From the Press Box: Buffalo Sabres vs. Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals (47-23-7, 101 points) hosted the Buffalo Sabres (37-30-9, 83 points) at Verizon Center in the hunt to clinch the Southeast Division title for the fifth time in franchise history. Washington clinched their second consecutive NHL playoff spot in the Eastern Conference when the Sabres defeated the Florida Panthers on March 25.

Game Notes

Capitals’ 20-year-old Semyon Varlamov minded net opposite Sabres’ 28-year-old Ryan Miller. Varlamov made his fourth NHL start of the season. He is the first Capitals rookie goaltender to win his first three starts since 20-year-old Jim Carey in 1995. Varlamov enters the game with a record of 3-0-0 in Washington and 19-7-1 in Hershey.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 55th goal—on a power play—at 5:36 in the first period with Brooks Laich and Viktor Kozlov on the assists. Drew Stafford and Clarke MacArthur responded by scoring back-to-back goals for the Sabres at 9:14 and 10:02 respectively. The period ended 2-1 Sabres.

In the second period, Washington continued its characteristic overpassing, giving the Sabres time to adapt to the play. After almost four minutes of overpassing, Alexander Semin and Sergei Fedorov finally tallied with back-to-back power play goals at 3:41 and 3:50. Semin netted his 30th of the season, four more than in 2007-08 (his personal best is 38 in 2006-07). Derek Roy scored a power play at 18:17 then Fedorov (Ovechkin, Kozlov) responded 23 seconds later with his second goal of the game and 10th of the season. The period ended 4-3 Capitals.

At 2:31 in the third period the puck slid behind Varlamov but the referee disallowed the goal for incidental contact on the goaltender (without a penalty attached). The referee did award Ovechkin with a seat in the penalty box for interference against Miller about a minute later. The score remained 4-3 Capitals until Maxim Afinogenov slipped one past a red sweater at 10:21. The period ends tied 4-4.

With regulation ending in a tie, the Washington Capitals have earned one point to become the Southeast Division champions for the second consecutive year.

The game entered 4-on-4 sudden death overtime. Fedorov turned over the puck and at 1:51 Jason Pominville ends the game with his 17th goal of the season.

Buffalo defeated Washington 5-4. Washington’s last home game is Sunday against the Atlanta Thrashers (34-38-6).