Both the Buffalo Sabres and the Washington Capitals were coming off of short rest, each playing and losing on Thursday night in their respective contests.
However, it was the Capitals who found their way back to winning ways on Friday night, defeating the Sabres, 4-3 at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo had to battle back all game, with the Capitals getting out to an early lead off of a goal from defenseman Brenden Dillon. From there, the Capitals held a lead the rest of the way, but not without a fight from Buffalo.
Let's take a look at three observations from Friday's game:
1.) Dahlin and Jokiharju pairing is fun to watch
Sabres interim head coach Don Granato has played around a little bit with his defensive pairs over the past few weeks, but it seems like he's found one unit he can depend upon to be a threat at any point.
The pairing of defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju may leave a bit more to be desired in defensive aspects at this point of their careers, but whenever they're on the ice, they're involved at both ends, and it has resulted in offense for Buffalo.
When paired together, the two controlled shot share at all levels. From the shot attempts all the way down to the shots on goal, Dahlin and Jokiharju dominated their competition.
Jokiharju scored his first period goal when Dahlin found him along the blue line. Jokiharju carried it to the top of the left circle and fired a shot past Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek.
The pairing produces high-event hockey, with their expected goals-for percentage of 60.78%, according to Natural Stat Trick, indicating that they're just as involved with the offensive events as they are with defensive events.
It will be fun to see how this pairing evolves over the rest of the season, and possibly into the next one.
2.) Sabres allow too much space for the Capitals to breathe
From the moment the game started, the Capitals held the Sabres at an arms-length away, constantly playing with, at least, a one-goal lead after Brenden Dillon's goal 2:39 into the game.
For much of the game, the Capitals held two-goal leads, and that's when the Sabres were at their best. In fact, that's when Buffalo scored all of their goals - with the Capitals up two goals.
Every single goal from the Sabres on Friday brought them within one goal of the Capitals. Every time they were close, it seemed Washington applied just enough pressure to get their two-goal lead back.
Ultimately, Sabres forward Tage Thompson brought the Sabres within one after his tip of a Rasmus Ristolainen shot late in the third period. The Sabres surged at the end with the goalie pulled, but it wasn't enough for them to tie things up.
3.) Arttu Ruotsalainen depended on at 5-on-5
Sabres rookie forward Arttu Ruotsalainen made his NHL debut on Friday night. The rookie forward had been skating with the Sabres' taxi squad during the previous two contests, but he finally got his chance in the big leagues.
Ruotsalainen played most of his time with forwards Kyle Okposo and Riley Sheahan. All-in-all, Ruotsalainen got nearly doubled up in shot share in total, but throughout the game, it seemed like coach Granato was experimenting a bit with the Finnish forward to get a feel with how he plays with others.
While he did not end up on the score sheet, Ruotsalainen's play in the American Hockey League has earned him an extended look in Buffalo. It will be intriguing to see if he draws into the lineup again on Sunday afternoon.
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The Sabres will use their Saturday to prepare for their afternoon matinee on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
Brian Koziol will kick things off at 1 p.m. ET with the Paul William Beltz Postgame Show. He'll take you through the hour, leading you up to opening faceoff scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.