Washington, D.C. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres opened their 2022 preseason schedule on Sunday afternoon with a matchup in the nation's capital against the Washington Capitals. After a late game-tying goal from forward Jack Quinn forced overtime at Capital One Arena, it was forward Vinnie Hinostroza who tapped in the game-winning goal to give Buffalo a 4-3 win.
The Capitals were able to strike first in the opening period of play with the help of the man advantage. After defenseman Lawrence Pilut was penalized for holding, Anthony Mantha blasted a one-time bullet past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to give Washington the 1-0 advantage.
Despite the Sabres outshooting the Capitals, 11-6, through the opening 20 minutes, Washington managed to hold on to the 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Buffalo was awarded an early power play in the second period after forward Aliaksei Protas was penalized for hooking. A little over a minute into the man advantage, forward Dylan Cozens was able to fire a wrist shot over the blocker of goalie Zachary Fucale to tie the game at 1-1.
Nearly five minutes later, after killing off a penalty to forward Riley Sheahan, the Sabres gained their first lead of the afternoon courtesy of forward Tyson Kozak. After stepping out of the penalty box, Sheahan got the puck and fed it back to a trailing Kozak, whose shot beat Zucale for the 2-1 lead.
It only took 26 seconds for the Capitals to tie the hockey game, though, as former Sabres forward Conor Sheary was the benefactor of a 2-on-1 rush with Protas into the Buffalo zone. Sheary managed to put his shot over a sprawling Luukkonen to even the score at 2-2.
At the halfway point of the second period, the Capitals made a goalie change, as Fucale's day ended in favor of Hunter Shepard. Fucale was able to turn away 15-of-17 shots faced in 30:04 of work.
The score remained tied until the 5:43 mark of the third period when forward Joe Snively was able to re-direct a point shot from defenseman Vincent Iorio past Luukkonen to give the Capitals the lead once again, 3-2.
As Washington looked to close out the game in the dying moments of regulation, defenseman Erik Gustafsson was penalized for holding with 2:38 remaining in the third. That opened the window for the Sabres to tie the game, while having a two-man advantage with Luukkonen pulled.
After moving the puck around for a bit, the puck bounced over towards the left faceoff circle, where Quinn was waiting to put his shot over Shepard to tie the game with 1:05 to go in regulation and force overtime.
It only took the Sabres 1:15 into overtime to win the hockey game, as Pilut waited patiently with the puck, skated into a position to throw the puck towards the goal, and Hinostroza was able to re-direct the puck past Shepard for the game-winner.
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GAME RECAP
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
WSH: 4:05 - Anthony Mantha (1) PPG (Erik Gustafsson)
Second Period:
BUF: 4:25 - Dylan Cozens (1) PPG (JJ Peterka, Lawrence Pilut); 9:16 - Tyson Kozak (1) (Riley Sheahan, Chase Priskie)
WSH: 9:42 - Conor Sheary (1) (Aliaksei Protas, Nic Dowd)
Third Period:
BUF: 18:55 - Jack Quinn (1) PPG (Brett Murray, Dylan Cozens)
WSH: 5:43 - Joe Snively (1) (Vincent Iorio, Brett Leason)
Overtime:
BUF: 1:15 - Vinnie Hinostroza (1) (Lawrence Pilut, Rasmus Asplund)
WSH: NONE
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Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 2:48 - Lawrence Pilut (Holding - 2 min.)
WSH: 18:15 - Connor McMichael (Tripping - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: 7:08 - Riley Sheahan (Tripping - 2 min.)
WSH: 3:21 - Aliaksei Protas (Hooking - 2 min.); 12:08 - Vincent Iorio (Hooking - 2 min.)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
WSH: 17:22 - Erik Gustafsson (Holding - 2 min.)
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
WSH: NONE
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Vinnie Hinostroza - BUF
2.) Joe Snively - WSH
3.) Jack Quinn - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres return to Buffalo to open their preseason home schedule on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center. Faceoff on Tuesday is set for 7 p.m. ET on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.
