March 30 vs. Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena
Time: 3:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN, Caps Radio 24/7
Buffalo Sabres (30-36-6)
Washington Capitals (47-16-9)
Back from a two-game road trip to the Midwest, the Caps stop at home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon, closing out the March portion of their schedule. Sunday’s game also kicks off a stretch of five games in eight nights for Washington. The Caps’ remaining schedule consists of two sets of five games in eight nights sandwiched around a three-day break (Apr. 7-9) from game action.
After scratching out a point on Alex Ovechkin’s 889th career goal late in the third period of Tuesday’s game in Winnipeg – a 3-2 overtime loss – the Caps played well in dropping a 4-2 decision to the Wild in Minnesota on Thursday.
Although the Caps carry an impressive 9-3-1 record for March into Sunday’s game with the Sabres, they’re also seeking to shake off consecutive losses (0-1-1), a relative rarity for them this season.
The Caps’ carry a six-game home winning streak into Sunday’s game, a spree that sprouted early this month, in the wake of the team’s only three-game slide (0-3-0 from Feb. 25-March 1)) of any kind this season. The brief slump came during a five-game homestand coming out of the NHL’s break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Plagued by a series of slow starts, the Caps didn’t play with a lead in any of those three straight losses, but they gradually turned that tide during their California trip. In winning the final game of that journey in San Jose and sweeping a subsequent three-game homestand, the Caps scored first in every game – and they never trailed in any – to put together their sixth winning streak of at least four games in duration this season. Overall, the Caps went 9-1-0 in the 10 games that followed their only three-game hiccup of the season.
Washington didn’t score first in either game of its trip west earlier in the week, though it twice rallied to tie the score in Winnipeg and carried a 2-1 lead into the second periods in Minnesota. With 10 games and less than three weeks remaining in the season, the Caps are looking to keep their edge, and to shore up areas of their game that are sagging a bit, such as their power play and once again, their starts.
“The way I look at those two games, really good hockey games against good teams on the road,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “You could argue we could have won either of those games, right? But we didn’t.
“I can just point to one of the things we talked about, our starts. We go down 1-0 in both of those games, early. Not ideal. The other thing with the starts is playing from behind at this time of year – whether it’s at the end of the regular season or in the playoffs – if you’re trailing games going into the third period, that is not a good recipe.
“And we’ve done it a lot this year – we’ve come from behind – I think we’re tied for the most comeback wins in the third period. Come playoff time, though, when you’re playing against great goaltending, great defensive teams, and teams that at that point of the year are so dialed in – make sure we’ve got a good F3, nobody gets above us, we don’t give up many odd man rushes – that protecting a lead in the third period or trying to come back is a recipe to lose games at this time of year.”
As Carbery notes, the Caps have engineered several comebacks this season. They’ve proven to be a quick strike team, and a team that is never out of game. But in each of those two road games in Winnipeg and Minnesota, the Caps yielded a most untimely goal against in the final dozen seconds of the middle period, and in both of those instances, the late turned a tie game into a one-goal deficit for Washington.
On the season, the Caps are 7-12-6 when trailing after two periods, and they own the second-best winning percentage in the League in such situations. But they’re also 11-3-2 this season in games that are tied after 40 minutes play, so those late goals against in tight games can be debilitating.
“We have to understand that; it doesn’t mean you can’t come back in the third period and it’s impossible,” says Carbery. “We’re confident we can do that. But it’s not a recipe of two games in a row on the road you’re trailing when you’re going into the third period. It’s tough to come back in those games, and you saw it. In the Winnipeg game, there was hardly anything. In the Minnesota game, there was hardly anything. There were five guys back, five guys back, five guys back, and it’s hard to come back.”
Buffalo comes to town on the heels of a 7-4 setback at the hands of the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. The Sabres had strung together three straight victories prior to the misstep against Philly, and Buffalo racked up 15 goals in those three games. A win in regulation over the Flyers on Saturday would have elevated Buffalo from the Eastern Conference basement,
The Sabres have scored four or more goals in six of their last eight games against the Capitals, including the most recent meeting a 4-3 Buffalo victory in overtime on Jan. 6 in Western New York. Washington is 3-3-2 in its last eight games against the Sabres.
Sunday’s game is the middle match of a three-game road trip for the Sabres, who will conclude their journey Tuesday night in Buffalo.
