Caps Have Friday Night Date with Sabres in Buffalo
Washington finishes off its 2016-17 season series with the Sabres on Friday night in Buffalo.
For the third time in a span of 15 days, and for the final time in the 2016-17 season, the Capitals will face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. This time, there will be a change in venue. After the teams faced one another twice at Verizon Center in a span of 11 days, Friday's final meeting will be at Buffalo's KeyBank Center.
The Caps won each of the first two meetings, taking a 3-1 decision from the Sabres on Nov. 25 and coming from behind in the third period to earn a 3-2 overtime win over Buffalo on Monday night. Monday's win ended the Caps' three-game slide (0-2-1) and started what is now a modest two-game winning run in the wake of Wednesday's 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Washington's Wednesday win over the Bruins was not at all conventional, and it did not come without a cost. The Caps squandered a 3-0, late second-period lead and went more than 26 minutes without registering a shot on goal from early in the second period to the middle of the third. They needed Nicklas Backstrom's overtime game-winner to prevail over the Bruins.
In the wake of that win, Caps players initiated and conducted a closed-door, players only meeting.
"We had a little talk in here and there are some things we've got to clean up," says Caps winger T.J. Oshie. "I think it's more of a mentality more than it is any systems or anything like that. Obviously we want to play within our team game but there is a mentality that we've got to get back to. Once we get a step up on someone, we've got to get that mentality that we're going to finish them off."
Since the beginning of November, the Caps have lost a trio of three-goal leads on home ice. Two of those games morphed into 4-3 overtime wins for Washington while another ended in a 4-3 regulation win for the Capitals.
"Too many turnovers through the neutral zone," states Caps forward Daniel Winnik. "I think we have a tendency when we get up in games that we think we can play a different style, and we try plays at the blueline. We're really good down low; we're not really a score-off-the-rush team. I mean, we can [score off the rush], but we get a lot of our goals in zone."
After an 8-2-1 start to the season, the Caps have leveled off at 7-5-2 over their last 14 games. Although it's still early in the season, Washington is in the midst of a tight and competitive chase in both the Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division standings.
Closed door, players only meetings are more commonplace after a loss. No one keeps stats on such things, but holding a meeting in the aftermath of a second straight win has to be a rare occurrence.
"It's just making sure we're on the same page moving forward," says Caps goalie Braden Holtby. "It happens every year; you try and build your team that way. Your leaders try to lead the right way, and that's what it is.
"Like I've said before, results don't always show what happens. That's why you play 82 [games]; the averages even out over 82. It's pushing every game to make sure you give yourself the best chance every night, and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to push forward as players to try and get better."
From a team standpoint, the loss of defenseman Matt Niskanen is even more concerning. While killing a penalty late in the first period, Niskanen absorbed a hit from behind from Boston center Patrice Bergeron. The Caps defenseman went face-first into the boards, and although he was able to his feet quickly and without aid, he left the game for what the team termed "precautionary reasons" and did not return.
On Thursday, the Caps announced Niskanen would not travel with the team to Buffalo. He is listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury, an ailment that halts his streak of consecutive games played at 189.
The Caps also announced the recall of defenseman Aaron Ness from AHL Hershey. On Thursday. Ness played in eight games with the Capitals last season, and the 26-year-old Minnesotan has played in 37 NHL games over parts of three seasons.
Playing without Niskanen over the final 40-plus minutes of Wednesday's game against Boston, the Caps were outshot 21-8 and out-attempted 45-26 at even strength after his departure. Four of the five remaining defensemen logged over 20 minutes on the night, and three of them - Karl Alzner, Brooks Orpik and Nate Schmidt - saw the most ice time each has seen in a single game this season.
A game after getting Oshie back in the lineup after a seven-game absence with an upper body injury, the Caps now face the specter of playing without Niskanen for an undetermined amount of time.
"He took a big hit," says Caps coach Barry Trotz, "and he's an important piece for us. Credit to our [defense]; they were under siege for two periods when we went to five [defensemen], and they battled real hard. So that group of five, I give them a lot of credit for battling through that."
After departing the District following Monday's overtime loss to the Capitals, Buffalo returned home to take on the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday in the back end of a set of back-to-back contests. In the much ballyhooed matchup between Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Buffalo's Jack Eichel - the top two overall choices in the 2015 NHL Draft - the Sabres put on a thrilling late rally to come away with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Oilers.
Buffalo backup goalie Anders Nilsson made 34 saves against his former Oilers teammates to earn his fifth win in eight starts this season. Evander Kane's second goal of the game tied it for the Sabres with 29 seconds remaining, and Buffalo won it on Risto Ristolainen's well-placed one-time blast just 15 seconds into overtime.
Since Eichel returned to the Buffalo lineup after missing the first 21 games of the season, the Sabres are 3-1-1. Eichel and linemates Kane and Sam Reinhart have combined for seven goals and 14 points in those five games.
The Sabres currently occupy the seventh spot in the Atlantic Division standings; they're one point clear of last place Toronto. Buffalo has picked up at least a point in seven of its last nine games (5-2-2).
