How the Buffalo Sabres fared against the Capitals in 2022-23

The Buffalo Sabres faced off with the Washington Capitals in a three-game series in 2022-23. How did the Blue and Gold fare against Ovechkin and Company?

For the last decade or so, the Washington Capitals have been a thorn in the side of the Buffalo Sabres. This season was a little different however. How did the Sabres fare against the Caps? Let’s find out!

The first of three meetings took place at the beginning of January. Buffalo was playing with one thing on their mind, winning for the city of Buffalo.

In a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field. The game itself was cancelled and it was unknown time for Buffalo. Going into this game, the city of Buffalo needed some positivity. Just past the halfway point of the first period, Alex Tuch gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead.

A couple of minutes later however, Sonny Milano tied the game up. With a couple of minutes remaining in the first period, Tage Thompson scored on the power play to regain the lead and the score was 2-1 Buffalo after the first period.

Thompson scored his second goal of the game a few minutes later, but Alex Ovechkin made it 3-2 heading into the final frame. Washington ended up taking the lead but Tyson Jost evened the score for the Sabres. Buffalo and Washington needed overtime to determine a winner.

Tage scored a hat trick and gave the city of Buffalo a reason to celebrate as the Sabres defeated the Capitals 5-4. Oh and if this poetic then I don’t know what is. Hamlin wears number 3. Tage Thompson scored 3 goals and reached 30 goals on the season.

The game took place on January 3rd and Buffalo won it 3 minutes into overtime. I guess you can say it was a sign and the city of Buffalo needed a good thing to cheer about after a very scary incident.

Buffalo Sabres split with the Capitals in the final two games of the series

Buffalo hosted Washington for a Sunday matinee in the second game of the series. Before the game, the Sabres received some bad news as Alex Tuch was going to be sidelined with an injury. Spoiler alert, Buffalo stepped their game up big time.

The Sabres and Capitals exchanged goals in the first period as it was 2-2 heading into the second period. During the beginning of the period, it was all Buffalo. Thanks to Jeff Skinner, Zemgus Girgensons, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Dylan Cozens, the Sabres jumped out to a 6-2 lead.

Before the period came to an end, the Capitals scored two more goals to make it 6-4 heading into the third period. Cozens would score again as Buffalo marched onto a 7-4 victory over the Caps.

Buffalo and Washington met up for the final time back in the nation’s capital. After scoring the first two goals of the game, the Sabres had their lead cut in half but Jost added another to make it 3-1. No goals were scored in the second period and Buffalo was 20 minutes away from sweeping the Caps.

Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 3-2 but Girgensons responded a few minutes later to give the Sabres another two goal lead. Somehow, the Capitals forced overtime as they would score twice, the game tying goal happened with a minute to go in the third.

The game went to a shootout and Washington emerged as the winners. This was a very frustrating because Buffalo had THREE, two goal leads and still lost. No that last part was not in honor of Hamlin. The good news is Buffalo won their season series against Washington.

(Historical data provided by Hockey-Reference)