“That stuff’s contagious” | Late-game composure, blocked shots lead Sabres past Capitals

WASHINGTON – With all eyes on No. 8 in red, the Buffalo Sabres exploded for eight goals against the Eastern Conference’s top team.

Buffalo outpaced the Washington Capitals in an 8-5 win Saturday at Capital One Arena. In not succumbing to Washington’s late comeback bid and instead adding to their lead, the Sabres continued demonstrating their growth this season.

When the Capitals’ Jakob Chychrun tied it 2-2 early in the second period, Alex Tuch put Buffalo back in front a couple minutes later. When Aliaksei Protas narrowed Washington’s deficit to 4-3 with a shorthanded goal to begin the third, Tage Thompson responded by scoring on that same power play. When Buffalo’s 6-3 lead suddenly shrunk to 6-5 and a tying tally appeared imminent, Tuch scored again to silence the crowd and ice the game.

“We kept playing,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “We kept trying to create pressure. Both teams made some fundamental mistakes. You look at a couple coverage plays and a couple tip goals. Tip goals by us, tip goals by them. I thought every time they tried to get a little bit of momentum, we were able to take that away.”

“I feel like we have a better mentality now,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “When it’s a tight or close game, we just keep going. That’s kind of what we struggled with early on in the season. So, I think we’ve matured throughout the season and kind of learned that (a) one-goal game is no problem. That’s the biggest lesson we’ve learned this year.”

A persistent offensive attack exemplified that improved maturity, as did Buffalo’s 19 blocked shots – Connor Clifton led the team with six, and 11 of 18 skaters registered one or more – against a Washington roster loaded with dangerous shooters.

“The amount of blocked shots tonight showed the level of desperation,” Ruff said. “You’re trying to establish a (style of play) that’ll help you win every game.”

“Selling out to block a shot sends a message to the guy next to you that he’s all in for you,” Thompson added. “And that stuff’s contagious. It makes a guy next to you want to do it as well. If you want to be a winning hockey team, that’s the type of game you’ve got to play.”

Buffalo has been a winning team of late, going 7-4-0 since March 10. That includes back-to-back Sundays with road victories against the NHL’s top-two teams, record-wise, in Winnipeg and Washington.

Just as Ruff tends to blame ugly losses, like Saturday’s 7-4 defeat in Philadelphia, on poor puck play, he also attributes such promising victories to improvements in that area.

And it’s clear that, while the Sabres won’t be heading to the playoffs next month, they’re still treating the remainder of the regular season as a valuable opportunity to establish a foundation – a floor of effort and performance – to take into 2025-26.

“It’d be easy to just throw in the towel and check out and do your own thing out there,” Thompson said. “We made it a point, these last 20 games when we were 20 games out, that we were gonna make something out of it, try to build some momentum going into next year and try to hammer home an identity that we want to play (with).

"In order to do that, you’ve got to look in the mirror and hold yourself accountable, hold others around you accountable.”

Here’s more from the win.

1. As has often been the case lately, JJ Peterka had his fingerprints all over Buffalo’s first goal 12:49 into the opening period. First, the winger deked his way to the crease for a scoring chance and drew a Rasmus Sandin boarding penalty. Then, with the power play winding down, Peterka shot from the right dot and connected with the right pad of Capitals goalie Logan Thompson; Tage Thompson collected the rebound to tie the game 1-1.

Peterka assisted on Thompson’s second power-play goal, too, earning his second straight multi-point game and 14th this season – tied with Dahlin for second most on the team. This continues what’s been a career-best season for the 23-year-old Peterka, a pending restricted free agent.

“I think confidence is a big thing,” Thompson said when asked about Peterka. “He’s getting a big opportunity to play in all situations and he’s been playing great. He can score, he can make plays. … When he’s moving his feet, that’s when we get the best out of him. He’s been great and energizes our group offensively. And it’s not just the offensive side – I think I’ve seen a pretty big growth in his game, just in puck battles and 50/50s and playing hard in the D-zone, too.”

Thompson, up to 38 goals, is now tied with Kyle Connor and Brayden Point for third in the NHL. Unsurprisingly, the Sabres are 11-3-1 in their alternate captain’s multi-point efforts this season.

2. Buffalo’s power play went 2-for-5 and has heated up with a 9-for-31 (29.0 percent) run in the last 10 games.

“We found the areas to relieve pressure,” Ruff said, asked about his team’s in-game power-play adjustments. “I think if you make that next play once you’re inside the zone and get the pressure off you, you can generate the opportunities you want. Our first power play wasn’t any good, but I thought the second one we did a nice job of getting the puck to the middle of the ice to relieve pressure and then we set up.”

“Sometimes (if) you don’t break in, or you don’t have a couple clean plays, it’s easy to get frustrated,” Thompson said. “And that spirals and the power play can get out of hand. I think we just made it a point to regroup and not let the next opportunity that we got go to waste.”

3. Tuch tallied his 30th and 31st goals and added a primary assist in his fourth three-point game of the season. He’s a top penalty killer and an essential locker-room voice who frequently adjusts to new linemates, yet he’s still reached the 30-goal mark for the second time in his career – with nine games to play.

4. Jack Quinn recorded a goal and two assists for his second consecutive three-point performance. The goal extended Buffalo’s lead to 6-3 early in the third period; with Chychrun in a shooting position as he looked for a hat trick, Quinn swiped the puck away and sped off for a breakaway beauty.

5. Dahlin, after missing Saturday’s game due to illness, drew back into the lineup for his 500th NHL game. Buffalo’s captain became the third-youngest defenseman in league history to reach the milestone.

• Read: Teammates share memories ahead of Dahlin's 500th game

“It goes by fast,” he said. “I can’t believe already it’s 500 games. It’s been fun. It’s been a lot of ups and downs, but really a learning curve for me.”

Game No. 500 saw Dahlin skate a team-high 22:18 with two hits, one block and a plus-one rating. All season there’s been a stark contrast between games with Dahlin in the lineup and games without him, and this weekend continued that trend.

“I thought he played a solid game for us,” Ruff said. “You take a guy like that out of the lineup (Saturday) and obviously the minutes get put on the shoulders of some other guys. You don’t quite get the offense and, all of a sudden, you don’t quite get the breakouts that you need with a guy like Dahls, who can get back there in a hurry and make the right play.”

6. Forward Sam Lafferty also returned to Buffalo’s lineup after missing four games with a groin injury. He scored his third goal of the season, issued three hits and won three of four faceoffs.

His goal extended Buffalo’s lead to 4-2 midway through the second period. Lafferty carried the puck into the zone, swerved into the slot and lifted a backhand shot through Logan Thompson to snap an 18-game goal drought.

7. With Buffalo concluding a back-to-back set and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen having played Saturday, James Reimer started in net for the fifth time in the last seven games. He made 24 saves on 29 shots and is 4-1-0 in those five starts.

Up next

The Sabres wrap up their road trip Tuesday in Ottawa. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.