Caps, Sabres Tangle Again
A night after the Caps took the season opener over the Sabres, the two teams battle again in Buffalo
Twenty-four hours after teeing off the 2020-21 season at Buffalo's KeyBank Center, the Caps and Sabres are back at it again, facing one another for the second of their eight meetings this season. The Caps skated off with a 6-4 victory here on Thursday night in the season opener for both sides.
T.J. Oshie had a hand in each of Washington's first three goals in Thursday's win, as the Caps scored twice in each frame and never trailed. The victory was the Caps' fourth straight opening night triumph, a streak that spans the administrations of three head coaches. Thursday's triumph was the first for Peter Laviolette as the Caps' bench boss, and his new team showed well given the short training camp and lack of exhibition tune-ups.
"He has come in and done a great job of giving us direction and motivation and let us know how he sees us play and how he sees our identity," says Oshie of Laviolette. "I think the guys have received that message very well. So to get that first win for him on night one was special. But also there are a lot of new guys on the team, not only new guys but new training staff and new coaches. It's just great to get those guys that first 'W' and we're very happy that they're here."
Washington got out of the gates quickly in the season opener, playing fast and spending little time in their own end early in the contest. The Caps set the tempo and pushed the pace early in the game, and they made good decisions with the puck and moved it up ice efficiently. Neither team iced the puck even once in the first period, and Washington's first icing of the game came with just under four minutes remaining in the middle stanza.
All four of Washington's lines had a hand in the scoring and the Caps' blueline corps contributed a pair of goals - from John Carlson and Brenden Dillon - and four points in the season-opening victory.
After a long offseason, there will be a quick turnaround. The two teams will tangle again tomorrow here, and the Caps' have a game on Sunday at noon in Pittsburgh, their third tilt in a span of less than 72 hours to kick off the new season.
"This is where being a professional comes into play," says Dillon, "taking care of your body, getting good sleep, good nutrition and these types of things. The travel can't be an excuse for us this year because we've got great travel within our division. You're not really much more than an hour's flight from most cities.
"Every team is in a situation right now where most of us have three [games] in four [nights] to start the year, whatever it is three and four. For our team and how we're our made up, our guys know how to get ready for those. When you're playing Pittsburgh or all these teams now, you get up for them; they feel like playoff kind of games.
"They're all rivalry games this season and there is importance to every game. I think that in itself is as good as a cup of coffee for some caffeine to get you going. Those are the fun ones to go into and get yourself up for."
Buffalo was one of the seven NHL teams that did not play in the league's playoff bubble last summer, so most of the Sabres were playing their first NHL-level, regular season hockey in nearly a year, since mid-March of last year. The rust was evident, but the Sabres improved as the game wore on.
"It was a group needing a period and a half to really find out what it's really all about again," says Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger. "You can't simulate this in practice and we just have to take what we were doing in the last period and start that way [Friday]. I'd say all of us as a group needed an adjustment period. The result isn't pleasing, but we saw how we needed to play at the end and that's important that we take that with us."
Buffalo fell down by three goals in the middle of the middle frame, but twice rallied to pull within a goal in the third.
"I think you can take some solace from the fact that we were able to come back and make it close," says Sabres winger Taylor Hall, who scored his first goal as a Sabre in his first game with his new team. "Obviously we have some guys offensively who can put it in the back of the net and force the issue that way, but it seemed like we were playing catch-up all night, which is a tough way to play against any team. But against a team like Washington - a veteran team - that's going to be a tough night."
