Washington Capitals vs. Buffalo Sabres Pick & Prediction JAN 15TH 2021

The Washington Capitals did not have much trouble scoring goals Thursday in their season-opening victory at Buffalo. They won't have long to wait for another chance to produce against the Sabres.

The Capitals, who prevailed 6-4 on Thursday, will play in Buffalo again on Friday. Washington and Buffalo will face each other four times over their first six contests in the abbreviated 56-game season.

Washington provided a reminder of why it ranked second in the NHL last season with an average of 3.42 goals per game. T.J. Oshie had a goal and two assists, John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom each recorded one goal and one assist, and Alex Ovechkin added two assists.

The Capitals' other goal-scorers were Brenden Dillon, Jakub Vrana and Garnet Hathaway.

"Great game, great first win. Outstanding job," coach Peter Laviolette said after his Capitals debut. "There is a lot more than just me that got changed over and a lot of new pieces in there, and I think (the victory) is really important for our team."

Washington will now try to win consecutive contests at Buffalo for the first time since a three-game run of matchups from January 2014 to December 2015.

Ilya Samsonov, who has taken over the No. 1 netminder duties for Washington, made 22 saves on Thursday in his first appearance against Buffalo. He went 16-6-2 with a 2.55 goals-against average last season.

Capitals backup goalie Vitek Vanecek could make his NHL debut Friday to conclude the back-to-back set.

Taylor Hall recorded a goal and an assist in his Sabres debut, and Jake McCabe and Victor Olofsson matched those stats. Tobias Rieder also scored while Jack Eichel posted two assists for Buffalo, which last dropped its first two games of the season in 2017-18.

While the addition of Hall seems to have provided a boost in the offensive zone, defense again appears to be an issue for Buffalo. In 2019-20, the Sabres ranked 24th in the league with an average of 3.16 goals allowed per contest.

Though there is an obvious need for improvement, especially on defense, if Buffalo is to make the playoffs for the first time since 2010-11, coach Ralph Krueger didn't sound overly concerned.

"We expected rust and there was rust, and we expected an adjustment to the physicality and the speed," he said. "You can't simulate this in practice. I'd say all of us as a group just needed an adjustment period. The result isn't pleasing, but we saw how we needed to play at the end."

Buffalo got 22 saves from Carter Hutton in the opener. It's likely, though, that Linus Ullmark would get the start for the Sabres on Friday. Ullmark, who went 17-14-3 with a 2.69 goals-against average in 34 starts last season, is 1-2-0 with a 3.27 GAA in his career against the Capitals.

The Sabres could be without veteran forward Eric Staal, who sustained an apparent head injury in the Thursday contest on a third-period hit to the head by the Capitals' Nic Dowd. The referees assessed Dowd a two-minute penalty.

"Quite surprised that a hit to the head gets two minutes, but it is what it is," Krueger said.

--Field Level Media