POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Sabres 4, Caps 3 (SO)

Half The Battle - Six games into the 2020-21 season, the Caps and the Buffalo Sabres have played through half of the eight games they'll play against one another this season. The Sabres prevailed in a Sunday afternoon shootout in the District by a 4-3 count in the fourth meeting between the two East Division clubs in a span of 11 days.

The win was the first for Buffalo in those four games against Washington, and although they lost for the third time in six games to start the season, the Caps claimed a standings point for the sixth straight game. Over the course of nearly half a century in the NHL, the Caps have earned points in their first six games only twice; the first time was in 2011-12 when they roared out to a 7-0-0 start.
Playing without five key regulars, the Caps rebounded from a one-goal deficit in the third on Sunday, evening the game on a Nicklas Backstrom power-play goal midway through the final frame, forcing overtime and claiming a point in the shootout loss.
"I thought we pulled together pretty well," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "We're missing some big-name guys and I think the guys responded pretty well and took care of each other for the most part. I think we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with penalties, but other than that the guys played hard.
"You always want to take the win, but I think as far as how we played as a team it was a step in the right direction."
For Buffalo, Sunday's win was its first in the four games against the Caps this season, and the Sabres' first win in Washington since a 2-1 triumph here on Nov. 22, 2014. The Capitals had won nine straight games over the Sabres in the District before Sunday.
"I think we felt a lot of pressure today," says Sabres coach Ralph Krueger. "I think everybody knows how important it was to get one win here against Washington in four games. It looked like the pressure cost us some energy. It looked like we weren't fresh in our minds; it looked like we were taking a while to react and we weren't as cohesive as we have been in games of past.
"It was a game where Washington has a lot of momentum, things have been going really well for them. For me, they've had a lot of bounces and breaks against us and against Pittsburgh even to get into those overtimes. For them, everything was coming a lot easier. This is the way it is. When you're trying to dig out of a hole - which we felt we were in - it tests your mettle, it tests your character. In the end, the guys found a way and I'm proud of them for that."
First Time - Caps forward Connor McMichael made his NHL debut on Sunday afternoon, skating 9:54 against the Buffalo Sabres. The rookie's debut came nine days after his 20th birthday and weeks after he helped Team Canada earn a silver medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Without fans in the building and without his parents in attendance, McMichael's debut didn't play out exactly the way he dreamed it over the years, but that didn't take away any of its luster.
"You dream of playing in the NHL ever since you put skates on," says McMichael, "so it was a really cool feeling. And although my parents aren't here, they were watching from home. It would have been cool to have them here, but like I said they're watching from home and they're proud of me, so I had a lot of fun."
McMichael won his only face-off in the game, was credited with a shot on net and had another attempt blocked. He also incurred his first minor penalty, a hooking call late in the first.
After the World Junior tournament, McMichael made a quick stop at home before reporting to D.C., and while the Caps were on the road in Buffalo and Pittsburgh to open the season, he was going through the required quarantine protocol in Arlington.
McMichael was added to Washington's taxi squad last week, and a lower body injury to Tom Wilson opened up a spot in the lineup for him in Sunday's game.
"I thought he was good," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "It's always a tall order jumping into a team, especially when you don't have a training camp or you're coming out of quarantine. He has had one real practice with the team. For him to jump into a competitive game like tonight, I thought he did a good job."
During the World Junior tournament, McMichael skated on a line with Dylan Cozens. Cozens was Buffalo's first-round pick (seventh overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft while McMichael was chosen 25th overall by Washington in the same draft. Cozens made his NHL debut against the Caps on Jan. 14 and scored his first career goal against the Caps in Washington's home opener on Friday night.
"It was pretty cool to watch him play the first couple games," says McMichael of his WJC teammate. "And then obviously the other day I was in the crowd and I saw him score that goal, so it was cool to see. Obviously I wasn't cheering for him, but the fact that he scored was pretty cool."
What will McMichael tuck away in his memory bank to savor about this day in the years and decades to come?
"Just the excitement I had talking to my family and stuff sharing this moment with them," he says. "It's something I'll never forget for the rest of my life."
Point Taken - For the fourth time in as many starts at the outset of his career, Caps goaltender Vitek Vanecek helped his team to earn a point on Sunday. Vanecek is now 2-0-2 in the first four starts of his NHL career, and he joins Jim Carey as the only other goaltender in franchise history to earn points for his team in each of his first four starts in the league.
Making his fourth career start and his third straight against Buffalo, Vanecek stopped 45 of 48 shots he faced in Sunday's game, becoming the fifth different rookie Caps goalie to achieve the feat - Bernie Wolfe did it twice - and the first in almost 39 years. None of those rookie Caps netminders earned a win in those heavy-workload games, and Vanecek is the only one to make 45 or more saves as a rookie in a game in which his team picked up a standings point.
Dave Parro made 46 saves in a losing effort at Edmonton on Feb. 12, 1982 and Al Jensen made 49 stops in a loss at Minnesota eight days later, on the same six-game road trip.
Michel Belhumeur made 52 saves - the franchise record for a rookie netminder - on Dec. 7, 1974 in an 8-2 loss to the Blues in St. Louis in the 27th regular season game the Caps ever played. Almost exactly a year later, Wolfe made 45 saves in a 9-3 loss at Montreal. Thirteen days later, Wolfe made 47 saves in a 7-5 loss at home against Philadelphia.
Carey earned points in each of his first seven starts during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. Recalled from AHL Portland in early March, Carey started 15 straight games for Washington at the start of his career, and he started seven games in 12 days - including both ends of a back-to-back twice - at the outset of his career. He went 6-0-1 in those first seven starts, and the "1" represents a 2-2 tie with Ottawa.
Carey allowed two or fewer goals in six of those first seven starts, and he earned a 16-save shutout over Tampa Bay in the seventh of those starts. Only once in those first seven starting assignments did Carey see more than 30 shots; in his first two seasons in the NHL he saw an average of just over 24 shots per 60 minutes in the net.
In his first two seasons in the NHL, Carey notched 13 shutouts and won the Vezina Trophy. The most saves he needed to make in any of those whitewashes was exactly 30. Six of Carey's shutouts required 20 or fewer saves.
The Third Man - Backstrom skated in the 962nd game of his NHL and Capitals career on Sunday, pushing him ahead of Peter Bondra for the third spot on Washington's all-time games played list. Only Alex Ovechkin (1,156) and Calle Johansson (983) have pulled a Caps sweater on for more regular season games in the franchise's history.
Backstrom celebrated the occasion by netting his fourth goal of the season and his second power-play goal of the campaign. This is the earliest Backstrom has scored his first four goals of a season since 2015-16 when he needed only four games to net his first four tallies.
Senses Working Overtime - Sunday's game marked the fourth straight Caps game that was decided in overtime or a shootout, the team's longest run of consecutive overtime/shootout affairs in nearly a decade.
The last time the Caps played more than 60 minutes in four consecutive games was from March 29-April 5, 2011. The Capitals started that stretch with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Hurricanes in D.C. Jeff Skinner - now with the Sabres - scored one of the Canes' shootout goals that night.
Two nights later, Jason Chimera scored the overtime game-winner for the Caps against his former employers in a 4-3 win over Columbus, also on home ice. The homestand concluded with a 5-4 overtime win over Buffalo on April 2. The Caps got a last-minute power-play goal from Jason Arnott to force the overtime, and Alex Ovechkin won it for Washington in the extra session.
On April 5 in Toronto, the Caps edged the Leafs 3-2 in a four-round shootout. Mike Knuble was the only goal scorer in the skills competition.
By The Numbers -John Carlson led the Caps with 28:52 in ice time … Carl Hagelin led all Caps with 6:17 in shorthanded ice time … Backstrom led the Caps with six shots on net and Justin Schultz led Washington with nine shot attempts … Richard Panik and Garnet Hathaway had four hits each to lead the Caps … Schultz and Backstrom led the Capitals with three blocked shots each … Lars Eller won 10 of 17 (59 percent) of his face-offs on Sunday.