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.