The Washington Capitals hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Thanksgiving eve, looking to keep their hot run of form going. Buffalo is a young, fast team that has put some big numbers up on the Capitals in recent seasons. Could the Caps stymie them on Wednesday night?
JJ Peterka opened the scoring after the Capitals can’t clear in their defensive zone and then Zach Benson scored one of the prettiest first NHL goals of all time to make it 2-0. Alex Alexeyev responded with his own first NHL goal later in the frame.
TJ Oshie tied the game up with a rebound strike, his first marker of the campaign. Dylan Cozens put Buffalo back in the lead before the second period ended. Tom Wilson scored with Darcy Kuemper pulled to send the game to overtime.
Dylan Strome overtime snipe wins it.
Capitals beat Sabres 4-3!
- The Capitals did not have enough of the puck in the first period. The Sabres ended the frame up 5-0 in high-danger chances at five-on-five. There are defensive problems all over this team but goaltending has been hiding them in recent games. Not a good twenty minutes.
- Little bit of a difference between those first NHL goals, eh? Zach Benson with an absolutely absurd, between-the-legs tally and Alex Alexeyev with a wrist shot from the point that clanks off two defenders and in. Both count the same though. Congrats, Alex!
- In my opinion, despite some Buffalo fans raging on social media, Tom Wilson’s hit on Owen Power was perfectly clean. He then got challenged to a fight by Jordan Greenway who didn’t receive an instigator penalty for…reasons? Great, consistent officiating.
Since the 2005-06 season, 76.7% of #NHL teams in a playoff spot on U.S. Thanksgiving go on to make the playoffs.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 22, 2023
- A ton better at five-on-five in the second. In fact, almost the direct opposite of how they played in the first. Felt like Spencer Carbery found a good rhythm with his lines and stopped defaulting to the fourth line so much.
- I’m convinced that Arthur the cat from the Capitals Canine Calendar could coach this team’s power play. They worked on it a ton at a recent practice. Could you tell? I couldn’t. Every single one still devolves into John Carlson and Alex Ovechkin doing their lazy switch that they’ve done for like five years that never works. I remember the days when the Capitals going up a man was exciting and now I dread watching it.
- The Capitals’ penalty-killing unit finally gave up a goal after killing off 24 straight penalties. They managed to get through the five-on-three portion of Buffalo’s power play but tired legs caught them out in the second portion and Dylan Cozens blasted the Sabres into the lead.
- TJ Oshie has scored a goal, y’all. Little more than worrying that it took this long but let’s hope things come easier for him now. It was almost weird to hear Country Roads inside Capital One Arena.
Checking in on McDavid… pic.twitter.com/gA4db9hjTL
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) November 23, 2023
- It took eight minutes to find the first shot on goal in the third period for either team. Good defense but not turning that into any offense can’t happen when you’re down a goal. Really nice to see them get it together for the six-on-five goal though. Clutch.
- Tonight’s officials did everything they could to make sure the Sabres would not be shorthanded in the final frame. It seems like the Caps were in their ears a bit all night. Rightfully so.
- First win against an Atlantic Division foe this season. Good to get on the board there. What a goal from Dylan Strome. He took the final 15 minutes of the game over.
We’ve got Locker in his Thanksgiving best and your #JoeBSuitOfTheNight pic.twitter.com/19S42iHV35
— RMNB (@rmnb) November 22, 2023
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! The Capitals will be back in action on Friday afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers.
Headline photo: kurly/Crashers
