Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will host the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, as the team gets set to honor Jeff Skinner, who will be playing in his 1,000th NHL game.
This season, Skinner has 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points in 67 games. Last season, he had 47 assists alone on the way to his best season in the NHL.
However, Skinner hasn’t scored in six games, and hasn’t had an assist in eight games.
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Buffalo has lost 4-of-6 games, and 5-of-8 since going on a three-game winning streak.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gets the call in net for Buffalo on Tuesday. He’s had some struggles in his last four appearances, going 1-3-0 with a 5.19 goals-against average and an .845 save percentage.
Overall this season, he’s 24-20-3 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
In their one game against Washington this season, it was another evening of huge frustration. The Sabres got off to a 2-0 lead, and in the second period, Dylan Cozens gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead. However, the Sabres gave up the game-tying goal to Tom Wilson with just 1:15 left in regulation time, and they ended up losing in overtime on a Dylan Strome goal.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said the imaging on Jordan Greenway went well, but he won't play on Tuesday and is considered day-to-day. That puts Lukas Rousek and Eric Robinson in the lineup with Tyson Jost out.
For over a month, you heard me talking about the improvement of the Sabres' power play. They scored a goal with the extra man in 10-out-of-14 games, going 11-for-37 (29.7%).
They’ve played seven games since then and have gone 0-for-18.
If you want to know why since March 1 the Capitals have gone from 11th place in the Eastern Conference to the eighth and final playoff spot, you need not go any further than their power play.
Washington has gone 25-of-76 (32.9%) since Feb. 8 with the man advantage. In that time, they scored a goal with the extra man in 19-of-25 games.
Another reason they’ve gone 13-6-2 in their last 21 games is the emergence of 30-year-old goalie Charlie Lindgren.
Lindgren has played 42 games for the Capitals this season after only playing 62 career games before that. Washington made a huge mistake signing Darcy Kuemper, not realizing the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in spite of him, not because of him.
During the 2015-16 season, the Montreal Canadiens inked Lindgren out of St. Cloud State University. In the 2021 offseason, he inked a free agent deal with the St. Louis Blues. The following offseason, he signed with Washington.
In March, Lindgren was 9-4-1 with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. In his last 12 games, he’s 8-3-1 with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.
Overall this season, he’s 21-13-6 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Lindgren has played in nine-straight games, 15-out-of-16 games, and 18-out-of-20 games.
It looked like Alex Ovechkin had hit a wall this season, but he then started catching fire as of Jan. 27. In 24 games, he has scored 18 goals and 29 points. However, he hasn’t had a point in his last three games.
Overall this season, Ovechkin has 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 points.
After winning three games in-a-row, Washington has lost two-straight.
Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET when you’ll hear from Granato, Skinner and Dylan Cozens.
