NHL Game Summary - Buffalo at Washington
Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - It's been a tough week for the people of Buffalo, but the Sabres gave their fans something to cheer about from their snowbound homes on Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals.
Torrey Mitchell scored the winning goal in the third period for the Sabres, who had not played since Tuesday when a lake-effect storm dumped more than five feet of snow on the western New York region. Buffalo's scheduled game Friday against the New York Rangers was postponed in the aftermath.
Matt Moulson also scored for the Sabres, while Jhonas Enroth made 43 saves in a brilliant effort. Buffalo has won three straight games for the first time since late February.
"We're playing like a confident team right now, and confident teams get breaks, and those lead to wins," said Enroth.
Matt Niskanen scored the lone goal for Washington, which had won its last two games. Braden Holtby made 24 saves in defeat.
Niskanen tied it for the Capitals on a power play at 5:54 of the third when his one-time blast from the center point deflected off Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers' stick in the slot before going past Enroth.
The Sabres then went ahead with 7:42 remaining.
An aggressive forecheck by Mitchell took a pair of Washington players toward the left corner and freed the puck for Brian Gionta, who skated toward the net and had a shot from the doorstep stopped by Holtby. The rebound came out to the left side of the crease for Mitchell, who swept it home for his third goal.
Mitchell had limped off the ice only a few minutes earlier after he was hit with the puck on the left boot by a hard dump-in from teammate Rasmus Ristolainen.
Washington put forth a strong effort in the closing moments in an attempt to tie the game and Enroth came up with a big pad save on a blast from Niskanen with 1:19 remaining. He also stopped Alex Ovechkin in the final minute.
"I'm feeling pretty good," said Enroth. "It was a strong effort from all the guys on the team."
The Sabres opened the scoring midway through the second period. Tyler Ennis dug the puck off the left boards and skated to the top of the slot before firing a shot that went wide of the net. The rebound caromed off the end boards and went directly to Moulson for a backhand into the empty side of the cage for his third goal.
Enroth made 11 saves in the first period and turned aside 20 shots in the second. He also got some help from the post with 6:42 remaining in the middle stanza on Ovechkin's drive from the slot.
"We could get more bodies in front of the crease," said Niskanen. "Their goalie was good tonight, but I think he saw too many (shots). We're doing a lot of good things, but goalies in this league, if they see shots, they're going to stop them most of the time."