Sabres' comeback effort falls short in loss to Capitals

Cody Eakin felt good about the comeback effort from the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena on Monday night, though it ultimately fell short in a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
The Sabres twice cut their deficit to one goal after falling behind 2-0 early in the second period. Missed opportunities on the power play and the Capitals' net-front attack made the difference in the end.
"A lot of good things I think we did, a lot of things to improve on," said Eakin, who scored to put the Sabres on the board during the second period. "But for the most part we competed pretty darn hard and gave them a lot to handle."

The loss extended Buffalo's winless streak to five games (0-4-1).

Washington went on the offensive early and created multiple layers of pressure in front of goaltender Dustin Tokarski on Tom Wilson's opening goal, scored just 2:13 into the contest. Trevor van Riemsdyk took a shot from the point that deflected off Alex Ovechkin's stick before bouncing into the net off Wilson.
The goal foreshadowed the majority of the Capitals' offense. Connor McMichael sent a shot in off the body of defenseman Christian Wolanin to make it 2-0 at 2:30 of the second period. Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 11th goal of the season - and moved into a tie with Brett Hull for fourth place on the all-time goals list - on a deflection from the slot.

Conor Sheary was credited with a deflection of a shot from the point by John Carlson on Washington's final goal, which extended its lead to 5-2 with 2:13 remaining in the third period.
Sabres coach Don Granato said the team could have done better to fill shot lanes or pressure shooters to prevent traffic assembling in the first place.
"A number of things that can be done," Granato said. "Obviously, when you look at a game like that, that was the deciding factor in the game, inability to do that tonight, any of those things tonight. So, we will have to learn and adjust to it."

The Sabres did fight their way to a 39-21 advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts during the final 40 minutes after weathering the first-period push from the Capitals. Goals from Eakin and Anders Bjork had them trailing 3-2 with 16:43 left to play.
A turnover led to Wilson beating Tokarski in alone to regain the two-goal lead. Sheary added cushion late with the Capitals on a power play.
Colin Miller added one more goal for the Sabres during the final minute.
"I liked the fight all the way through to the end," Granato said. "We have to compete. That was one disappointing (aspect) in our last road game, we didn't have a real high competitive level and we needed that first and foremost."
The Sabres went 0-for-3 on the power play and did not register a shot against goaltender Vitek Vanecek. The Capitals pressured at the blue line and prevented the Sabres from setting up their attack.
"I think we need to dedicate some practice time to it," Granato said. "Just need to. It certainly was a disappointment today, no question."

Changes on defense

Granato shuffled his defense pairs for the first time since the second game of the season. Mark Pysyk moved to a pair with Rasmus Dahlin while Wolanin made his Sabres debut alongside Robert Hagg. Will Butcher was scratched.
"Will has been playing through some nagging issues and just felt that he needed a break," Granato said. "Get a little bit healthier, I guess."
Shot attempts were 18-6 in favor of Buffalo with Dahlin and Pysyk on the ice at 5-on-5.

Up next

The Sabres return to KeyBank Center for back-to-back home games against the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday and Saturday.
The game on Friday will air exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu. Puck drop is scheduled for 7.