Woes continue for Sabres with loss to Caps

Washington, DC – Jason Chimera and Marcus Johansson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period, as the Washington Capitals posted a 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Alex Ovechkin, Troy Brouwer and Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Capitals, who have won two of their last three games. Washington goaltender Braden Holtby made 27 saves.

"It's a big, big win for us tonight," Chimera said. "Guys have a good feeling now and just hopefully we'll keep it going."

Cody Hodgson had two goals for Buffalo, which has dropped six of seven. Ryan Miller was beaten five times on 25 shots.

The Sabres' 30th-ranked power-play unit brought them within a goal in the third period. Holtby kicked out Tyler Ennis' left-wing shot, but Hodgson pounced on the juicy rebound at the 5:30 mark.

Holtby made a glove save on Drew Stafford just as another Washington penalty expired. After the ensuing faceoff, Joel Ward blocked a shot in the defensive zone, leading to a rush for the Capitals.

Perreault worked a give-and-go with Ward and Chimera charged to the net, drawing a defender away from Perreault, who was able to slip the puck past a screened Miller with 4:55 remaining.

Ovechkin scored 19 seconds into the game, ripping a quick shot from the right circle after a faceoff win by Nicklas Backstrom.

"There's a design for it and we just didn't execute on the play," Buffalo interim head coach Ron Rolston said about his team failing to prevent Ovechkin from scoring that early goal. "First of all, you can't lose the draw that clean, and secondly, we just didn't have the execution we needed to have in place on the play."

Hodgson tied things up with an even faster goal to start the second period. Only 12 seconds had elapsed when Hodgson beat Holtby through the pads with a shot from the left circle.

Washington then built a comfortable lead with three goals in a 5:22 span.

Brouwer netted a power-play goal at 5:06, Chimera tapped in Brouwer's behind- the-net pass at 9:45 for his first goal of the season and Johansson put in a puck amid a goalmouth scramble at 10:28.

The Sabres got a goal from Brian Flynn three minutes after Johansson made it 4-1.

Game Notes

Mike Ribeiro, Backstrom and Ward each had two assists for Washington ... Hodgson recorded his fourth career multi-goal game ... Buffalo captain Jason Pominville and Ennis each had two helpers ... The Sabres entered the contest 11-for-101 (10.9 percent) on the power play.