Sabres Drop Final North American Preseason Game To The Capitals

by Zachary Zielonka on Oct 1, 2011 8:01 AM EDT in Game Recaps

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 30: Alexander Semin #28 of the Washington Capitals scores a shootout goal against Ryan Miller #30 of the Buffalo Sabres at the Verizon Center on September 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. Washington won the game 4-3. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

In what will be the Sabres final preseason game in North America this season, the Washington Capitals outplayed the Sabres in the final period and was able to get a 4-3 shootout win on Friday night. Nicklas Backstrom scored the game winning goal in the shootout.

After leading 3-2 heading into the third period, the Washington Capitals outshot the Sabres 15-3 in the third period and Matt Hendricks was able to score off a rebound with 6:27 left in the period. The Sabres defense just looked lazy and sloppy in the the third period with the Capitals taking charge and finally getting the game tying goal.

The Sabres did find some scoring from Thomas Vanek who scored on two tip-in goals, one off of a shot from Christian Ehrhoff in the first period and one off a shot from Mike Weber in the second period. The Vanek-Adam-Pominville line tonight accounted for all three of the Sabres goals, with Pominville scoring in the first period, and a total of seven of the nine points the team had this game.

Ryan Miller played the entire game for the Sabres and had a relatively solid game making 29 saves on the night, but the worst gaffe was probably the second Capitals goal that Miller gave up. On the Capitals power play, Miller appeared to be covering the puck up and Mike Green was able to pokecheck the puck through Miller's legs and just past the line.

The Sabres will leave for Europe today and spend the next week there with two regular season games and one preseason game on the schedule. That preseason game will be the final of the season and is against Adler Mannheim on October 4th at 10am Eastern time.

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Comments

I Know Its Only Preseason

The Sabres have some new faces and the defense should be better, but the results are the same. Fortunately, it is only preseason, but I’m afraid that Ryan Miller is showing signs of decline. The Third Period of last night’s game in which the Sabres were leading at beginning of the period looked too much like last year’s team; they forgot a hockey game is 60 minutes.

Perhaps they were looking ahead to their trip to Europe, but that is a poor excuse for the weak effort in last night’s third period. I still have strong reservations of Ruff’s ability to coach this team. He is a good coach, but not a great coach. He is fortunate that Regier is a GM with a lot of patience.

Last night demonstrated that this team is not yet capable of beating the good teams in the league. Although they look great on paper, they are mediocre on ice.

by Geolover on Oct 1, 2011 12:45 PM EDT reply actions

Preseason.

Save Jenrry Mejia!
Keep Reyes, Trade Wilpon.

by Ogre39666 on Oct 1, 2011 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I think it’s safe to say the Caps wanted to win that one more than the Sabres – if the game was in Buffalo, I doubt the 3rd period would have gone that way. It’s the preseason.

by Frank Reich Revolution on Oct 1, 2011 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I was at the game last night

My impressions:
- The Vanek – Adam – Pominville line was truly impressive last night. Adam was throwing his body around a bit and it showed. Pominville was very good with the C. Very good overall.
- The Ennis – Leino – Stafford line couldn’t get much going, but they looked like they have definite potential. They were frequently defensive liabilities, but Ennis and Leino in particular did a good job backchecking their asses off. Stafford did not have one of his better games and was partly responsible for the first Caps goal.
- Gerbe – Gaustad – Kaleta – They didn’t really stick out one way or the other, except for the fact that the Caps really seem to hate Kaleta even without him doing anything. Gerbe also seemed pretty ineffective all night. He kept getting muscled off the puck by a bigger Caps team, but he did do a good job standing up for himself. He also had quite a nifty move on the shootout.
- Ellis – McCormick -Gragnani – Ellis had a horrendous game. He just really wasn’t on the same level. McCormick did a good job hustling. You could tell Gragnani at forward had some creativity, but he was somewhat tentative quarterbacking the PP with Ehrhoff.
- Weber and Sekera did not have good games at all. Sekera had a lot of turnovers, frequently in the defensive zone and Weber screened Miller on the tying goal.
- Myers and Regehr seemed solid.
- Miller actually looked solid all night and had to make some big saves that lesser goalies would not have made. The shootout was another matter entirely. Miller looked very shaky. He kept going down way too early and Ovechkin and Semin were able to victimize him. The saves he made were pretty much shot into his midsection.
- Vanek did not get the shootout the way that he wanted to. Afterwards he was looking at his stick and yelling frustratedly.

by Philaster on Oct 1, 2011 1:57 PM EDT reply actions

Sekera is a weak link on this team

to read he had a lot of turnovers in the defensive end is exactly what we saw last year. Not sold on Stafford, either – too inconsistent. Glad to see Pomvinville really picking up his game this year. “Caps hate Kaleta?” ha ha – all our opponents do; he gets under their skin – that’s his job.

Anyway, thanks for the report!

by ccthemovieman on Oct 1, 2011 3:23 PM EDT reply actions