Harry Lichtman
The Washington Capitals (38-29-9) begin a weekend set of back-to-backs on Saturday night. Their first game will be a home matchup with the Buffalo Sabres (46-22-8) at Capital One Arena.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Capitals play their penultimate home game of the 2025-26 season as well as their penultimate set of back-to-backs. They close out their three-game season series with the Sabres, with both games having been split in Buffalo.
The Capitals enter Saturday needing some standings points with less than two weeks left in the regular season. Unfortunately, Washington’s playoff chances took a hit when they fell 7-3 to New Jersey on Thursday.
The Devils went up 2-0 early on before the Capitals tied it up at 2-2 in the first period. Then, Jack Hughes (two goals, three assists) and Jesper Bratt (one goal, four assists) both powered New Jersey with five points each.
The Capitals did have positives in the game, including Cole Hutson scoring his second goal in eight games. The 19-year-old now has six points (two goals, four assists), joining Timo Blomqvist as the second Washington defenseman to record six points in his first 10 games.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the man advantage to extend the Capitals’ streak to four straight games with at least one power-play goal. It’s their second-longest streak of the season since five straight from Oct. 14-24.
Finally, Tom Wilson scored his 28th goal of the season in the third period. The alternate captain now moves within two tallies of a second consecutive season with 30 or more goals.
The last time the Capitals and Sabres faced off, Washington ended Buffalo’s eight-game winning streak on their home ice on March 12. Nevertheless, the Sabres have been the hottest team in the NHL since the Olympic break (14-3-2).
Expected Capitals Lines
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Connor McMichael
Hendrix Lapierre – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier – Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime – David Kampf – Ivan Miroshnichenko
UPDATE: Aliaksei Protas will return to the lineup after colliding head-first with Nic Dowd in Vegas on March 28.
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary – Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson – Matt Roy
Goalies
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Expected Sabres Lines
Forwards
Peyton Krebs – Tage Thompson – Josh Doan
Jason Zucker – Josh Norris – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Tyson Kozak – Beck Malenstyn
Defensemen
Rasmus Dahlin – Matthias Samuelsson
Bowen Byram – Owen Power
Logan Stanley – Zach Metsa
Goalies
Alex Lyon
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
How to Watch
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
