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Written by Justin Creech
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Friday, 14 December 2007 |
Washington, D.C.- The Washington Capitals had an opportunity to turn their season around tonight against the Buffalo Sabres. Having won the first three games of a four-game home stand, the Capitals were looking to go four for four and creep back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. But defensive breakdowns and an awful third period cost Washington that opportunity as they fell to the Sabres 5-3.
In the first three games of the home stand, the Capitals third period play had been suspect, but was ultimately forgiven because of the three victories. Those breakdowns came back to haunt Washington as they were outscored 3-1 in the third.
“This is our chance; this is our opportunity,” said a visibly frustrated interim head coach Bruce Boudreau. “You’ve won three in a row, it’s the last game of the home stand, let’s get out there and get a run together. For whatever reason, we didn’t have that sense of urgency. I didn’t think we had 19 players playing to their capabilities.”
Washington netminder Olie Kolzig talked about the missed opportunity after the game as he sat at his locker visibly dejected.
“We need as many wins as we can get,” said Kolzig who made 25 saves. “We can’t afford to lose many.”
Nineteenseconds into the third period the Sabres took their first lead of the game. A point shot by defenseman Brian Campbell hit off the boards behind Kolzig. Drew Stafford picked up the loose puck and quickly took a wrap around shot to Kolzig’s right, which beat the veteran netminder to his five hole.
The Capitals caught a bit of luck 4:50 later as a dump in pass by Milan Jurcina, who played in place of John Erskine, hit a divot in the ice and came out to the front of the Sabres net. Brooks Laich easily put the puck into the empty net as Sabres goalie Ryan Miller attempted to get back in front.
But, the Capitals were unable to get the puck out of their zone late and it proved costly. After several Jason Pominville shots were stopped by Kolzig, forward Tim Connolly dove at a loose puck off a Pominville shot that beat a diving Kolzig for a 4-3 lead with 3:42 to play. Connolly had taken a puck to the eye in the second period which kept him down for a short time.
“We had some costly turnovers at bad times and that last shift there where we couldn’t get it out of the zone,” said defenseman Tom Poti of Connolly’s goal. “We had a couple chances to clear it and didn’t get it out and it ended up in the net.”
Poti was on the ice for another costly Washington breakdown. Late in the second period, Buffalo’s Andrej Sekera sent a pass from his own zone to Maxim Afinogenov, who was waiting just inside the Washington blue-line after having slipped behind Poti and defenseman Mike Green.
Afinogenov raced to the net, and just as he shot, had his stick slapped by Green’s. However, the momentum from Green’s stick sent the puck to the left corner of the net, where it hit the post and slid behind Kolzig to tie the game.”
“[Afinogenov] kind of slipped back there and we were supposed to be playing three across the line,” said Poti. “Michael [Nylander] thought I was getting him and I thought Michael was getting him, and it was just a miscommunication.”
The Capitals scored the game’s first goal on a shot by Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin took a pass down low from Nicklas Backstrom and put the puck into the top left of the net after Miller had stopped Ovechkin’s first attempt.
The goal was Ovechkin’s team leading 23rd goal of the season in just 32 games, and put him one goal behind Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk for the league lead.
Backstrom added a goal of his own 38 seconds into the second on a pass from Viktor Kozlov from behind the Sabres net. The goal was Backstrom’s fifth of the season and his fourth multi-point game since Nov 23. It also put him third among NHL rookies with 21 points.
The Capitals travel to Tampa Saturday to take on the Southeast Division rival Lightning at St. Pete Times Forum. The Capitals are 1-2 against the Lightning this season, including a 5-2 setback in Tampa on Nov 16.
“We’ve just got to put this out of the way and have a good game tomorrow night” said Poti
Notes: Washington Redskins stars Chris Cooley and Mike Sellers were in attendance as well as the Nationals Ryan Zimmerman.
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