GDT: Buffalo @ Washington, 7:00 pm est, 12/30/2015

[WildCard]

Yoooouuurrrrrr Buffalo Sabres will head on down to Washington D.C. tonight to take on the Capitals in a meeting of familiar foes. The Sabres will look to bounce back from a 2-0 shut-out loss at the hands of the Capitals in Buffalo on Monday night, one in which the Sabres became familiar with Holtby's future Vezina and the best Russian goal-scorer of all time in Alexander Ovechkin. Despite this, the Sabres played a very solid game. Linus Ullmark stood tall, only letting in 2 goals (one of which was a fluke shot of the backboards) and another in which Risto blew his assignment on Ovechkin of all people. The pp needs to start clicking however, as they have been not only blank for the last 6 games, but also have been completely listless as well. 
 
The Capitals on the other hand, are the hottest and best team in the league right now (feels like I type this a lot whenever we play someone). Washington rides high on a current 8 game win streak, and now leads their division by 9 points (56 overall, Isles have 47). The Caps also lead the league in GA, and are 1 point behind Dallas for the Presidents trophy. Yet we all saw them play against Buffalo, and a game that could have easily went either way. 
 
Tuesday's practice saw the return of Robin Lehner. I can't find the lines, but I'll just go with last games. The twitter feed says "All at practice", not sure if that includes Pysyk or not. Look for Holtby to start again, and...Ullmark? Johnson in net (per Brawndo) 
 
 
Game Preview

STATS:
All Stats Washington @ Buffalo, 1st meeting; 2-0 loss 
(The possession numbers are in Buffalo's favor, we played well)
All Team Rankings
Team Comparison Chart
 
Tuesday Practice Report

What he's learned, he said, is that simply "getting to the net" isn't always the answer.

"How you go there and where you go is maybe more important than just going there," Bylsma said. "There's rebound areas, the puck goes to certain areas, and if we all go to the one area we're not necessarily going to get the opportunity to be in that area to score goals.

 

 Buffalo: 
Forwards:
 
88 Jamie McGinn – 90 Ryan O’Reilly – 23 Sam Reinhart
 
28 Zemgus Girgensons – 15 Jack Eichel – 12 Brian Gionta
 
 9 Evander Kane – 22 Johan Larsson –  63 Tyler Ennis
 
44 Nicolas Deslauriers – 17 David Legwand – 82 Marcus Foligno
 
Defense:
 
4 Josh Gorges – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
 
25 Carlo Colaiacovo – 47 Zach Bogosian
 
6 Mike Weber – 46 Cody Franson
 
Johnsons:

31 Chad Johnson
35  Linus Ullmark
40 Robin Lehner

 

 

Washington:

Forwards:

Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie

Marcus Johansson - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Justin Williams

Jason Chimera - Jay Beagle - Tom Wilson

Brooks Laich - Zach Sill - Andre Burakovsky

Defense:

Karl Alzner - Matt Niskanen

Dmitry Orlov - Nate Schmidt

Taylor Chorney - Connor Carrick

Goalies:

Braden Holtby

Philipp Grubauer

Injured: Brooks Orpik (lower body), John Carlson (lower body), Michael Latta (upper body)

Scratched: Stanislav Galiev

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by WildCard

[Hoss]

We play Washington three times this season - all three in a 20-day span.

[WildCard]

Morons. Morons made the schedule this year.

I've never seen one so blatantly terrible, how did someone sign off on this?

Edited December 30, 2015 by WildCard

[Thorner]

We play Washington three times this season - all three in a 20-day span.

 

This year's schedule seems to be full of these nice little.....gifts.

[Brawndo]

Caps call up tough guy Zach Sill from Hershey. Could replace Michael Latta Wednesday night vs. Nicolas Deslauriers per twitter

[Dave Dryden]

Going to the game with my daughter.  It's been a while since I saw the Sabres live.  Should be fun.

[Weave]

Caps call up tough guy Zach Sill from Hershey. Could replace Michael Latta Wednesday night vs. Nicolas Deslauriers per twitter

 

I don't really get that one.  Tom Wilson is tough enough, and big enough (and willing enough) to answer the bell. Sill is a tomato can.  He couldn't out tough Latta to make the squad.

 

That's OK.  I'm sure our resident crazy guy won't mind going with Sill.

[Neo]

Going to the game with my daughter.  It's been a while since I saw the Sabres live.  Should be fun.

Awesome ... What life has taught me: She'll remember forever.

[thewookie1]

Caps call up tough guy Zach Sill from Hershey. Could replace Michael Latta Wednesday night vs. Nicolas Deslauriers per twitter

 

 

If they are calling up someone to fight Deslauriers then that can only help us.

[inkman]

Wait, they scheduled an Amerks game in Buffalo the same night as an away Sabres game?

[nfreeman]

I'd guess CJ will get the start in net -- and maybe Lehner gets the next one.

[wjag]

Should be interesting to see how this team responds...

[Wyldnwoody44]

Lehner is gonna get a game or two down in ra cha cha after he is able to fully play.

 

Funny that teams are scared of 44, makes me chuckle.

[CallawaySabres]

Need to start winning 3 out of 4s for the next month if there is any chance of climbing into 8 spot.

[Robviously]

Caps call up tough guy Zach Sill from Hershey. Could replace Michael Latta Wednesday night vs. Nicolas Deslauriers per twitter

I'll be annoyed if Deslauriers has to fight again tonight.  He threw a legal hit (shoulder to shoulder!) where the Caps player got clipped in the face with his stick as they both fell to the ice.  The Caps got upset so they sent someone to fight him.  Deslauriers beat him up so now the Caps are even more upset.  At some point you had to wonder why the Caps are getting so mad about an opposing player doing normal hockey things.  What would they do if Deslauriers pulled an Ovechkin and hit someone from behind to throw them head-first into the boards?

 

Also, this would be a great time for literally any other Sabre to drop the gloves.  This feels like shades of Drew Stafford's "We have other guys for that."  If the Caps try to start something with Deslauriers, it'd be great if someone else if one of our other guys decided to punch someone in the head about it.

[Stoner]

 

The young guy immediately regrets asking his date if it's true that she's known as the DC Hummer.

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by PASabreFan

[#freejame]

Caps fans over at RMNB seem pretty pissed off about our game on Monday, saying we were running Holty and Desi should have been kicked out for the hit on Williams. Also think Desi will lose in a fight tonight  :doh: http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2015/12/28/michael-latta-fights-nicolas-deslauriers-tom-wilson-looks-angry-after-dangerous-hit-on-justin-williams/

[Weave]

I'll be annoyed if Deslauriers has to fight again tonight.  He threw a legal hit (shoulder to shoulder!) where the Caps player got clipped in the face with his stick as they both fell to the ice.  The Caps got upset so they sent someone to fight him.  Deslauriers beat him up so now the Caps are even more upset.  At some point you had to wonder why the Caps are getting so mad about an opposing player doing normal hockey things.  What would they do if Deslauriers pulled an Ovechkin and hit someone from behind to throw them head-first into the boards?

 

Also, this would be a great time for literally any other Sabre to drop the gloves.  This feels like shades of Drew Stafford's "We have other guys for that."  If the Caps try to start something with Deslauriers, it'd be great if someone else if one of our other guys decided to punch someone in the head about it.

 

I can get behind the sentiment here.  For all of the "team toughness" we've got, De-Lo shouldn't have to bloody his knuckles a 2nd time, not that it would bother him to do so.  This would be a good opportunity to put some "team" on display and see Bogo, or McGinn, or Girgensons show some moxie.

[Brawndo]

Johnson in net

 

 

Girgensons in for Moulson on the PP.

 

Does Moulson finally sit tonight???

 

New lines

 

Lines for Sabres this AM:

McGinn-O'Reilly-Reinhart

Girgensons-Eichel-Gionta

Kane-Larsson-Ennis

Deslauriers-Legwand-Foligno/Moulson

#BUFvsWSH

 

Like Zemgus on Eichel's Wing, Gionta again not so much

[Weave]

Larsson could cash in on that line if Ennis can return to form.

 

 

Moulson out, Foligno in should things get rough?

[woods-racer]

Johnson in net

 

 

Girgensons in for Moulson on the PP.

 

Does Moulson finally sit tonight???

 

New lines

 

Lines for Sabres this AM:

McGinn-O'Reilly-Reinhart

Girgensons-Eichel-Gionta

Kane-Larsson-Ennis

Deslauriers-Legwand-Foligno/Moulson

#BUFvsWSH

 

Like Zemgus on Eichel's Wing, Gionta again not so much

 

Deslaurier had a few shifts on Eichel-Girgensons wing last game. I'd like to see more of that.

[Robviously]

Larsson could cash in on that line if Ennis can return to form.

 

 

Moulson out, Foligno in should things get rough?

If ever there was a game to play Foligno instead of Moulson, this is it.

[Brawndo]

.@ZacBoyer asked Latta how he and Wilson decide who takes on Deslauriers on Monday.

 

"Whoever gets to him first."

 

Good luck with that

 

 

Justin Williams on Nicolas Deslauriers' hit: "I've seen worse... happens."

[elroy16]

I'll be going tonight and desperately want to see a win. Their crying after Monday's game is a joke. It's not like Deslauriers hit him in the back. Williams fell in an unfortunate way and hit his head. At least Williams' isn't being a bitch about it.

 

 

The comment about the goal being karma for Deslauriers actions after the fight is also stupid IMO. Guys get pumped up after fights and try to get the crowd going. 

 

 

 

More from Latta on Deslauriers: 'I would never do that, personally. ... I think he embarrassed himself more than anything.' #CapitalsTalk

 

 

I hope they go out and just start leveling people. 

[woods-racer]

 

Capitals need to relax. It's not like we're sending john Scott out after Ovy.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Woods-Racer