"It's the end of a long trip," says Caps coach Todd Reirden, "so not 100 percent surprising. But we're better than that."
The win snapped a four-game slide (0-3-1) for Buffalo, which was coming into Saturday's game off a strong performance on Thursday in Tampa Bay, a 2-1 shootout loss.
"I just like the urgency and the desperation that's in our game right now," says Sabres coach Phil Housley. "It's good to see that we can string another game of hard work for 60 minutes."
The Sabres struck first and early, taking a 1-0 lead they would never relinquish just 3:40 into the first frame. Jason Pominville was left all alone in front, and Jeff Skinner made a good play to feed him for the early Buffalo lead.
Buffalo winger Sam Reinhart scored his third career hat trick in Saturday's win, and the first of his three goals came at 12:51 of the first. The Caps' fourth line was pressing in the offensive zone when Buffalo gained possession and exited via a high flip to neutral ice. A fortuitous bounce and a nice play from Evan Rodrigues later, Reinhart had the puck along with time and space. From the inside of the right circle, he put a precision shot into the top far corner to make it a 2-0 game.
In the second, the Caps mounted a comeback bid, cutting the lead in half when Alex Ovechkin scored on a breakaway at 2:28 of the middle frame. Washington had chances to get even after that, but a combination of strong play from Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton and a lack of finish on the Caps' part preserved Buffalo's slim lead. A late Washington power play in the middle stanza didn't change the score, either.