Dec. 14 vs. Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Buffalo Sabres (11-14-4)
Washington Capitals (20-6-2)
Two nights after extending their franchise record road winning streak to 10 games on Thursday in Columbus, the Caps make a quick stop at home to do some laundry and host the first of the Buffalo Sabres’ two visits to the District this season. The Capitals will depart on Sunday for a quick two-game journey to Dallas and Chicago, respectively.
Aliaksei Protas scored both goals – the first two-goal game of his NHL career – in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus, making Washington the 12th NHL franchise in League history to roll up a road winning streak of 10 of more games. Thursday’s victory was also the Capitals’ 20th of the season, matching their fastest sprint to 20 from the start of the season; they also won 20 of their first 28 games in 1991-92 (20-8-0) and 2015-16 (20-6-2).
Coupled with a Minnesota loss at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, Washington vaults into the top spot in the overall NHL standings with a lusty .750 points percentage.
Thursday’s victory over the Jackets also extends the Caps’ point streak to eight straight games (7-0-1). On Saturday, they’ll be facing a Buffalo squad that has dropped each of its last eight contests (0-5-3, with six of the losses coming by a single goal).
Finally, the Caps’ win in Columbus was their 12th comeback victory of the season, tops in the NHL. Washington was whistled for four minor penalties in the middle period of Thursday’s game, resulting in a 5-on-3 power play of 55 seconds in duration for Columbus at one point. Minutes after the Caps navigated their way through the two-man disadvantage, the Jackets took a 1-0 lead when Zach Werenski netted his 10th goal of the season – and the 100th of his NHL career – on a subsequent power play.
Credit to Washington’s stellar penalty killing outfit and to goaltender Charlie Lindgren for keeping the Caps close until Protas could net the tying goal on the first shift of the third period. P-L Dubois set up the first Protas goal and Dylan Strome the second, with Jakob Chychrun collecting the secondary assists on each of the goals.
Protas was placed on a line with Dubois and Tom Wilson in the third period of Saturday’s game in Montreal, and Wilson scored the tying and game-winning goals in the final frame of that comeback win. Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery kept that line of big units together for Thursday’s game, and the trio produced all of Washington’s offense, and all that Lindgren would require for his ninth victory of the season.
“I feel tiny out there now,” jokes Dubois; at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, he is the smallest body on his line. “I think we have 700 pounds of human beings, so obviously we bring heaviness on the ice. But we all have skill sets that complement each other well. I think Pro is one of the best guys at getting pucks off the wall and into the middle and into space, and as a centerman, that’s fun to play with. And Willy is Willy; he is just a wrecking ball with good hands and a good shot, and he can do a bit of everything out there.
“I’ve just got to find a way to mesh with them. Those two make my life a lot easier.”
With four goals in just over four periods together, they’re also making life easier for Washington goaltenders, who’ve been accustomed to much more luxurious goal support numbers this season, a League-leading 3.96 goals per game.
“It’s pretty incredible,” says Lindgren of Washington’s 10 consecutive road victories. “Honestly, the different ways we’ve found to do it, to get it done, to get two points, it just shows the kind of guys we have in this room.
“[Thursday] was a game where we’re getting our chances, we’re getting our looks, and they weren’t finding their way behind their goaltender [Jet Greaves]. Their goaltender played well tonight, and the message at the second intermission was, ‘just stick with it.’ Protas makes a huge play on the first one there, great shot. And we take it to extras, and he finds another one there. An excellent team win.”
To Lindgren’s point of the Caps finding a way to get it done, Thursday’s game was the first they’ve achieved this season while scoring two or fewer goals.
Now in his third season with the Capitals, Lindgren – who turns 31 on Wednesday – continues to thrive in his birth month. In three seasons with the Caps, he is now 13-3-3 with a shutout, a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save pct. in 21 December appearances. Over the course of his full NHL career, Lindgren has claimed 18 of his 62 career victories in December. Lifetime, he is 18-4-3 in December with a shutout, a 1.87 GAA and a .935 save pct.
Although they are true road warriors at the moment, the Capitals are seeking a better showing in front of the home folks. Earlier in the season, Washington reeled off seven straight wins on home ice, but it has won just one of its last half dozen games (1-3-2) in the District since. The Caps also haven’t had any sustained time at home over that stretch; their earlier home winning was achieved largely over the course of a pair of three-game homestands in the first three weeks of the season. They’ve had a pair of two-game stays at home, and Saturday’s game with the Sabres is their fourth one-game stop at Capital One Arena in just over a month, since Nov. 13.
On the flipside of the coin, Buffalo is hoping the road will do it some good. Saturday’s visit to Washington starts a set of back-to-backs and a three-game road trip for the Sabres, who’ve suffered seven of their eight straight setbacks at home, including their just completed five-game homestand (0-3-2). Buffalo takes on the Leafs in Toronto and will finish its trip on Monday in Montreal.
Most recently, the Sabres lost a 3-2 decision to the Rangers on Wednesday. Buffalo has won three of its last four games on the road (3-1-0); it achieved a sweep of the California trip immediately before its current slide began.
