Monday, March 9, 2020 07:00 PM (ET)

Ullmark, Sabres stop Capitals in shootout

Field Level Media
Mar 9, 2020

Dominik Kahun scored in the seventh round of a shootout to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Monday.

Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark stopped 33 of 35 shots during open play and then made six more saves during the shootout. It was an impressive return for Ullmark, who was playing for the first time in 18 games due to a lower-body injury.

The victory ended Buffalo's six-game (0-6-0) winless streak.

The Sabres salvaged the victory despite blowing a 2-0 lead through two periods. Alexander Ovechkin had two points for the Capitals (41-20-8, 90 points) during a lopsided third period that saw Washington outshoot Buffalo by a 16-5 margin.

Ovechkin scored 3:33 into the final period, recording his 48th goal of the season to tie Boston's David Pastrnak for the league scoring lead. Ovechkin's 706 career goals put him two scores behind Mike Gartner for seventh place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.

Dmitry Orlov drew the Capitals even at the 13:11 mark, firing a shot that banked off the skate of Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.

Washington has just one win (1-1-2) over its last four games, though the point earned by the overtime loss was enough to put the Capitals back into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Buffalo (30-31-8, 68 points) took the lead 4:53 into the first period, with Victor Olofsson collecting his 20th goal of the season. Olofsson hadn't scored in his previous eight games.

Jack Eichel had gone seven games without a single point heading into Monday's action -- a career-long drought for the star forward. However, Eichel snapped that streak less than a minute into the second period, as some outstanding passing during a Sabres power play left Eichel with an open net.

Eichel's team-leading 36th goal ended both his own slump and the Sabres' 0-for-17 slide on power play chances over their previous seven games.

Rasmus Dahlin assisted on both Buffalo goals.

Braden Holtby saved 24 of 26 shots in Washington's net.

--Field Level Media

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