Buffalo’s letdown game finally comes, ending win streak at eight
Boxscore
Score: Buffalo Sabres 1-2 Washington Capitals
Shots: BUF 30-22 WSH
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Carrick 6 (Malenstyn, Power)
Washington Capitals Goals: Leonard 14 (Unassisted), Chychrun 23 (Protas, van Riemsdyk)
Quick Thoughts
Dominant First Period
Against the San Jose Sharks even the fans had expected the Sabres would have some kind of hangover after that epic win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. However Buffalo came out hot and kept it up for most of the game. This evening they started off in the same vein again controlling the puck and peppering the visitors’ goal with shots.
Were it not for goalie Charlie Lindgren being on top of his game the Caps would have gotten snowed under in the first period where the Sabres outshot them 15-3, going 7-2 on high danger chances. However, Buffalo got only the one goal in that period with new addition Sam Carrick scoring again off a beautiful no-look pass from Beck Malenstyn. With all four new faces from the trade deadline on the ice, it looked like business as usual.
TNT’s Five-Slapper PP
On a first period power play, the Sabres set Tage Thompson up for four consecutive slapshots, all similar from his favored left faceoff circle spot, and four times the Caps foiled him. The puck got recycled back to him for one more chance, but that was also saved. An incredible and pretty rare sequence of play.
Lulled To Sleep
After being smacked 4-1 by the Flyers last night, you wouldn’t have expected the Caps to show any form of a spine, but that is exactly what they did. The Sabres stopped skating, Washington started clogging up the neutral zone and slowed Buffalo down and that was basically the prognosis of what happened for the remaining forty minutes of the game.
The new third pairing of Logan Stanley of Luke Schenn were not added because of foot speed, so when the latter’s pass across the Caps blue line was miscontrolled by the former, the speedy Ryan Leonard streaked away with the puck and was able to beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to level the game.
Fatigue Plays A Part
Buffalo have not lost any games in regulation in 2026 where they have scored more than two goals, and we all just knew that we had to score that second to keep the winning the streak going. The Caps had started the third period with more of a jump than their hosts, and as the minutes ticked down in the third, it felt like the Sabres had done enough to get to overtime.
However, last night’s goat Jacob Chychrun (-4 against the Flyers) came up with the opportunistic shot from a feed behind the goal by Aliaksei Protas, and his shot leaked through UPL to put the Sabres behind 2-1 with just over ninety seconds to play. Uh oh.
Buffalo have not looked dominant with the puck with the goalie pulled, and that was the same tonight too, so it was no surprise when the Caps did enough to keep them from creating any sustained pressure in the dying seconds to hold on for the win. A disappointing end to an eight-game winning streak, and to some extent it was one change too many from Lindy Ruff, but also possibly these young Sabres cannot be playing at that adrenaline-fueled 110% level every single game.
At The Horn
The Sabres’ were going to lose another game eventually, the question was always when. With that out of the way tonight against the Caps, it’s time to bounce back and get on the bike again and get wagonin’. Buffalo remain two points ahead of the Lightning who won tonight, and have two games in hand too. The Hurricanes also lost, and they are two points ahead of Buffalo for Conference-best with a game in hand.
Buffalo won’t have too long to ruminate on this one, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in town for what is usually a heated affair with a cross-border rival. With the Leafs having given up the ghost for the season though, it will be interesting how motivated they will look having just ended a long losing streak with a win over the Anaheim Ducks today.