GAME THREAD: NHL: BUFFALO (14-15) at WASHINGTON (12-19)

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Tim Connolly and the Buffalo Sabrescontinue to impress against the Washington Capitals.

Connolly scored with 3:42 remaining in the third period to snapa tie and lead the Sabres to a 5-3 triumph over the Capitals onFriday.


Derek Roy, Maxim Afinogenov, Drew Stafford and Jochen Hecht alsotallied for Buffalo, which has won six straight againstWashington and 13 of the last 15 meetings between the teams.

The Sabres, who are 3-0-0 this season vs. the Capitals, alsohave won back-to-back games for the first time in December.

With the contest tied at 3-3, Jason Pominville took a shot thatbounced off goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Following a scramble infront of the net, Connolly backhanded the puck while on hisknees past Kolzig to give the Sabres a 4-3 lead.


Hecht tallied an empty-netter with 14 seconds left to seal thewin.


Washington took a 1-0 lead on Alex Ovechkin's 23rd goal of theseason at 13:12 of the first period. However, Buffalo answeredwhen a miscue by Kolzig allowed Roy to score a shorthander with63 seconds remaining in the session.


With the Sabres trailing, 2-1, in the second, Afinogenov scoredhis fifth goal of the season on a breakaway with 78 seconds leftin the period, tying the contest.


Stafford's wraparound off a rebound gave the Sabres their firstlead just 19 seconds into the third, but Brooks Laich evened thegame after receiving a fortunate bounce off the boards at 5:09.

Pominville had two assists and Ryan Miller stopped 20 shots forthe Sabres, who have gone 4-4-0 following a season-highfive-game winning streak.


Rookie Nicklas Backstrom scored a goal and set up another andKolzig made 25 saves for Washington, which saw its three-gamewinning streak halted.

 

NHL: BUFFALO at WASHINGTON

<div class="pre">------------------------------------
Buffalo 1 1 3 --5
Washington 1 1 1 --3
------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Washington, Alexander Ovechkin 23 (power
play) (Nicklas Backstrom, Michael Nylander), 13:12. 2, Buffalo, Derek
Roy 12 (shorthanded) (Unassisted), 18:57. Penalties: Bench, Was (too
many men served by A Ovechkin), 0:59; T Vanek, Buf (interference),
2:40; T Poti, Was (tripping), 8:33; Bench, Buf (too many men served by
T Vanek), 12:32; A Ovechkin, Was (hooking), 14:44; M Afinogenov, Buf
(slashing), 17:11.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Washington, Nicklas Backstrom 5 (Viktor
Kozlov), 0:38. 4, Buffalo, Maxim Afinogenov 5 (Andrej Sekera, Paul
Gaustad), 18:42. Penalties: Bench, Was (too many men served by A
Ovechkin), 3:32; M Jurcina, Was (tripping), 14:51.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Buffalo, Drew Stafford 6 (Brian Campbell,
Derek Roy), 0:19. 6, Washington, Brooks Laich 6 (Milan Jurcina, Tom
Poti), 5:09. 7, Buffalo, Tim Connolly 5 (Jason Pominville, Toni
Lydman), 16:18. 8, Buffalo, Jochen Hecht 11 (empty net) (Jason
Pominville), 18:46. Penalties: H Tallinder, Buf (hooking), 2:48; M
Green, Was (tripping), 9:43.

Shots on goal:
---------------------------------------
Buffalo 10 6 14 --30
Washington 6 11 6 --23
---------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: Buffalo - 0 of 6, Washington - 1 of 4. Goalies
: Buffalo, Ryan Miller (23 shots, 20 saves; record: 13-12-1).
Washington, Olaf Kolzig (29 shots, 25 saves; record: 10-14-1). A:
17,035. Referees: Dan O'Halloran, Tim Peel. Linesmen: Jonny Murray,
Lyle Seitz.</div>

 

NHL: BUFFALO at WASHINGTON

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------
BUFFALO 1 1 3 --5
WASHINGTON 1 1 1 --3
-----------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Washington, Alexander Ovechkin 23 (power
play) (Nicklas Backstrom, Michael Nylander), 13:12. 2, Buffalo, Derek
Roy 12 (shorthanded) (Unassisted), 18:57. Penalties: Bench, Was (too
many men served by A Ovechkin), 0:59; T Vanek, Buf (interference),
2:40; T Poti, Was (tripping), 8:33; Bench, Buf (too many men served by
T Vanek), 12:32; A Ovechkin, Was (hooking), 14:44; M Afinogenov, Buf
(slashing), 17:11.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Washington, Nicklas Backstrom 5 (Viktor
Kozlov), 0:38. 4, Buffalo, Maxim Afinogenov 5 (Andrej Sekera, Paul
Gaustad), 18:42. Penalties: Bench, Was (too many men served by A
Ovechkin), 3:32; M Jurcina, Was (tripping), 14:51.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Buffalo, Drew Stafford 6 (Brian Campbell,
Derek Roy), 0:19. 6, Washington, Brooks Laich 6 (Milan Jurcina, Tom
Poti), 5:09. 7, Buffalo, Tim Connolly 5 (Jason Pominville, Toni
Lydman), 16:18. 8, Buffalo, Jochen Hecht 11 (empty net) (Jason
Pominville), 18:46. Penalties: H Tallinder, Buf (hooking), 2:48; M
Green, Was (tripping), 9:43.

Shots on goal:
----------------------------------------
BUFFALO 10 6 14 --30
WASHINGTON 6 11 6 --23
----------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: BUF - 0 of 6, WAS - 1 of 4. Goalies : Buffalo,
Ryan Miller (23 shots, 20 saves; record: 13-12-1). Washington, Olaf
Kolzig (29 shots, 25 saves; record: 10-14-1). A: 17,035. Referees:
Dan O'Halloran, Tim Peel. Linesmen: Jonny Murray, Lyle Seitz.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

BUFFALO WASHINGTON
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
H Tallinder 0 0 +1 1 M Bradley 0 0 even 2
A Kotalik 0 0 +1 1 M Pettinger 0 0 -1 1
T Connolly 1 0 +1 2 N Backstrom 1 1 -2 2
D Paille 0 0 -1 2 B Pothier 0 0 even 0
D Stafford 1 0 +1 1 B Laich 1 0 even 2
A Mair 0 0 -1 1 M Jurcina 0 1 +1 0
T Vanek 0 0 +1 1 V Kozlov 0 1 +1 0
P Gaustad 0 1 +1 3 S Morrisonn 0 0 even 0
J Pominville 0 2 +2 3 A Semin 0 0 -3 0
N Paetsch 0 0 +1 1 T Poti 0 1 -1 1
A Sekera 0 1 +1 1 D Steckel 0 0 -1 1
T Lydman 0 1 +1 0 J Motzko 0 0 -1 0
B Campbell 0 1 +1 3 M Green 0 0 -3 4
J Hecht 1 0 +1 2 Q Laing 0 0 even 1
J Spacek 0 0 +1 1 J Schultz 0 0 -1 0
M Afinogenov 1 0 even 3 A Ovechkin 1 0 -2 6
A Peters 0 0 even 0 D Brashear 0 0 even 2
D Roy 1 1 +2 4 M Nylander 0 1 -3 1
N Pratt HEALTHY C Clark GROIN
M Ryan HEALTHY J Erskine HEALTHY
S Eminger HEALTHY
T Fleischmann HEALTHY</div>

 

NHL: BUFFALO at WASHINGTON

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NHL
BUFFALO 5
WASHINGTON 3</div>

 

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Tim Connolly took a puck to the face,received a few stitches and came back to guide the BuffaloSabres to victory.


Connolly scored with 3:42 remaining in the third period to snapa tie and lead the Sabres to a 5-3 triumph over the WashingtonCapitals on Friday.


Derek Roy, Maxim Afinogenov, Drew Stafford and Jochen Hecht alsotallied for Buffalo, which has won six straight againstWashington and 13 of the last 15 meetings between the teams.

The Sabres, who are 3-0-0 this season vs. the Capitals, alsohave won back-to-back games for the first time in December.

Late in the middle session, Connolly nearly was forced out ofthe game. But the center was attended to by team trainers inthe locker room and proved resilient in the final period.

"I took a shot to the face. Eight stitches," Connolly said."It was just a stinger. They stitched me up with about a minuteleft (in the second period), and I saw (Afinogenov's) goal onTV. I got on the bike between periods and got the heart rategoing. I felt pretty good and just went back out there and wentto work."


The painful moment for Connolly concerned Sabres coach LindyRuff.


"You're scared with any player that has a concussion historythat gets a puck in the face," Ruff said. "First of all, I washoping no broken bones. You get one there and a lot of times itcan be eye socket or broken bones. Then your second thoughtis, it could be concussion-related again."


With the contest tied at 3-3, Jason Pominville took a shot thatbounced off goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Following a scramble infront of the net, Connolly backhanded the puck while on hisknees past Kolzig to give the Sabres a 4-3 lead.


"Finally, we got the puck on net and I was able to get therebound and put it in," Connolly said.


"Tim knew what he was doing," Ruff added. "He had to do itquick or Olie would have gotten to it. We had some scrums wherewe should have scored, but Olie made a couple of big saves."

Hecht tallied an empty-netter with 14 seconds left to seal thewin.


Washington took a 1-0 lead on Alex Ovechkin's 23rd goal of theseason at 13:12 of the first period.


"We played well in the first period," said Ovechkin, who has atleast one point in 16 of his last 17 games. "But in the thirdperiod, we played terrible. We didn't go to forecheck, wedidn't hit anybody and we didn't shoot.


"I don't know, maybe we're tired or maybe something hashappened, but we have to change. We've made some good strides,but we feel we could have won this game."


Buffalo answered when a miscue by Kolzig allowed Roy to score ashorthander with 63 seconds remaining in the session. Kolzigleft the net to clear a puck, but he failed to get much on hisattempt.


The puck floated directly to Roy, who scored his 14th goal ofthe season.


"I never go out and play the puck with one hand," Kolzig said."It was just a rookie mistake and inexcusable with a minuteleft, especially with a one-goal lead and playing pretty well."

With the Sabres trailing, 2-1, in the second, Afinogenov - whohad snuck behind the Capitals' defense - scored his fifth goalof the season on a breakaway with 78 seconds left in the period,tying the contest.


"(Afinogenov) was just back there," Washington defenseman TomPoti said. "We were supposed to play three across. I kind ofthought Michael (Nylander) had him. Michael thought I had him.It was just a miscommunication."


Stafford's wraparound off a rebound gave the Sabres their firstlead just 19 seconds into the third.


"That's a routine save that I should make every time," Kolzigsaid.


Brooks Laich evened the game after receiving a fortunate bounceoff the boards at 5:09. The puck hit an indentation andricocheted right to Laich, who slapped it into the vacant net asRyan Miller had already left his crease to play it.

"It was just a freak accident - a Christmas gift from theVerizon Center, I guess," Laich said of the lucky bounce thatresulted in his sixth goal of the season.


Pominville had two assists and Miller stopped 20 shots for theSabres, who have gone 4-4-0 following a season-high five-gamewinning streak.


Rookie Nicklas Backstrom scored a goal and set up another andKolzig made 25 saves for Washington, which saw its three-gamewinning streak halted.


"The sense of urgency in our team and their team was amazingtonight," Capitals interim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It'slike (the Sabres) said - 'Well, they've got 29 points and ifthey win, they're one behind us, and we're too good for that.'And some of us were like, 'Well, we've won three in a row.We're pretty good.'


"You can't do that in the NHL and you can't do that against anygood team. No matter what the record is, that was a pretty goodteam we played tonight."