Caps beat Sabers 3-1 … but still no shutout for Vanecek

Caps beat Sabers 3-1 … but still no shutout for Vanecek

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Washington Capitals maintained its winning streak with a convincing but negligent victory over the Buffalo Sabers on Thursday night.

After Alex Ovechkin took a few hits against Buffalo goalkeeper Linus Ullmark, Nicklas Backstrom said “man, I got it” and did it himself. Tom Wilson extended the lead in the second period with a welcome goal from a lack of players. In the third, Conor Sheary recovered a rebound in a great run play. But then Victor Olofsson ended the tie with a power-play goal that cut through the top of Vancek’s net.

Caps win!

  • Tom Wilson had a tremendous game, giving the Caps their first shorts of the season. And it is good that he did that, as he totally missed another golden chance of goal a few minutes later. Wilson had a free disk in the slot, but instead of kicking, he made a drop pass. That is the essence of Wilson.
  • Wait, no, it’s not. This is not the essence of Wilson at all. That’s the essence of, like, Alexander Semin or someone. Anyway, there are no more fall passes. Caps forwards: let me know as soon as you receive this memo.
  • Novice goalkeeper Vitek Vanecek there was another almost stoppage until Orlov’s penalty in the third. But VV had to be very lucky to be close. The Sabers hit the post twice in the first period, and the VV skaters had to clean up some big rebounds from him. Still, I think he is making progress, especially as the defense in front of him is getting ready.

  • Buffalo goalkeeper Linus Ullmark gained prominence with the great defense above, but goalkeepers usually make savage saves like this when out of position. In our Discord, I said it was reminiscent of Varlamov’s playoffs in 2009; Nathan called Fleurying. I think Nathan said it better.

Screenshot courtesy of Sportsnet

  • The Sabers are a very good team, actually. It seems that they are just having a huge amount of trouble turning their good moves into real goals, especially during the five against five game. RIP their season or whatever, but the Caps are built differently.
  • The first coach to find many minutes for Jakub Vrana will look like a genius. Great attraction of NBCSW.
  • Eller’s line did not have an almost perfect game as it did against Pittsburgh, but still produced with an excellent goalkeeper finished by Conor Sheary. They are really fun to watch.

Two consecutive wins? This is officially a trend. There has been a really respectable game lately, since the last defeat against Pittsburgh, if you ask me. But this weekend’s challenge will be a real test. I’ll meet you here, then.

RMNB coverage of Caps vs Sabers

Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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