Capitals Fall To Sabres, 8-5, Alex Ovechkin Scores 890th Career Goal, Jakob Chychrun Scores Twice, Aliaksei Protas Scores 30th Goal Of The Season


Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals fell to the Buffalo Sabres, 8-5, Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena in the District. The loss drops the Capitals’ record to 47-17-9 (103 points) on the season. Alex Ovechkin scored career goal 890 in the loss. He is now just five goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky on the all-time goals list.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (31-4-6, 2.32 GAA, .917 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. James Reimer (5-8-2, 2.94 GAA, .899 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Sabres. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei Protas
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson

Scratched: Ethen Frank, Alex Alexeyev, Dylan McIlrath.

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).

1ST PERIOD

The Capitals opened the scoring on a follow-up blast by Jakob Chychrun (19) at 10:-06 of the first. Alex Ovechkin (25) and Dylan Strome (46) had the helpers. With the goal, Chychrun has established a new single-season career high in goals (previously 2020-21: 18g).

The Sabres quickly answered with a power play tally from Tage Thompson (37) at 12:49. A. Tuch (26) and J. Peterka (35) had the assists.

The first period concluded with the game tied 1-1. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 15-11.

2ND PERIOD

Buffalo took their first lead of the afternoon early in the middle frame on a net-front tally from Ryan McLeod (18) at 2:14 of the period. J. Quinn (19) and O. Power (32) had the assists.

But the Capitals quickly answer on Jakob Chychrun’s (20) second goal of the game at 2:46. Chychrun is the first Capitals defenseman to score 20 goals in a season since Mike Green in 2008-09 (31g).

Chychrun is the ninth defenseman in franchise history to score 20 goals in a season, joining Sylvain Cote, Sergei Gonchar (2x), Mike Green, Kevin Hatcher (2x), Al Iafrate, Larry Murphy (2x), Robert Picard and Scott Stevens.

But the Sabres answered right back to regain the lead with a deflected shot from Alex Tuch (30) at 5:17. C. Clifton (12) and J. Zucker (28) had the helpers.

The Sabres extended their lead to 4-2 midway through the frame with a tally from Sam Lafferty (3) at 11:52. C. Clifton (13) had lone helper.

The Sabres led 4-2 going into the second intermission. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 23-10.

3RD PERIOD

The Capitals cut the Sabres lead to 4-3 on a short-handed goal from Aliaksei Protas (30) at 0:37. Protas’ shorthanded goal was his team-leading third shorthanded goal of the season. Protas ranks tied for sixth in the NHL in shorthanded goals.

Protas is the third Capital to reach the 30-goal mark this season, joining Alex Ovechkin (36g) and Tom Wilson (31g). It marks the first time since 2009-10 that Washington has had three players score 30-plus goals (Alex Ovechkin: 50g; Alexander Semin: 40g; Nicklas Backstrom: 33g).

But the Sabres capitalized on the remainder of their power play to restore their two-goal lead with a power play tally from Tage Thompson (38) at 1:28.

The Sabres quickly extended their lead to 6-3 with an unassisted tally from Jack Quinn (4) at 5:52.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 890th career goal midway through the final frame to make it 6-4.

The Capitals cut the lead to a single goal with a deflected goal from Pierre-Luc Dubois (19) at 14:03. Alex Ovechkin (26) and Dylan Strome (47) had the assists. Dubois (19g-43a–62p in 73 GP) is two points shy of establishing a new career high in points, which he accomplished with Winnipeg in 2022-23 (27g-36a–63p in 73 GP).

Strome recorded his second assist of the game on Washington’s fifth goal. Strome, who leads Washington in assists and points, has reached the 70-point mark for the first time in his career.

But the Sabres quickly restored their two-goal lead with a deflected goal from Alex Tuch to make it 7-5. They added an empty net goal to make it 8-5, the final.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.





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