Buffalo Sabres Opponent Outlook: Washington Capitals
Buffalo Sabres forwards Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane, meet Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. You’ll be seeing a lot of each other this season in what should be some offensively strong games between the two teams.
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The Caps finished last season fourth overall in the Eastern Conference with 101 points and a record of 45-26-11. They went 23-13-5 at the Verizon Center and 22-13-6 at home.
The Capitals won two of three meetings with the Buffalo Sabres last season — but it all began with a Sabres win, 2-1, in the first meeting of the season.
Matt Moulson and Torrey Mitchell had the goals for the Sabres, while Matt Niskanen tallied a power-play goal for the Caps.
It was a strong 43-save effort by Jhonas Enroth, however, that really gave the Sabres the extra edge they needed to win. Braden Holtby, who will once again be the Caps’ starter this season, had 24 saves in the loss.
The next meeting saw Alex Ovechkin tally his 44th goal of the season en route to a 6-1 win for the Caps.
Curtis Glencross, Jay Beagle, Brooks Laich, Joel Ward and Marcus Johansson also scored for the Capitals. Johan Larsson had the lone goal for Buffalo, who was outshot 45-17. Holtby had 16 saves, while Matt Hackett and Anders Lindback split goaltending duties.
Finally, Evgeny Kuznetsov helped lead the Caps to a 4-3 shootout win with a goal in regulation and a shootout goal. Tyler Ennis, Cody Hodgson and Larsson scored for Buffalo in regulation; Glencross, Kuznetsov and Mike Green scored for Washington.
Holtby had 30 saves, while Lindback stopped 35 of 38 shots faced behind a depleted Sabres team that saw call-ups including Zac Dalpe, Jerry D’Amigo, Tim Schaller and Philip Varone.
In the offseason, the Capitals made a few moves, while also bringing back some of their young core.
They re-signed Marcus Johansson, Braden Holtby, Chris Brown, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Stanislav Galiev. Of course, they’ll also still have guys like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in that core as well as the season goes on. Backstrom is expected to miss a few games at the beginning of the season and may start the year on injured reserve.
One player who didn’t quite make the cut for the Capitals this season: former Buffalo Sabres center Derek Roy, who was cut at the end of training camp.
The Caps added defensemen Ryan Stanton (VAN) and Aaron Ness (NYI) and forwards Zach Sill (TOR), Paul Carey (BOS), Justin Williams (LAK), Carter Camper (OTT), Sean Collins (CBJ) and goaltender Dan Ellis (FLA).
Departures include Eric Fehr, who signed with Pittsburgh, and Joel Ward, who signed with San Jose. Cameron Schilling went to Chicago, while Chris Connor went to Philly.
Most notably, perhaps, defenseman Mike Green signed with the Detroit Red Wings.
The Caps also completed a note-worthy trade in which they acquired forward T.J. Oshie, shipping out Troy Brouwer, Pheonix Copley and a 2016 3rd-rounder to St. Louis. Undoubtedly, Oshie will be a key addition and big offensive contributor to the Capitals this coming season.
The Capitals and Sabres meet three times in the 2015-2016 season, with all three meetings coming in a span of less than a month. The teams will face off in a home-and-home series on December 28 (@ BUF) and December 30 (@ WSH). They’ll close out the season series in Buffalo on January 16.
Next: Buffalo Sabres Opponent Outlook: Pittsburgh Penguins
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