Washington, D.C. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – Following an ugly 7-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, the Buffalo Sabres shrugged it off in a big way on Sunday in the nation’s capital.
Facing the Capitals at Capital One Arena, the Sabres outlasted Washington in a high-scoring affair, 8-5, against the top team in the Metropolitan division.
Both sides traded goals in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The home side opened the scoring at the halfway point of the period when defenseman Jakob Chychrun's shot dribbled through Sabres goalie James Reimer and just past the goal line.
Less than three minutes later, the Sabres responded with Tage Thompson's 37th goal of the season on a power play opportunity.
Thompson was able to lift a loose puck over the sprawled out leg of goalie Logan Thompson to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second period, the Sabres opened things up with a trio of goals.
It started with Ryan McLeod using his speed and strength to get behind the Washington defense and get a contested chance 1-on-1 with Thompson in goal. McLeod managed to put home his 18th goal of the season to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.
Washington responded just 32 seconds later, though, as Chychrun stepped up from the blue line to roof his second goal of the afternoon.
Just over two-and-a-half minutes later, the Sabres re-gained the lead thanks to Alex Tuch, who managed to get a piece of a point shot from defenseman Connor Clifton in front of the Capitals net. The goal marked the 30th of the season for the 28-year-old.
Nearing seven minutes remaining in the middle frame, the Sabres extended their lead to 4-2 thanks to a goal from Sam Lafferty, who threw a backhand on net that eluded Thompson for his third tally of the year.
The third period provided more goal-scoring madness, and it started just 37 seconds into the frame.
Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas helped cut his team’s deficit to 4-3 thanks to a shorthanded breakaway, as he managed to get behind the defense and slip the puck through the five-hole of Reimer.
However, the Sabres responded less than a minute later on the same power play, as Tage Thompson wired a quick, hard shot on goal that Logan Thompson got a piece of, but the Capitals goalie was unable to keep out of the net. It was the Sabres forward’s second goal of the game and 38th tally of the season.
With Washington continue to press in a two-goal game, Chychrun attempted to drag a puck past Sabres winger Jack Quinn for a shot on goal, but Quinn defended the play well and sprung himself on a breakaway. Quinn made no mistake, wiring a shot over the right catching glove of Thompson to extend the Sabres lead to three.
With less than 11 minutes remaining in the contest, the Capitals cut the deficit to 6-4 thanks to a goal from Alex Ovechkin, who re-directed a shot toward the net for the 890th goal of his illustrious career.
Then with just under six minutes to go, the Capitals closed the gap to just one, as forward Pierre-Luc Dubois managed to get a piece of an Ovechkin shot toward the Buffalo net for his 19th tally of the year.
That’s as close as the Capitals could get on the afternoon, as Buffalo managed to shut down any further onslaught from Washington and secure a win with two more goals.
With 4:26 remaining on the clock, Tuch registered his second goal of the game off another re-direction, this time off a shot from defenseman Mattias Samuelsson.
Then with the Washington net empty, forward Peyton Krebs capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal with just 23 seconds remaining in the game.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 12:49 - Tage Thompson (37) PPG (Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka)
WSH: 10:06 - Jakob Chychrun (19) (Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome)
Second Period:
BUF: 2:14 - Ryan McLeod (18) (Jack Quinn, Owen Power); 5:17 - Alex Tuch (30) (Connor Clifton, Jason Zucker); 11:52 - Sam Lafferty (3) (Connor Clifton)
WSH: 2:46 - Jakob Chychrun (20) (Unassisted)
Third Period:
BUF: 1:28 - Tage Thompson (38) PPG (Jason Zucker, JJ Peterka); 5:52 - Jack Quinn (14) (Unassisted); 15:34 - Alex Tuch (31) (Mattias Samuelsson); 19:36 - Peyton Krebs (8) ENG (Jack Quinn)
WSH: 0:37 - Aliaksei Protas (30) SHG (Tom Wilson, Martin Fehervary); 9:11 - Alex Ovechkin (37) (Rasmus Sandin, Trevor van Riemsdyk); 14:03 - Pierre-Luc Dubois (19) PPG (Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Alex Tuch - BUF
2.) Tage Thompson - BUF
3.) Jakob Chychrun - WSH
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What's next:
The Sabres kick off the month of April with a road meeting on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. Faceoff at Canadian Tire Centre is set for 7 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.