Sam Reinhart had the only goal tonight for the blue and gold as the two teams squared off for a Saturday night showdown. Robin Lehner made 30 of 35 saves as the Capitals beat the Sabres, 5-1, at Capital One Arena. With the Trade Deadline looming, forward Evander Kane did not play tonight because management thought it was the best decision moving forward and the best decision for Evander. This comes as Kane is the prime candidate to be traded in the next few days. The first goal of the night was scored by Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov 49 seconds into the game. The Sabres defense was nowhere around to stop Kuznetsov. Ryan O’Reilly’s line was one that attempted to make the most moves, but as the top team in the league, the Capitals stopped them. Sam Reinhart came into the game and scored the third goal of the game 14 seconds into the third period, and that was the only goal for the Sabres in the game. The Capitals earned two points and surpassed the Boston Bruins as the number one team in the Eastern Conference with 77 points. For the Sabres, they remain second to last in the league with 47 points. There were only three penalties, but there were numerous plays that should have been called as a penalty and head coach Phil Housley was obviously fed up in his postgame press conference. But the game wasn’t a total disaster. The team came out throughout the second period and showed some sparks, but were turned down by the very talented Capitals team. Star forward Alex Ovechkin scored two goals to give him 38 on the year. The key play of the game was by Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky. He sprinted from his side of the ice, passing all Sabres men on the ice and got past Lehner for a goal. An unbelievable play and unbelievable that no one could stop that. Kyle Okposo’s third-period penalty for ‘goaltender interference’ was one that confused some. Looked like he was pushed into Grubauer but that gave the Capitals the penalty kill. The Sabres are back on the ice tomorrow evening against another tough opponent, the Boston Bruins, at KeyBank Center at 5 p.m. There is no word whether Evander Kane will play or even be on the Buffalo Sabres by the time they step on the ice.
Recap
Scoring
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