came 7:27 into the game following some great offensive pressure. Victor Olofsson forced Zdeno Chara to turn the puck over behind the Capitals net and then fed it to Staal, who was skating hard into the slot. Staal one-timed the puck in to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead.
With 3:42 left, the Capitals tied it when Backstrom got in behind the defense and tapped one in past Ullmark.
Washington took the lead when Dowd one-time a shot from the point into the back of the net 4:14 into the second period.
Cozens scored the first of his young career with 9:17 left in the period. He put a beautiful shot into the far top corner after causing a neutral-zone turnover and skating the puck into the Washington zone.
Washington regained the lead when Vrana scored with 6:53 remaining in the second and Riley Sheahan made it 3-3 just 42 seconds later when he worked towards the front of the net to force in his first.

After no scoring in the third period, Buffalo spent the early part of overtime shorthanded and was able to kill it off.
John Carlson scored the only goal in the shootout, coming in the fourth round. Jack Eichel, Taylor Hall, Cozens and Sam Reinhart saw their opportunities denied.

Worthy of a mention

• Staal ranks fifth among active players with 437 career goals:
• 1. Ovechkin (707)
• 2. Patrick Marleau (562)
• 3. Marian Hossa (525)*
• 4. Sidney Crosby (465)
• 5. Staal (437)
• \Hossa, now on the Arizona Coyotes' roster, is still active despite not playing since 2016-17.*

Roll the highlight film

Hard to not choose Cozens' first for this one:

Up next

A familiar phrase that will get a lot of use this season: These two teams will go at it again on [insert day of the week]. This time, it'll be on Sunday from Capital One Arena.
A reminder, our pregame show on MSG will be on the air at 2:30 p.m. with faceoff on MSG and ESPN 1520 at 3. The game sets up a Buffalo sports doubleheader as the Buffalo Bills will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game at 6:40.
Stay tuned to Sabres.com and our social media channels for coverage of Saturday's Sabres practice in D.C.