Buffalo looked flat in one capital, will look to bounce back in the other capital

Buffalo Sabres (46-22-8) vs Washington Capitals (38-29-9)

Puck Drop: 7 pm ET | Capital One Arena, Washington DC

TV: MSG-B, ESPN+

Radio: WGR 550, Sirius XM (app)

Know Your Opponent

Washington Capitals

Record: 38-29-9 | 85 PTS

Last Game: 7-3 loss against New Jersey Devils; 6-2-2 in last ten games

Division Ranking: 6th, Metropolitan

PP: 24th, 18.0% (41/228) [Sabres: 15th, 21.2% (48/226)]

PK: 14th, 79.7% (188/236) [Sabres: 5th, 81.9% (172/210)]

What to Watch

1. Don’t panic!

With the Sabres now this close to finally breaking a record fourteen-year postseason drought, it does look like they’re holding their sticks that bit tighter. Against Ottawa they never really got into the game and weren’t able to go around the Sens clogging up the neutral zone. Everyone’s going to be trying their own way to stop Sabres’ “river hockey”, but Buffalo just needs to play their own game. Oh yeah, stop overpassing and get some shots on net too.

With the Red Wings losing to the Rangers earlier today, the playoffs are now confirmed!!

2. Ruff knows the problem

Lindy Ruff put the Sabres through something close to a bag skate on Friday after their unimpressive performance Thursday night. He’ll get them right and ready for Saturday.

“I thought we were slow. I don’t want to make excuses, but maybe the pressure of being there, just a little bit of that, caught up to the guys. Today was about just getting up to pace, playing fast, playing our game. I thought the energy was great. I thought the pace was great. I thought we skated better today than we did last night.”

3. Cold spells need breaking too

There’s a couple of Sabres forwards that have gone cold and Lindy shook up the lines on Friday to spark a few players. In their last ten games. Tuch went 2-2-4, McLeod has 0-2-2, Doan 2-1-3, Zucker 2-1-3, Norris 1-3-4 among others. The Sabres are going to need to find their sco ing touch again to close out the season strong.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Peyton Krebs – Tage Thompson – Josh Doan
Jason Zucker – Josh Norris – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Tyson Kozak – Beck Malenstyn

Defense

Mattias Samuelsson – Rasmus Dahlin
Bowen Byram – Owen Power
Logan Stanley – Zach Metsa

Goaltenders

Alex Lyon (projected starter), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Washington Capitals

Forwards

Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Connor McMichael
Hendrix Lapierre – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – David Kampf – Ivan Miroshnichenko

Defense

Martin Fehervary – Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson – Matt Roy

Goaltenders

Logan Thompson (projected starter), Charlie Lindgren

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