Caps Visit Buffalo
Caps seek to build upon an uplifting Saturday win over Rangers when they take on Sabres on Sunday afternoon
The Capitals open up a critical four-game road trip on Sunday afternoon in Buffalo, their last extended road journey of the season. Sunday's date with the Sabres also concludes a set of weekend back-to-back matinee matches for the Caps, who started the weekend off right with a 6-3 triumph over the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena.
Saturday's win ended Washington's longest regulation losing streak in nearly two decades - a six game slide - and also halted the team's five-game losing streak on home ice. T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice each to help the Caps shake off the offensive doldrums that have plagued the team throughout the third quarter of the season.
Prior to Saturday's offensive outburst, the Caps were averaging just 2.11 goals per game over a span of 19 games, during which the team went 6-13-0, dropping outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture. During the life of their six-game losing streak, the Capitals dropped five rungs on the standings ladder in the East, falling from seventh to 12th.
"You go back and there's one game in there that we were just miserable," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the losing streak. "And the other four games, guys pressed like crazy. And [Saturday], they dropped for us and we got a big win. We've got a big game [Sunday] at 1 o'clock.
"It's nice to get the offense when guys are putting pucks at the net, and attempts and the net and quality chances, it's nice to see them drop in a win. It gives these guys confidence, too, when you're scoring goals and you put six in on an afternoon. That might give us a little bit of confidence maybe moving forward, to try to continue to pump at the net, and get people and bodies there and deliver chances, and see if you can follow that up with something else."
Saturday's win lifted the Caps into a tie with Buffalo; both teams have 64 points, but Washington has played four more games than the Sabres. Sunday's game is crucial for the Caps, who need to put the Sabres in their rear view given the disparity in games played between the two clubs.
Over the last few days, the Caps got captain Alex Ovechkin back in their lineup after a four-game absence following the passing of his father. Just prior to Thursday's loss to Anaheim, the Caps learned that defenseman Dmitry Orlov and right wing Garnet Hathaway had been traded to Boston for a trio of draft choices and impending free agent winger Craig Smith, who made his Washington debut in Saturday's win.
The Caps seemed to take out all of their emotions and festering frustrations on the Rangers.
"I've never been part of a six-game losing streak, and it sucks," says Kuznetsov, who scored both of his goals on breakaways. "It sucks to come back every morning and see guys kind of down; we care about each other and we worry about that, so nobody wants to be in that position.
"But every day, the guys were sticking together and trying to stay positive. We always stay together in this locker room, and when you see that, you know one day you're going to break that [streak], and there will be opportunities to win the game. So we used that [Saturday], and I really hope that this game to put a huge effort [Sunday] and we'll see what's going to happen [then].
"But I feel like we've got to take it one game at a time, and [Saturday] we did a lot of good things. So it's very important to keep our emotions down and focus on [Sunday]."
Seeking to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in a dozen seasons, the Sabres have had a streaky season, but they'll enter Sunday's game with four victories in their last five games. Most recently, the Sabres swept a back-to-back set of road games in Florida, overcoming the Lighting in Tampa with a 6-5 overtime victory on Thursday night and downing the Panthers 3-1 a night later.
In the second of those victories, former Caps goaltender Craig Anderson stymied the Panthers with a heroic performance. Initially, Anderson was credited with 53 saves, making him the oldest goalie in League history to record 50 or more saves in a game. But shot totals around the lead tend to vacillate - more in some buildings than others - and upon further review, the League decided that Anderson's actual save total in Friday's win was actually 49.
Nevertheless, the adjustment to Anderson's save total doesn't diminish the magnitude of the achievement. Anderson, who will turn 42 in May, made nearly half of those saves in the third period when he stopped 23 of 24 Florida shots. Friday's victory lifted the Sabres into the second wild card spot - at least temporarily - but even if Buffalo falls short, it's great for these long-beleaguered Western New York fans to see their team playing meaningful hockey this late in the season.
