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The Buffalo Sabres came to Washington to finish up a back-to-back set of games and found the Capitals in an inhospitable frame of mind. A three-goal second period broke open a 1-1 game, chasing starting goalie Matt Hackett, and the Caps slammed the door on the Sabres in the third period. In the end, six different Caps scored goals in the 6-1 win.
Here are Saturday’s plus/minus:
- Plus: Spreadability. OK, maybe it’s not a word, but the Caps spread things around smartly. Six different players had goals; 11 different players had points.
- Minus: What, are you kidding? OK, it really could have been ten goals in this game, but Anders Lindback in relief for the Sabres in goal had some very fine saves in the third period.
Ten more notes on the game:
- The Caps dominance through two periods was complete. They out-attempted the Sabres, 59-21, through 40 minutes in building a 4-1 lead. In the end, the shot attempts were an almost obscene 84-43 for the Caps.
- The dominance extended to the faceoff circle, where the Caps enjoyed a 25-14 edge in faceoffs through two periods and 40-23 for the game.
- Alex Ovechkin was awarded a penalty shot in the second period, but failed on the attempt. He is 0-for-4 since scoring a penalty shot goal against Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils on October 9, 2010. Ovechkin could have had a second penalty shot in the third period when he had his skates swept out from under him as he broke in alone on the Buffalo net, but the referees chose to play on.
- Curtis Glencross had his first three-point game as a Capital, his first three-point game of this season, and his first three-point game since he had a hat trick for the Calgary Flames in an 8-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers last March 22nd.
- Mike Green had his 12th multi-point game of the season with two assists. Only Nashville’s Roman Josi and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang (both with 13) have more multi-point games among defensemen.
- In six minutes of penalty killing time, the Caps held the Sabres to just a single power play shot on goal.
- Shots… 45-17, Caps. Ovechkin had 16 shot attempts for the Caps; the Sabres had 17 total shots on goal. That is a season low for shots allowed by the Caps.
- This was the third time this season that the Caps recorded six goals, the first time since they beat Toronto, 6-2, on January 7th. The five-goal margin of victory was the largest for Washington this season.
- Brooks Laich scored his sixth goal of the season in the second period, breaking a 26-game streak without a goal. The goal scored by Jay Beagle was his tenth of the season, the first time in his seven-year career that he reached double digits in goals.
- Nicklas Backstrom had a pair of assists to give him 51 for the season, tops in the league. It is the fifth time in eight seasons that Backstrom topped 50 assists. He and Ovechkin (also with a two point night) are tied for second in points (69) behind the New York Islanders‘ John Tavares (70). Those two assists for Backstrom also tie him with Michal Pivonka for the franchise record in assists (418).
And now, this…