(WGR 550) – The Sabres dropped their fifth straight game on Monday in Washington 5-3. Many would say the Capitals were lucky scoring goals that would hit two or three players before it went by Dustin Tokarski.
The fact is luck had very little to do with it as Washington had players planted in front of Tokarski all night long. If Buffalo wants to win games, the defensemen have to do a better job of getting those players out of there so Tokarski can see the shots. Cody Eakin agreed and said it's a detail they must work on.
Tom Wilson got the first goal of the game when the shot from Trevor van Riemsdyk hit Alex Ovechkin and then went in off of Wilson’s arm.
The second goal from Connor McMichael went in off of Christian Wolanin playing in his first game as a Sabre.
The third goal hit Drake Caggiula and then Ovechkin as he netted his league leading 11th goal.
The fifth goal a power play point shot from John Carlson went in due to a heavy screen by Wilson. The Sabres are way too soft in front of the net and make almost no effort to get guys out of there. Don Granato said, “We have to do better. We need to get into the shot lane up at the top. They’re going by somebody that should be in the shot lane and block a shot. If not, pressure them quicker so there’s a quicker release so bodies don’t get to the front of the net or pressure them quicker so our guys can step out quicker and block it so Ticker doesn’t even have to see it, but in a game like that, that was the deciding factor in the game.”
I think this game was also lost in the first period when the Sabres had almost no puck possession and chased the Capitals all over the ice. The shots were 12-6 Washington and the score easily could’ve been worse that 1-0.
After Washington made it 2-0, I thought the Sabres perked up. They were hard in the offensive zone led by the Cody Eakin line. That line’s play had really deteriorated during the losing streak, but they looked more like themselves in the second period. That led to a goal when Ovechkin blew a tire handing the puck right to Eakin for a breakaway. He beat Vitek Vanecek with a real nice shot.
The Ovechkin goal seems to take a little of the wind away from the Sabres effort. The one line that was consistently good on the forecheck was Tage Thompson, Rasmus Asplund and Jeff Skinner. They produced chances and had zone time at the offensive end.
With the schedule since Thursday night in Seattle, this wasn’t an easy game and to their credit, except for letting folks stand in front of their net, the Sabres fought through it. It wasn’t their best game, but they certainly never gave up.
After the game Granato revealed that Will Butcher had been playing through an injury so they thought it was a time for him to rest. That put Wolanin in the lineup for his first game as a Sabre and it put Rasmus Dahlin with Mark Pysyk. Pysyk had the calming effect on Dahlin that I thought he would. I thought Dahlin was steady and played his best game in awhile.
Wolanin was on the ice for two Washington goals and struggled, but he hadn’t played a game since being claimed in mid October from the Los Angeles Kings and hadn’t played a NHL games since the 2020-21 season and even then he only got into 18 games. It was obvious he was rusty. He only saw 8:18 of action.
The Sabres will have Tuesday off and then practice on Wednesday and Thursday before the Edmonton Oilers come to town on Friday.
