Alex Ovechkin scored the 890th goal of his NHL career, Aliaksei Protas scored a shorthanded goal to reach the 30-goal plateau, Jakob Chychrun scored a pair of goals to reach the 20-goal milestone for the first time in his NHL career, Tom Wilson reached the 60-point barrier for the first time in his NHL career, and the Caps broke a 10-game power-play drought – tied for the fourth longest in franchise history in terms of games – when P-L Dubois scored on the man advantage in the third period.
But all that offense on Sunday at Capital One Arena added up to an ugly 8-5 setback at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, who won for the fourth time in five games on Sunday. The Sabres have scored 27 goals in their last five games.
Sunday’s loss leaves Washington saddled with a three-game losing streak (0-2-1) for the second time this season, and the defeat was just the fifth the Caps have suffered by as many as three goals this season. They have yet to lose by a margin of greater than three goals in 2024-25.
Sunday’s game marked just the second time in this century the Caps have surrendered as many as eight goals against in a home game; the previous occurrence was an 11-5 lashing from Ottawa here on Nov. 13, 2001.
“For whatever reason, we get what we deserve tonight,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “I don’t know if it’s a mental block with our group; there’s just something that – when they see a team like this – they want to play their style of game, and it goes south on us. That’s not who we are. And it’s disappointing. Guys are trying, and there is effort and stuff involved. But at the end of the day, you have to just play direct and play our style, and we fail to do that against this team consistently.”
The Caps are 3-4-2 in their last nine games against Buffalo, and they’ve surrendered four or more goals against in seven of those nine contests.
Washington got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead just seconds after the midpoint of the opening frame. After Buffalo goalie James Reimer stopped a center point drive from Ovechkin, Chychrun drilled the rebound through the goaltender, and just over the goal line for a 1-0 Washington lead at 10:06.
Less than three minutes later, Buffalo pulled even on a power-play goal from Tage Thompson, who chipped a rebound to the shelf at 12:49 to even the game at 1-1.
The Caps finished the first with a strong couple of shifts in the offensive zone, but there was no carry over effect; Ryan McLeod scored off the rush at 2:14 of the second to give Buffalo its first lead of the game.
Chychrun netted his second goal of the game – and 20th of the season – at 2:46, responding quickly to the McLeod strike to square the score at 2-2.
On the road out west last week, the Caps turned in a pair of solid second period performances, only to yield a late goal against. On Sunday against the Sabres, the Caps had the better of possession in the middle frame, but McLeod’s was the first of three Buffalo goals in the middle period.
Alex Tuch hit the 30-goal mark on the season as well on Sunday, tipping home a Connor Clifton drive to restore the Sabres’ lead; they would not relinquish it thereafter.
Sam Lafferty scored on a backhander off the rush at 11:52 to make it a 4-2 game.
Late in the second, Dubois was boxed for a double-minor for hi-sticking; nearly three of those four minutes of man-advantage time carried over into the third period. When Wilson sprung Protas on a shorthanded breakaway in the first minute of the third period, the big Belarussian tucked it through Reimer’s five-hole for his 30th of the season to make it a 4-3 game, making the building come alive and seeding belief in another of Washington’s late comebacks.
Alas, there was still more than a minute remaining on the Buffalo man advantage at that point, and Tage Thompson struck for the second time against his namesake on the power play, restoring the Sabres’ two-goal advantage at 1:28.
Minutes later, Chychrun had a stick explode on him as he tried to launch a center point drive. He hustled to the bench for a replacement, jumped back into the play, and the puck came to him again at center point. This time, however, Sabres forward Jack Quinn blunted the shot try and took off on a breakaway, beating Logan Thompson to make it a 6-3 game at 5:52 of the third.
Ovechkin got on the board at 9:11 when he deflected Rasmus Sandin’s point shot past Reimer to pull within five goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time career goals mark of 894. Ovechkin’s goal also put some life into the building, and when Washington went on the power play in the back half of the frame, opportunity arose.
When Ovechkin wound up and blasted a drive from the blueline that eluded Reimer at 14:03 – pulling the Caps to within a goal at 6-5 – many in the house believed that the Caps captain had struck again. But it was Dubois who scored his 19th of the season with a deft defelction from the top of the paint, breaking a power-play drought that dated back to March 5, and pulling the Caps to within a goal of Buffalo.
All season, the Caps have been a quick response team; Chychrun’s second goal of the game was an example of that. But the Sabres gave Washington a taste of its own medicine a couple of times on Sunday, most notably when Tuch tipped in his second of the night at 15:34, just 91 seconds after the Dubois goal.
“I think when Pro scores on the PK, it gives you more belief, and you can see our bench getting into the game more,” says Ovechkin. “And we tried to come back, but unfortunately, we can’t.”
“They’re a skilled team. They can make you pay when you make mistakes,” says Wilson of the Sabres. “It felt like the whole night, if we had 10 percent more across the board, every little play, the little plays that don’t quite get out, the penalties – I think if we have 10 percent more, we probably win the game. But that being said, just not good enough tonight. The next one [Tuesday in Boston] is big.”
Payton Krebs’ empty-net goal in the game’s final minute accounted for the 8-5 final.
“Our road record hasn’t been that good, and we’re trying to play a harder brand, a simpler brand of hockey,” says Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “Take care of the puck more, be in more shot lanes, and work on our road record.”
In halting Washington’s home winning streak at six straight games, Buffalo improves to 12-22-3 on the road this season. The Sabres finish a three-game trip on Tuesday night in Ottawa.
