(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night – The Caps finish up a weekend set of back-to-backs on Saturday night in Buffalo against the Sabres. Saturday’s game is the first of three meetings between Washington and Buffalo this season. The Caps are seeking to snap a modest three-game losing streak
Washington is seeking its first win in western New York in three and a half years, since a 4-3 shootout victory in Buffalo on March 25, 2022. The Caps have been outscored by a combined 20-11 in four visits (0-3-1) here since that last victory. The last time the Caps won in regulation in Buffalo was April 9, 2021, late in the pandemic-abbreviated 2020-21 season. Washington and Buffalo were both occupants of the East Division that season, and the Caps won all four of their visits here that season.
The last time these two clubs hooked up was in Washington on March 30 of this year, when Buffalo prevailed in high event 8-5 game.
Both teams enter tonight’s game with three game losing streaks, but the Sabres have earned a point in each of their setbacks; they’ve dropped three straight overtime decisions by identical 4-3 scores. The Caps are aiming to avoid their first four-game losing streak in regulation in the Spencer Carbery era, which is now 175 games deep. The last time Washington lost four straight games in regulation was from March 30-April 8, 2023, as part of a longer six-game slide (0-5-1).
The Caps lost center P-L Dubois late in the first period of Friday’s loss to the New York Islanders in Washington. Hours before puck drop for Saturday’s game in Buffalo, Carbery termed Dubois as “day-to-day” with a lower body injury; he did not make the trip with the team. Dylan Strome, who has missed the last two games with a lower body injury, did make the trip, and his status for tonight will be determined during warmups. If Strome can’t answer the bell, Spencer Smallman – recalled from AHL Hershey this afternoon – would make his NHL debut.
Smallman, a native of PEI, would be just the 35th NHL player from that province to play in the League. The last Capital from PEI was defenseman Kent Paynter, who logged 14 of his 37 career NHL games with Washington in 1989-90 and ’90-91.
Regardless of what the lineup looks like, the Caps are focused on getting their offense rolling, and on overcoming a Buffalo team that has given them trouble in recent seasons.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on their group,” says Carbery of the Sabres. “We’ve seen them a significant amount over the last couple of years, and the group hasn’t changed a ton with their core guys that have – just to be honest with you – given us issues in the past with their size, their speed, their skating ability from the back end with [Rasmus] Dahlin, [Owen] Power and [Bowen] Byram.
“So, we’ve got to do a better job – especially on a back-to-back, coming into their building where they’re fresh – of we’re going to have to find our legs early in this game and make sure that we’re doing, not only from a coverage and checking standpoint, but we’re managing being able to have some productive shifts, and not sitting back on our heels and letting them constantly come at us in wave after wave and let them attack us. That will be what I’ll look for early in the game.”
This One Goes To Eleven – Caps defenseman John Carlson plays in the 1,100th game of his stellar NHL career tonight in Buffalo. On Washington’s most recent trip here, Jan. 6 of this year, Carlson notched the 700th point of his NHL career, becoming just the 26th defenseman to reach the milestone in League history.
On Friday night in Washington, Carlson logged 25:08 in ice time, leading all skaters on both sides. A little more than two months shy of his 36th birthday, Carlson has averaged 23:35 in ice time per game this season, ranking 30th among all NHL blueliners.
Among all NHL defensemen, Carlson is one of only three – and he is the lone right-hander – to average more than 3:45 per game in power play ice time and 2:30 in shorthanded ice time this season. The other two are Anaheim’s 24-year-old Jackson LaCombe and Utah’s 27-year-old Mikhail Sergachev.
“He’s been solid for us once again this year, playing in every situation, penalty kill, power play, 5-on-5, doing a good job for us,” says Carbery of Carlson. “And I feel like it’s just been pretty consistent over the last few years of him being a guy that we can rely on in every situation.”
Carlson becomes the first Caps defenseman to reach the 1,100-game milestone in a Washington sweater, joining longtime teammates Alex Ovechkin (1,502) and Nicklas Backstrom (1,105) as the third Capital to reach the plateau.
Carlson becomes the 75th defenseman in NHL history and the fifth active blueliner to reach 1,100 games.
“Honestly, I feel great right now,” says Carlson of being on the cusp of another significant milestone. “The summer was good, and you never want to take anything for granted, but yeah, I really feel solid in doing what I do. I feel like I’ve actually started to feel better in the last year and a half or two years, I would say. Whether that’s just happenstance or trying to get better all the time, I still think there is a lot to grow for me in my game.”
Champagne Halloween – Halloween was a big day for Caps prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko. Hours ahead of puck drop for the Caps’ Friday night Halloween home game against the New York Islanders, the team announced it had come to terms with Miroshnichenko – the team’s first-round choice (20th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft – on a two-year, one-way contract extension worth a total of $1.85 million.
The deal will pay Miroshnichenko a salary of $900K the first year and $950K the second year, with $50K in signing bonus each season. The salary cap hit for the duration of the pact is $925K.
In his first North American pro season of 2023-24, Miroshnichenko made his NHL debut with Washington on Dec. 20, 2023. He netted his first NHL goal at Pittsburgh on March 7, 2024 and he became the first member of his draft class to appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game when he suited up against the New York Rangers on April 26, 2024. Two months later, he capped it off by winning the Calder Cup with his AHL Hershey teammates.
Miroshnichenko, who turns 22 in February, has totaled three goals and seven assists for 10 points in his 39 NHL contests to date.
In The Nets – Charlie Lindgren gets the net for the Capitals tonight in Buffalo. Since blanking the Rangers on 35 shots in New York in his season debut on Oct. 12, Lindgren has dropped his last two starts. He has faced 34 or more shots in two of his three starts this season, and he has yielded only six goals at 5-on-5 in his three starts.
“I would expect them to lay it on the line for him tonight in this back-to-back, difficult environment,” says Carbery of Lindgren’s teammates. “[They’re a] hard team to play against that we’ve had our struggles with, with their speed, skill, mobility on the back end. So we’re going to need everything that we’ve got from our group tonight.”
Lifetime against the Sabres, Lindgren is 2-2-1 in six appearances (five starts) with a 3.50 GAA and an .877 save pct.
Buffalo is carrying three goaltenders, and it has also already had four different goaltenders start for its AHL Rochester affiliate in the first month of the season. Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen is the likely starter tonight, though Alex Lyon has had – pardon us – the lion’s share of the netminding chores to date this season. Rookie Colten Ellis, plucked off waivers from St. Louis early last month – is also on the roster, and he played well and won his lone start so far, his NHL debut vs. Detroit on Oct. 22.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Lukkonen is 5-1-2 in eight appearances – all starts – with a 2.91 GAA and a .904 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Capitals and the Sabres “might” look on Saturday night in Buffalo:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
72-Beauvillier, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 24-McMichael, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 34-Sourdif
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
57-van Riemsdyk, 47-Chisholm
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
52-McIlrath
81-Smallman
Injured/Out
38-Sandin (upper body)
53-Frank (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
BUFFALO
Forwards
17-Zucker, 12-Greenway, 72-Thompson
91-Doan, 71-McLeod, 89-Tuch
63-Rosen, 20-Kulich, 22-Quinn
44-Dunne, 19-Krebs, 29-Malenstyn
Defensemen
23-Samuelsson, 26-Dahlin
25-Power, 21-Timmins
4-Byram, 8-Kesselring
Goalies
1-Luukkonen
34-Lyon
Healthy Extras
55-Geertsen
92-Ellis
Injured/Out
6-Benson (undisclosed)
9-Norris (lower body)
15-Danforth (lower body)
48-Kozak (lower body)
49-Meyer (lower body)
78-Bryson (concussion)