Tonight the Sabres picked up a point in our nation’s capital, disappointingly losing 4-3 in the final seconds of overtime after what was a fun, pretty evenly played game where we never trailed.
JJ Peterka opened the scoring tonight, walking in and scoring a nice goal through traffic from the top of the circle to give the Sabres the 1-0 with 9:51 left in the opening period. With 3:56 left in the period, rookie Zach Benson scored his first NHL goal with a beautiful move going bar down after pulling the puck between his legs. What a beauty for your first goal in the show. Reminded me of a Max Afinogenov goal that we’re going to roll the highlight film on forever.
The Caps got back within one just 57 seconds later as Alex Alexeyev got his first NHL goal on a long range shot that got deflected a few times and got past Devon Levi. Pretty fun first period going into the intermission with a 2-1 lead in a pretty close game, getting outshot 11-10.
The Capitals withstood some good chances for the Sabres and tied the game up at 2 with TJ Oshie’s first goal of the year with 7:50 into the second period, capitalizing on a big rebound and a defensive breakdown for Buffalo. With 3:42 left in the second period, Dylan Cozens ripped a one timer from Dahlin on the power play to get the lead back and go up 3-2, after we couldn’t score on the 5 on 3. Good to get the lead back before the end of the period.
With 1:15 left in regulation and Darcy Kuemper on the bench, Tom Wilson got in the perfect spot and with a quick shot tied up the game at 3. Really good period for the Sabres until the tying goal and with that, we’re onto overtime.
After a pretty boring overtime period, with 3.6 seconds left in OT, Dylan Strome ripped the game winner over Devon Levi’s glove hand. Owen Power cut off the pass on the two on one and did what you‘re supposed to in that situation with Strome just getting the perfect shot to win it.
On a side note, the NHL really needs to find some tweaks to fix overtime. Until that last breakaway, it was a boring OT period. Guys just take it all the way back and rag the puck before trying to get an odd man rush.
FINAL: Sabres 3, Capitals 4
Disappointing loss. The Sabres played really well tonight, highlighted by the Benson goal and they never trailed in this game, but still ultimately couldn’t hang on and lost in OT. We got outshot 31-27, but out chanced the Caps 18-14 and slightly outplayed them by an expected goal rate of 2.55-2.22. The special teams was good, with the power play getting it rolling with Cozens’ goal and the PK killing off both penalties. Just felt like we slowed down late.
Back at it on Friday at home against the Pens.
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