The Sabres have plenty of tough competition in their new division for this season. One of the toughest new foes is the Washington Capitals.
Since the start of the 2014-2015 season, the Buffalo Sabres have played the Washington Capitals 17 times. Buffalo has only won four of those games. If history repeats itself, eight games against the Capitals is less than ideal for the Sabres this season.
The Capitals are coming off a 41-20-8 record in the 2019-2020 season. They were in first place in the Metropolitan Division by one point over the Philadelphia Flyers when the league had to shut down.
The Capitals have been one of the most competitive teams in the league for a while. They haven’t missed the playoffs since the 2013-2014 season. They are currently given the fourth-best odds to win the East Division this year according to sportsbettingdime.com.
Washington will be one of many tough opponents that the Sabres will face this season. Playing a team like Washington so many times in a season will be a great test for the Sabres.
The Capitals posted 3.42 goals per game last year. That was second in the league, only behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. And it doesn’t look like we should expect to see much regression from their offensive unit this season either.
Washington is retaining almost their entire offensive unit from last year, so I expect their offense to be just as high powered as it was last season. It is hard to expect a team with Alexander Ovechkin as the centerpiece to the offense to regress much at all.
Although their defense was not a top-two unit like their offense was, the Capitals had a steady defense that kept them in games last year. They ranked 18th in the league in goals allowed per game with 3.07. But they had the sixth-best penalty kill in the league which came in at 82.6%.
The biggest question mark surrounding the Capitals this year is the goalie situation. Braden Holtby signed with the Vancouver Canucks in free agency, but the Capitals brought in long time New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist recently revealed that he would not be able to play this season due to a heart condition that he has.
So it looks like the Capitals will start the season with Ilya Samsonov as their starting goaltender. Samsonov made 22 starts and 26 appearances in his rookie year last season. He had a 2.55 goals allowed average and .913% save percentage in his impressive rookie campaign.
Washington also brought in former Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson for a professional tryout. They also have Vitek Vanecek and Pheonix Copley in their system. So it seems like there will be some goalie competition in camp for Washington.
The Capitals have been a top-tier contender for many years, and they will prove to be a tough matchup for the Sabres. The East Division is stacked with contending teams, with the Capitals being one of the best of the group. The Sabres will need to be firing on all cylinders throughout the season to make a run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.