Photo: Bill Wippert/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals concluded their season-long six-game road trip with a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon. The team finished the road trip with a record of 3-3-0. The loss kept the Capitals within two points of the New York Islanders for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, though the Islanders have two games in hand on Washington. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 33 saves in the loss.

Capitals Lines at Sabres

#Caps‘ lines in BUF:
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly
62-Hagelin, 26-Dowd, 18-Stephenson

6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 29-Djoos

Holtby vs. Hutton. #CapsSabres

— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) February 23, 2019

Forward Carl Hagelin made his Capitals debut after being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. He played with center Nic Dowd and forward Chandler Stephenson on the fourth-line. Center Travis Boyd came out of the lineup in favor of Hagelin. The Capitals made no other line changes from their 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Defenseman Nick Jensen, who was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings in a trade on Friday afternoon, was a healthy scratch.

First Period

Forward Jason Pominville made it 1-0 Buffalo one-timing the puck in front after getting a backhand pass from forward Jeff Skinner at the goal-line 3:30 in.

Forward Sam Reinhart picked the top corner on Holtby and went top-shelf on the blocker side after getting a pass in the neutral zone to make it 2-0 Sabres 12:51 into the contest.

The Capitals led 9-6 in hits, 2-0 in takeaways, and won 58% of the faceoffs in the first period.

The Sabres led 13-10 in shots, 8-1 in blocked shots, and had three giveaways while the Capitals had five through 20 minutes.

Each team went 0-for-1 on the power-play in the opening frame.

Second Period

Captain Alex Ovechkin sniped one blocker side of goaltender Carter Hutton all alone on a breakaway to extend his goal-scoring streak to five 2:28 into the period. The goal was his 44th of the season.

Forty-Four. #ALLCAPS @Ovi8 pic.twitter.com/MGsXFjM2qi

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2019

Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin blasted his eighth goal of the season from the right circle through Holtby’s five-hole on the power-play after getting a cross-ice feed from center Jack Eichel to restore Buffalo’s two-goal​ lead with 32.4 seconds left in the period.

The Capitals led 15-10 in hits, 15-13 in second-period shots, and won 58% of the draws through two. They went 0-for-2 on the power-play in the first two periods.

The Sabres led 26-25 in shots, 9-4 in blocked shots, and had four giveaways while the Capitals had 10 through 40 minutes. They went 1-for-3 on the man advantage in the opening two periods.

Each team had two takeaways through 40 minutes.

Third Period

Forward Andre Burakovsky deflected defenseman Christian Djoos’ shot in front of Hutton 4:16 into the period to get the Capitals within one.

Shot nicked off Burkie! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/OxIzOi4dMc

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 23, 2019

Reinhart deflected the shot from defenseman Matt Hunwick in front of Holtby 1:27 later to put Buffalo back up by two.

Reinhart sealed the hat trick with an empty-net goal from his own zone to make it 5-2 with 55.5 to go.

The Capitals led 19-12 in hits and won 57% of the draws. They went 0-for-2 on the power-play.

The Sabres led 38-33 in shots, including 12-8 in the third period, 12-7 in blocked shots, 5-3 in takeaways, and had six giveaways while the Capitals had 17. They went 1-for-4 on the man advantage.

The Capitals return from their road-trip to host the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena on Sunday afternoon. Action from the District can be seen on NBC Sports Washington beginning at 12:30 PM ET.

By Harrison Brown