The Sabres were by far the better team against the Washington Capitals tonight. It simply took about thirty five minutes for it to show on the scoreboard.

Caps backup goalie Brent Johnson had done an admirable job shutting down the Buffalo attack up for the night, but the dam burst when Jaro Spacek scored the first of four late second period goals at the 14:51 mark of the stanza. Max Afinogenov, Jason Pominville and Adam Mair each added markers soon thereafter to finish off a period in which Buffalo pelted the Caps with 24 shots.(Record: 26 - Cleveland 2/25/78)

Washington began to show some signs of life in the third period with a goals from Mike Green and Alexander Ovechkin, but the Sabres matched them with markers of their own from Derek Roy (Mr. September) and Brian Campbell, whose tally was set up by some magical stickwork from Maxim Afinogenov. Jaro Spacek’s second of the night finished off the scoring.

The Sabres power play continued to click, as the special teams lit the lamp another three times. When asked to explain the success of the power play unit, Coach Ruff stated that “we’re getting plenty of shots….we’re getting easy entry into the zone…and we’re getting presence down low when we’re shooting from the back. Especially from guys like Gaustad and Vanek”.

I’ll add another thing about the power play, this season we are seeing less of the what I’d call overpassing. Gone are situations where the team passes up a decent attempt in favor of the perfect shot(though through a risky pass). A player gets the puck in the back, they have an open lane, they let it rip. Simple as that, and last season’s team never seemed to grasp that philosophy.

Brush with greatness??? sighting? Went to our typical postgame hangout at the Washington Square Lounge after we decided that Morrissey’s was way too packed to stay in. After downing the first pitcher of “pop” a second one soon showed up, compliments of Andrew Peters (coolest USRT name ever) who was chilling with some friends and family at a nearby table. Don’t know what it is about NHL pugilists being some of the meanest badasses on the ice yet the nicest ones off it and Peters fits that rule to a T.

Next up is Monday night when LeafsNation invades the HSBC Arena. Got to beat this team, we don’t want to walk out of the venue with those arrogant, smarmy fans giving it to us.

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