Nicklas Backstrom pots shootout winner as Washington Capitals advance against Buffalo Sabres 4-3 –NHL
Buffalo Sabres were looking for another win to further improve their already impressive, 4-1, preseason record but faced their second straight loss in a shootout decider against Washington Capitals, 4-3, on Friday, September 30, 2011, at the Verizon Center
in Washington, District of Columbia.
Capitals all-star captain, Alex Ovechkin, remained silent in another preseason matchup and is still yet to score his first preseason goal, but did not stay out by assisting the first two Washington goals due to quick thinking.
Nicklas Backstrom opened up the scoring and gave Washington the lead at the 8:06 mark of the initial 20 minutes, but was quickly answered by Buffalo’s, Jason Pominville, who scored his third of the preseason 20 seconds later to level the score.
Buffalo’s high scoring forward, Thomas Vanek, finally potted his first with less than two minutes remaining on an assist from former Vancouver Canucks defenseman, Christian Ehrhoff.
Bruce Boudreau, heads coach of Washington Capitals, certainly believes that his teams’ defence could have been much better and that communication between the players must improve.
“I think on the [three] goals that were scored against us there’s still the newness of communication between Tomas [Vokoun] and the defense”, Boudreau said of his starting goaltender. “I think on . . .those goals — we talked about it in between periods —
there was a miscommunication. Whether it was handling the puck, or letting it go. Defense in front — ‘Should I block, should I not?’ Once we got that straightened around, I thought they played a really good third period”.
Mike Green made the equalising shot for Washington, midway through the second on their third power play opportunity of the match, only to be answered by Vanek with his second, nearly four minutes later.
Luckily for Capitals, Matt Hendricks came up strong during the third, tying the match at 3-3, forcing an overtime extension, which proved to be useless, ultimately taking the game into a shootout.
Nicklas Backstrom scored in the final round of the shootout after Buffalo Sabres missed their last attempt at winning it, to take the match for their second victory of the preseason.
Washington remains at home to face Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, for their last matchup before the regular season kicks off.
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