A celebration of one of the all-time greats and a date with the Buffalo Sabres was on tap for Thursday night. Could the Caps pick up the two points in honor of Nicklas Backstrom’s 1,000th career NHL game?
Sam Reinhart deflected home the first of the evening, but Dmitry Orlov responded in the McNugget minute to have things still deadlocked after twenty minutes. Victor Olofsson and Casey Mittelstadt picked top corners to put the Sabres up two before Anthony Mantha tapped home his second Caps goal to cut the lead in half.
Anders Bjork restored that lead not long after. Tage Thompson empty netter.
Sabres beat Caps 5-2.
- That was not a great first period (and it ended up not being a great game) for the Caps as they definitely seemed to need the first ten or so minutes to recover from the big pregame ceremony. Vitek Vanecek was busy early and made two or three sparkling stops to buy time for the guys in front of him to find their legs. That eventually did happen and the Caps were able to sustain some offensive zone momentum near the end of the frame.
- Nicklas Backstrom‘s first mark on tonight’s scoresheet was an interference penalty. Taking a penalty in your 1,000th career NHL hockey game is sorta like going to jail on your 21st birthday for public intoxication, right?
- Dmitry Orlov got on the board for the Caps in the McNugget minute, extending his point streak to three games and giving him nine points in his last 13 games. Go get your nuggies, folks.
The #NHLBruins are using creepily lifelike mannequins to simulate pressure on defensemen shooting from the point. They move about as well as Moose and I do 😂 pic.twitter.com/8aLh2d2AGm
— The Camera Guys (@NBCSCameraGuys) April 14, 2021
- Man, the Caps did not look like they really expected to get an NHL game out of the Sabres and the Sabres absolutely took advantage of that laziness. You probably want a save on one of those three goals from Vanecek and Peter Laviolette agreed as Craig Anderson had to enter the fray over halfway through the second period.
- I would be okay if Brenden Dillon never pinched or was “aggressive” ever again. Jonas Siegenthaler perished for this. His partner Justin Schultz has not been great of late either.
- Anthony Mantha has two goals in two games since coming to DC. That’s a positive at least.
- The sheer amount of fumbled pucks from the Caps in this game would make a WFT running back proud.
hey straight up what is this pic in the @russianmachine photo archive pic.twitter.com/t9poFUtHvI
— Good Tweet Pete (@peterhassett) April 15, 2021
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsSabres Powder blue with green stripes. @JoeBpXp is literally the only person on earth who could pull this off. pic.twitter.com/tZjXvcEqAc
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 15, 2021
The Caps are done with the Sabres this season but that doesn’t mean the action stops. Next up is a Saturday afternoon affair with a Philadelphia Flyers team that probably wants some revenge for the beatdown they just took from the Caps.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Sabres
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
