Sabres at Capitals | How to watch, lineup notes, and storylines

WASHINGTON – The Buffalo Sabres begin their four-game road trip Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

Most of the Sabres’ games so far have followed a similar script en route to a .500 (4-4-2) record. Generate early scoring chances, maybe bury one. Fall behind by a couple goals. Tinker with lines and attempt to mount a comeback.

Eight of their 10 points have come from multi-goal comebacks, but that’s not how the Sabres want to play. They’ve held the lead for a cumulative 60 minutes – less than 10 percent of their total action, and the least of any team entering Saturday. Compare that to last season, when they led 39 percent of the time, fifth most leaguewide.

“Take it a period at a time. Just start winning periods,” coach Lindy Ruff said. “Can we win the first period? Whether that’s 1-0, 2-1, 5-4, can we win the first period? And that can do a lot of damage when you’re playing on the road.”

The Capitals (5-4-0) enter the matchup well rested – they last played Tuesday, losing 5-2 to the Kings – and with some key new faces, namely forwards Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. And this will be the Sabres’ third-to-last game against Alex Ovechkin, who announced plans to retire after the season.

Here are all the details before Saturday’s puck drop.

How to watch

TV (Sabres broadcast market): MSG (Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m.)

TV (out of market): NHL Network

Streaming (Sabres broadcast market): DAZN

Radio: WGR 550 / Buffalo Sabres App

More ways to watch/listen to Sabres games

Lineup notes

The Sabres continue to try new line combos. Changes at Friday’s practice included a first line of Jason Zucker, Tage Thompson and Konsta Helenius. That said, line rushes occurred after Jiri Kulich took a puck to the face and left the ice – as of Friday afternoon, Ruff couldn’t say whether Kulich will be available to play.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to make his fifth consecutive start in net.

Check back after the 11:30 a.m. morning skate and 6:30 p.m. warmups for potential updates.

Notable numbers

• The Sabres on the road so far: 1-1-2 with a minus-three goal differential.
• Jack Quinn has six points (3+3) during his current three-game point streak. He leads the team with 10 points (5+5) overall.
• The second line (Zach Benson-Noah Östlund-Quinn) have played 103 minutes together, leading 6-1 in goals and controlling 65 percent of the expected goals (Stathletes).
• Owen Power ranks third leaguewide in average time on ice (26:42) and seventh in total puck-possession time (26:41).
• Buffalo has four guys above 50 percent at the faceoff dot: Josh Norris (52.9%), Peyton Krebs (52.2), Kulich (50.9) and Ryan McLeod (50.4).
• Beck Malenstyn leads the team by far with 43 hits. Josh Doan (15) ranks second.

Scouting the Capitals

Tuch, who left Buffalo for an eight-year contract in Washington, has seven points (5+2) through nine games. He’s been working on a line with Dylan Strome and Kyrou, another big-name offseason addition.

“Obviously, it’s going to be strange now to coach against him and see him out there,” Ruff said of Tuch. “He’s off to a good start. … Playing against your former team, you always want to play really well.”

“It’s definitely a different feeling,” added Thompson. “But I think when you’re out there and you’re in the game, you’re not really thinking about it.”

Retiree-to-be Alex Ovechkin has just one goal, but the Capitals are getting offense from other sources like 21-year-old Ryan Leonard and veteran signing Boone Jenner, who’ve both scored four times.

Goalie Logan Thompson (4-3-0, .901 SV%) has been dealing with a lower-body injury and missed Friday’s practice; if he can’t go, it’d likely be backup Charlie Lindgren (1-1-0, .897). And Washington’s blue line is a bit shorthanded without Rasmus Sandin (knee) and Vincent Desharnais (appendectomy).