Sabres’ third period outburst sends them to 6-2 win over Caps

In Buffalo, the Washington Capitals picked a fine time to go cold. On Tuesday night, the Caps lost a 6-2 decision to the Sabres.

They remain in the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, tied with the Detroit Red Wings.

The two teams entered the third period with the Sabres holding a slim, 3-2, lead over the Caps.IN the span of 2:30, the Sabres posted three goals to wrest control of the game and send the Caps to the loss.

Rasmus Dahlin started the outburst at 3:03 of the third when he hit off the power play to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead. He scored off a long distance shot from the left point.

“We’ve had a lot of talks and it finally trickled in,” Dahlin said. “We’ve been having a lot of chances the last, whatever, five games on the power play, but we haven’t scored. That can create frustration, but we just stayed with it and scored two really good goals today, and we just got to continue to build.”

Tage Thompson pushed the advantage to 5-2 at 4:48, scoring from the left side of the cage.

Alex Tuch scored from the dame side as Thompson to stretch the lead to the final, 6-2 at 5:33.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves in the win.

The Sabres improved to 36-35-5.

Washington took a 1-0 lead on a strike by Martin Fehervar at 2:46 of the opening stanza. He scored off a shot from atop the left circle.

“Overall, we didn’t play really good, so we were lucky we were in that kind of spot in the third period,” Fehervary said. “But then it just turned on us. I mean, we just need to be better overall, like more sharper in the [defensive] zone, and we just need to have more checking.”

The Sabres replied with a marker from Zemgus Girgensons at 15:42 for a 1-1 tie, scoring off a deflection.

The Caps dropped to 36-28-10 off their third straight loss.

“I thought we were fine offensively, we just couldn’t handle their speed and skill,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “And against a team as good as they are in that department, if we can’t defend that and do a better job, it’s going to be really, really difficult for us. But yeah, they’re a handful for us, for sure.”

J.J. Peterka hit for a double for the Sabres in the win. His first came at 16:50 of the first, on the power play, scoring off a puck that deflected off Tuch;s skate into an open space for the easy tap in, to make it 2-1 to the Sabres. .

He has 28 goals on the year.

“Obviously, it would be probably pretty cool (to reach 30 goals), but right now just playing, just trying to win games here right now and trying to help the team as good as I can,” he said. “Sometimes you have those games where a lot goes in, and sometimes they don’t, so I think just sticking with it and trying to help the team as good as I can.”

Peterka collected his double midway through the second period to extend the lead to 3-1, scoring after a turnover by the Caps.

Dylan Strome scored with a backhand shot on the power play with 46 seconds left in the middle frame to trim the deficit to 3-2 headed to the third period, and the Sabres outburst.

“We just gave up too many chances against and chasing the game the whole night,” Strome said. “… Obviously, disappointing tonight. Would like to get some ground (in the playoff race), but it is what it is. One game, just move on, but not a good game, obviously, from us.”

Charlie Lindgren got the start for the Capitals, he made 25 saves, surrendering six goals, before getting the hook in the third period.,