Points Are Nice But Buffalo Needs Some Wins
Washington Capitals (6-5-0) vs. Buffalo Sabres (4-4-3)
Puck Drop: 6:00 pm Eastern Time | Keybank Center | Buffalo, New York
TV: MSG, ESPN+
Know Your Opponent
Washington Capitals
Record: 6-5-0 | 12 PTS
Last Game: 3-1 loss to NYI
Division Ranking: 6th in the Metro
PP: 18.8% 20th (Sabres: 21.6% 14th)
PK: 67.9% 27th (Sabres: 89.5% 3rd)
What to Watch
1) Caps are Solid and Experienced
From Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson to Dylan Strome and Jakob Chychrun, the Caps are loaded with experienced veterans. They come to play every night and know what it takes to be successful in this league. They battle at both ends of the ice and play a big man’s game out there. Thankfully for Buffalo, Washington’s special teams are not very special. They are ranked low in both power play and penalty kills, so the advantage goes to the Sabres there. But the Caps are more physical and more solid defensively as a team. All while Logan Thompson is dominating in net. As of this writing, he is sporting a 1.44 GAA and a .939 SVP. Impressive to say the least.
The Capitals are on the second game of a back to back in tonight’s game, having faced the Islanders last night. Logan Thompson played against New York so look for Charlie Lindgren to be in net against the Sabres.
2) Sabres Collecting Points
Buffalo now has points in five straight games. But the luster of that stat wears off fast as they are winless in three straight. The Sabres have dropped three in a row in OT, two of which they had third period leads in. Against Boston, they battled back from 2 goals down twice only to fall (Dahlin) in the extra session again. This team still struggles to embrace success, which always seems to be just out of reach. Winning and losing can be a fine line, and our frustrating team walks that tightrope nearly every game. Part of the problem right now is Buffalo’s best players underperforming. The most obvious among them is Rasmus Dahlin, whose head doesn’t seem to be in these games. Dahlin’s sheer skills still have him putting up points, with a goal and 8 assists in 11 games. But his defense has been spotty at best with too many breakdowns. His decision making has been substandard. Passing when he should shoot, shooting when he should pass. He is also taking needless penalties as well which have been costly. Too many turnovers and flagrant gaffs for a player of his caliber. Dahlin’s personal life was upended this past summer and we all hope he gets back to his level of play soon.
3) Hot and Not
Zach Benson continues his point per game pace. He has 8 points in as many games but still remains without a goal. It would be nice to see him plot a couple soon. Josh Doan has been tremendous for the Sabres, with 4 goals and 4 assists in 11 games. Not only is he chipping in offensively, he is doing all the dirty work too. Grinding on the wall and going to the net. Josh might lead the team in assisting on goals he doesn’t collect a point on. Either by creating screens in front or keeping the defense preoccupied on him. The work ethic of these two should be bottled for team comsumption.
Meanwhile, Tage Thompson’s 4 goals and 5 assists has him on nearly a 70 point pace. But the eye test on TNT leaves you wanting more. Both in goals (not enough) and his turnovers and poor decisions. (too many) Jiri Kulich, thrust into top line duties, needs to produce more. He has played OK with 5 points in 11 games. But when you have Taz dishing out an assist a game on one side and have last year’s leading goal scorer on the other, Jiri needs to contribute more steadily. Jack Quinn has scored a streaky 6 points in 11 games but needs to be more consistent. He can disappear for a game or more at a time. Ryan McLeod has 3 goals and 7 points to far. It’s nice to see his 53 points last year wasn’t a fluke as he is on pace for 50 again.
UPDATE: From https://www.nhl.com/sabres/
The Sabres recalled forward Isak Rosen from the Rochester Americans (AHL) on Friday. The 22-year-old is tied for the AHL lead with 12 points (5+7) in eight games to begin the season. His NHL experience consists of 15 games between the last two seasons.
Rosen takes the roster spot of forward Zach Benson, who was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Benson skated 16:18 in Thursday’s game at Boston, last leaving the ice with 4:02 remaining in the third period.
Absolute rotten news that Benny is out.
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Josh Doan – Jiri Kulich – Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Alex Tuch
Isak Rosen – Peyton Krebs – Jack Quinn
Josh Dunne – Jordan Greenway – Beck Malenstyn
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson – Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power – Conor Timmins
Bowen Byram – Michael Kesselring
Goalies: UPL, Alex Lyon, Colten Ellis
Washington Capitals
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin– Dylan Strome? – Ryan Leonard
Aliaksei Protas – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael – Hendrix Lapierre – Justin Sourdif
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Anthony Beauvillier
Defense
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun – Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalies: Logan Thompson, Charlie Lindgren