Washington Capitals Fan Forum
Talk about Capitals hockey & more! => Washington Capitals & Other Hockey Discussion => Topic started by: alta on Saturday April 04, 2026, 05:07:41 PM Eastern
-
April 4 vs Sabres at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00
TV: Monumental Sports
Radio: 106.7FM, Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals 38-29-9
PP% 18(23rd) PK% 79.7(14th) Faceoff% 49.6(17th7
Buffalo Sabres 46-22-8
PP% 21.2(15th) PK% 81.9(5th) Faceoff% 45.6(32nd)
Caps anticipated lines:
Protas 21 - Strome(A) 17 - Ovechkin(C) 8
McMichael 24 - Dubois 80 - Wilson(A) 43
Beauvillier 72 - Sourdif 34 - Leonard 9
Duhaime 22 - Lapierre 29 - Frank 53
Fehérváry 42 - Sandin 38
Chychrun 6 - van Riemsdyk 57
Hutson 44 - Roy 3
Thompson 48
Lindgren 79 - backup
PP1: Ovechkin, Strome, McMichael, Sourdif, Hutson
PP2: Ovechkin, Wilson, Dubois, Leonard, Chychrun
scratched:
Miroshnichenko 63
Kampf 64
Liljegren 27
Chisholm 47
McIlrath 52
Sabres anticipated lines:
Krebs 19 - Thompson 72 - Doan 91
Zucker 17 - Norris 9 - Tuch p(A) 89
Benson 6 - McLeod 71 - Quinn 22
Greenway 12 - Kozak 48 - Malenstyn 29
Samuelsson(A) 23 - Dahlin(C) 26
Byram 4 - Power 25
Stanley 64 - Metsa 73
Lyon 34
Ellis 92 - backup
tonight’s zebras:
Cody Beach 12, Brian Pochmara 16
Libor Suchanek 60, Devin Berg 87
https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/caps-battle-sabres-on-saturday (https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/caps-battle-sabres-on-saturday)
https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/skate-shavings-news-and-notes-from-caps-morning-skate-x8763 (https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/skate-shavings-news-and-notes-from-caps-morning-skate-x8763)
https://scoutingtherefs.com/2026/04/51702/todays-nhl-referees-and-linespersons-4-4-26/#BUFvsWSH (https://scoutingtherefs.com/2026/04/51702/todays-nhl-referees-and-linespersons-4-4-26/#BUFvsWSH)
scoring summary
1st period:
Chychrun(25) from Ovechkin and Dubois at 3:15
Strome(18) from Protas and Ovechkin at 3:35
McMichael(11) from Chychrun and Dubois at 5:52
Dahlin from Norris and Tuch at 6:30
Malenstyn from Greenway and Dahlin at 12:15
2nd period:
Protas(24) unassisted at 6:06
3rd period:
Leonard(17) from Hutson and Sourdif 6:26
Wilson(29) SHG from McMichael at 8:55
Caps win 6-2
-
Word is Protas and Frank are playing tonight.
-
So, 2 wasted draft picks for guys who can't even get on the ice.. And Miro can't get ice over Lappi.. The season is over, what are we doing? Make it make sense. :-(
-
Miro is a winger. I don’t know that he’s ever played center in North America. Lappy can play either, but has been a center since Dowd was traded.
Kampf is also a center, and I assumed he was brought in to replace Dowd.
:huh:
-
Frank Kampf Miro would of been a line worth seeing, imo.. :(
-
GOOOAAALLLL
CHYCHRUN
-
GOOOAAALLLL
STROME
-
this is some quality work..
-
GOOOAAALLLL
MCMICHAEL
-
Sabres change goalies
-
:poop:
:clown: :O=
-
Fun game to watch
Sabres haven't made the po's in like 15 yrs so we're taking advantage. I love it
-
:poop: :poop:
-
Gonne be tied by intermission. :-(
3 Sabres surrounding LT, while Chychrun and TVR are looking up ice already. Poor D, as usual.
-
Caps up 3-2 after one
-
Least they held the lead through 1.. Bummer we couldn't take advantage of their goalie change. :-\
-
PP time
-
4 on 4
-
GOOOAAALLLL
PROTAS
-
PK time
-
nother pk . .
-
nother pk . . .
5 on 3 for :36
-
nother pp . .
-
Caps up 4-2 after two
will start the 3rd with 1:42 of PP
-
Crazy we've given up 30 shots on goal through 2 periods. I don't consider our D guys "bad", but the way we give up shots and multi goal leads, something needs addressed in the offseason.
2 goal lead into the 3rd.. Still have little confidence we'll keep it. :raspberry:
-
nother pk . . . .
-
GOOOAAALLLL
LEONARD
-
That was an all rookie goal. Leonard from Hutson and Sourdif.
-
nother pk . . . . .
-
SHORTY
WILSON
-
Caps win 6-2
everyone else lost tonight
-
Nice win! Hope they saved a couple for tomorrow!!
Leonard on the ice with Strome for his goal. Was it a line change or was coach letting him play?
-
I would guess a line change. There was no reason to mess with the lines this game.
-
Most likely..
4-1 they (Alexa, Alan, Brent, Joe and Craig) think LT plays tomorrow. I'd go with Chuck.
-
Nice win! Hope they saved a couple for tomorrow!!
Leonard on the ice with Strome for his goal. Was it a line change or was coach letting him play?
Could be an effort to limit Ovie's ice time, with back-to-backs.
I guess Hutson is now in charge of PP1. He has 6 points in 8 games, with 4 of them on the PP. That's why he's here and playing, i guess.
That picture of him and Protas on the 2 on 1 - It's like a house and garage.
Mick, I think the answer to why certain guys aren't playing is that Carbery is not playing this like the season's over. I think he will go with whomever he thinks is best for the Caps to play in order to make the playoffs, until they are mathematically eliminated. You might disagree with his choices, but I think that's his motivation.
-
It probably is. My question is, if they thought we had the guys needed already, why burn 2 draft picks.
McMike and Sourdif need to find a faceoff wizard in the offseason. We don't have anyone who can win a faceoff and play defense. Was hoping Kempf was the guy, but.. Who knows.. I've seen Wilson and Beauvi taking (primary) D draws on the PK lately. lol
-
If the Caps had won the game vs Devils, they would now be in sole possession of WC spot 2
and tied in pts for 3rd in Metro
-
It probably is. My question is, if they thought we had the guys needed already, why burn 2 draft picks.
McMike and Sourdif need to find a faceoff wizard in the offseason. We don't have anyone who can win a faceoff and play defense. Was hoping Kempf was the guy, but.. Who knows.. I've seen Wilson and Beauvi taking (primary) D draws on the PK lately. lol
Mick, I don't understand that either. Kempf's record says he is a reasonably good face-off guy, but that doesn't seem to be able to get him into the lineup. I think his arrival has lit a fire, at least relatively speaking, under LaPierre. Could it possibly be that the Caps burned two draft picks to get Sandin and LaPierre rejuvenated?
-
If the Caps had won the game vs Devils, they would now be in sole possession of WC spot 2
and tied in pts for 3rd in Metro
You could say about the other 28 games they lost this season. Just having a couple of those go to OT would have been the difference.
-
[quote author=BlackIce link=topic=1405.msg72546#msg72546 date=1775388962
Mick, I don't understand that either. Kempf's record says he is a reasonably good face-off guy, but that doesn't seem to be able to get him into the lineup. I think his arrival has lit a fire, at least relatively speaking, under LaPierre. Could it possibly be that the Caps burned two draft picks to get Sandin and LaPierre rejuvenated?
I think they were just covering their bases. If the result is better play fro Lappy then great, but I doubt that was the reason for grabbing them.
However, I agree, let’s get them in and playing to see what we have. Wasting a 4th line spot with Miro is a waste of time and so is playing TVR. If Liljegren is not good enough to play in place of TVR then why did we grab him.
-
Rich, the only reason I think we grabbed Liljigren (in retrospect) is to have a defenseman to replace JC, IF we didn't sign Hutson.
Since Hutson arrived, Sandin has moved over to the right side, even though he shoots LH. So I guess the promise to Hutson was that he was going to play if he was signed, and the real competition was between Sandin, TVR, and Liljigren for two RHD slots - because Chicky, Roy, and Fehervary are not coming out.
Liljigren seems to me to be in a catch-22. Maybe he isn't playing because he hasn't learned the defensive system, or something -- but if he doesn't play, he can't pick up the system at game speed.
Kampf is a different story -- he fell further behind because of visa issues.
-
https://x.com/Capitals/status/2040600321647317442/mediaViewer?currentTweet=2040600321647317442¤tTweetUser=Capitals
Best pass and goal of the game. Hutson to Leonad is going to be deadly duo for years to come!
-
https://x.com/Capitals/status/2040600321647317442/mediaViewer?currentTweet=2040600321647317442¤tTweetUser=Capitals (https://x.com/Capitals/status/2040600321647317442/mediaViewer?currentTweet=2040600321647317442¤tTweetUser=Capitals)
Best pass and goal of the game. Hutson to Leonad is going to be deadly duo for years to come!
I remember watching this play. What's funny about this is he undresses everyone as they try and stick check him and he dangles around them, then the last guy is like Fuck It and pulls an Orpik and lays the lumber cross check to him. I thought at the time it deserved a penalty.
Hutson definitely can move the puck. I'm hoping in the "new NHL" guys won't just start stepping up and smacking him to slow him down.
Orpik would be like, yeah kid keep skating, come down here to papa and take your medicine