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Capitals Come Back, Burned By Buffalo, 5-4 (OT); Ovechkin Nets Two Goals

By Harrison Brown·
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals were beaten the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday night and are now tied with the New York Rangers (who have a game in hand) for third place in the Metropolitan Division and one point back of the New Jersey Devils (three) for second.

Washington’s point streak extended to eight (6-0-2) with the overtime loss. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves in the defeat.

Capitals’ Lines vs. Buffalo

Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Martin Fehervary — Matt Irwin

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Alexander Alexeyev

Injured: D John Carlson (upper-body, missed fourth straight game, out indefinitely); RW Connor Brown (ACL, 36th, indefinite); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 40th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 40th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 40th, indefinite)

Snively came back with Oshie, who missed the last six games with an upper-body injury, returning.

Buffalo’s Lines

Jeff Skinner — Tage Thompson — Alex Tuch
Jack Quinn — Dylan Cozens — J.J. Peterka
Casey Mittlestadt — Tyson Jost — Victor Olofsson
Zemgus Girgensons — Peyton Krebs — Kyle Okposo

Mattias Samuelsson — Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power — Kale Clague
Ilya Lybushkin — Jacob Bryson

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Craig Anderson

Scratched: RW Vinnie Hinostroza, LW Rasmus Asplund, D Casey Fitzgerald

Injured: G Eric Comrie (knee, 19th, week-to-week)

First Period

Scoring

10:48, 1-0 Buffalo: Tuch wristed one past the blocker in front after Thompson beat Orlov to the loose puck, spun around with Jensen on his back, and fed him wide open.

12:07, 1-1: Milano picked up a loose puck at center, sped in, and backhanded a shot top corner after Mantha intercepted a pass at the defensive blueline and chipped it ahead.

17:29, 2-1 Buffalo (PPG): Thompson bombed one past the blocker of Kuemper from the top of the left dot after Dahlin fed him at the top.

Shots: 11-8 Buffalo

Other Notable Stats: Washington won 83% of the draws and led 18-10 in hits in addition to 6-1 in blocked shots. Buffalo had two giveaways while Washington was on the board for six.

Second Period

Scoring

5:50, 3-1: After Tuch fell on his knees down low, he got back up and fed Thompson with a no-look backhand pass and Thompson wristed one top left corner from the slot.

16:46, 3-2: Ovechkin wristed a shot over the glove after Kuznetsov won a draw cleanly for his 807th carer goal. The 37-year-old has five goals over a three-game goal-scoring streak and seven over his last five. Luukonen became the 167th goalie Ovechkin has ever scored on. Kuznetsov extended his point-streak to six games (two goals, nine points) with his team-leading 28th helper of the campaign.

Shots: 19-17 Washington (including 11-6 in the second)

Other Notable Stats: Washington won 71% of the draws and did not score on their lone power play through 40 minutes. They also led 29-13 in hits and 10-6 in blocked shots.

Third Period

Scoring

0:55, 3-3: Dowd pounced on the rebound in front after Milano, who earned his fourth multi-point game this season, sped into the offensive zone and threw the puck at the net from the left corner. Dowd has reached the 10-goal mark for the third consecutive season time in his career and is one goal shy of tying his single-season career high (2020-21: 11g).

7:10, 4-3 Washington: Ovechkin sneaked to the net front and one-timed a shot past the blocker of Luukonen after getting a feed from Sheary, who stripped the puck from Dahlin behind the cage.

11:22, 4-4: Mittlestadt wristed one that bounced past the pad of Kuemper and in from the right dot after deking and getting a pass from Power up high. Jost got a touch on the puck on the way in.

Shots: 30-27 Washington (including 11-10 in third)

Other Notable Stats: Washington, who led 39-21 in hits and 15-10 in blocked shots, won 69% of the faceoffs. Buffalo had just eight takeaways while Washington earned 12.

Overtime

Scoring

3:00, 5-4 Buffalo: Thompson picked up a loose puck at the side of the net after a turnover by Eller and Tuch bounced it off to him. Thompson buried it for the hat trick and his 30th goal of the season.

Shots: 32-29 Washington (2-2 in overtime)

Next game: Thursday vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (7 PM ET, ESPN)

By Harrison Brown