"It's certainly the responsibility with the puck," Krueger said. "I'm speaking about how we'd like to tighten things defensively but being consistently responsible with the puck is still something we need to learn and understand when risk is worth it and when not, how to manage leads and areas of improvement.
"Both teams tonight are going to play on their toes. It's going to be an excellent hockey game, I'm sure, with a lot of opportunities going both ways. We just need to make sure we're the better defensive team today."
The Capitals rank third in the NHL this season with an average of 3.79 goals per game. Alex Ovechkin has been himself, tied for third in the league with 11 goals. John Carlson is coming off a historic month in which he tallied 23 points (7+16), the second-most productive month by a defenseman in NHL history.
The Sabres, meanwhile, have the sixth-best mark in the league with an average of 2.46 goals against per game. They have had three days between games for the first time this season after playing 13 contests in 26 days, and Krueger said he hopes to see their renewed energy show in their defensive play.
"Defensively, we need to just tighten the spaces again," he said. "We're working in periods of excellent defense, but not necessarily consistently rights through the games. I think that was something that started, it's percentage points we're talking about here from a coaches' perspective and we want to get those back."
Linus Ullmark will start in net. Read about the measures Ullmark has taken to improve his mental game in our feature from Tuesday.
Neither defenseman Brandon Montour (hand) nor forward Jimmy Vesey (upper body) will play. Both players remain day-to-day and will be re-evaluated Saturday morning prior to the Sabres' home game against the New York Islanders.
Pregame coverage for tonight's game begins at 6:30 p.m. You can also listen live on WGR 550, with puck drop set for 7.
