Final Score: Capitals 6 | Sabres 1
Shots on Goal: Sabres 30 | Capitals 34
Sabres Goal Scorers: Henri Jokiharju (1)
Capitals Goal Scorers: Jakub Vrana (5, 6), Chandler Stephenson (2), Brendan Liepsic (1), Tom Wilson (5), T.J. Oshie (8)
Plus 1: Henri Jokiharju
For the first time in his young National Hockey League career, Henri Jokiharju scored a goal in a regular season game.
Certainly not the way many, including him, had envisioned it but at the end of the day, a goal is a goal.
Jokiharju has enjoyed a strong start to his first season with the Buffalo Sabres. One can only imagine that getting his first goal in the books will only add more confidence to Jokiharju, who seems quite confident as is.
Minus 1: A Bad Game Across The Board
As pointed out by our own Chad DeDominicis, it was a bad game for all involved this evening.
Final player charts. Just a bad game pretty much all the way around. pic.twitter.com/lUkCc86O8i
— Chad DeDominicis (@CMDeDominicis) November 2, 2019
As you can tell by the fancy stats mentioned above, it was a forgetful Friday night for most Buffalo Sabres involved.
Hit the reset button, maybe shake up lines and pairings – with Brandon Montour potentially returning – and try again.
It is a long season and games like this will unfortunately happen.
Minus 2: Johan Larsson, Meet Tom Wilson
ALWAYS keep your head up when Tom Wilson is on the ice 🔨 pic.twitter.com/9bq5xUaym5
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 2, 2019
Ouch. It never feels good when Tom Wilson cleans out your clock with an open ice hit.
This is the equivalent of adding insult to injury. Buffalo was getting handled easily by Washington and then Tom Wilson lays the boom.
Just forget about the game and move on.
Final Thoughts
There does not appear to be much to take from this game on Buffalo’s side of the fence. If you ended up watching all 60 minutes, you are a stronger person than most.
Offensively, the spark seems to have faded a little – at least in this game.
Defensively, Buffalo’s struggles continued. Normally, the offensive success can mask their defensive struggles but tonight did not play out like that.
Buffalo is lucky enough to be able to employ a short-term memory – they play Saturday night at the KeyBank Center.
Unfortunately, the good news ends there.
Buffalo will play host to the New York Islanders, who have won eight games in a row.
If it isn’t one thing, it is another – right?