In Buffalo, Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves to help the Washington Capitals blank the Sabres, 6-0, on Monday night.
“He’s played really well for us. I’ve said it before, he’s given us a chance to win on a nightly basis,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said of the 25-year-old rookie, who is 12-5-3 with a 2.74 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. “He’s done a really good job. It’s nice for him to get his first shutout, and I thought the guys were really good for two periods, and then he had to work for it a little bit in the third and was able to get it done, and our guys were really happy for him.”
Alex Ovechkin scored his 717th NHL goal to tie Phil Esposito on the all-time list.
“I grew up in Massachusetts watching Phil, so to be able to grow up and watch him and the player he was … he was an unbelievable player, unbelievable goal scorer,” Laviolette said. “Now to get a chance to work with Ovi and have these two guys sitting here at the same number is pretty, pretty incredible. So I am really happy for ‘O.’ He works hard, and really he takes pride in his game and takes pride in doing the best he can to put that puck on net. It was great to watch him score that goal there.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov picked up a power-play goal in the first period for a 1-0 lead for the Caps. scored from the right half-wall three seconds after a power play expired to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 18:46 of the first period.
Nicklas Backstrom and Richard Panik pushed the lead to 3-0 early in the middle frame.
“It’s not easy right now,” the Sabres’ Kyle Okposo said. “It’s not easy, this is not an easy situation. Guys care; it’s just not happening right now. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s just, it’s tough. We’re in a really tough spot here. Guys are trying, and it’s just not working. I don’t know what else to say.”
Daniel Sprong finished the scoring in the second period for a 4-0 lead to the Caps.
“Obviously, a solid shot,” Ovechkin said of Sprong. “I always tell him, ‘Just shoot the puck and you never know what’s going to happen.’ I think right now he’s on a hot streak and he looks good, and it’s good for us.”
In the seventh minute of the third period, Garnet Hathaway potted the fifth Caps goal of the night.
“I think that’s been a big problem for us, is burying our offensive opportunities,” Okposo said. “I’ve never seen it through 27 games like the way it’s gone with essentially everybody. It’s just unfortunate. It’s tough, it’s tough right now.”
Carter Hutton made 24 saves in the loss.
“‘Hutts’ keeps us in it in the first,” Buffalo’s Sam Reinhart said. “They get a tough one [after] the power play. After he’s making some five or six Grade A scoring opportunities against, he’s keeping us in that game.”
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