NHL

Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals

· National Hockey League
Final
8 - 5

Thompson, Tuch help Sabres outlast Ovechkin, Capitals with 8-5 win

Ovechkin scores 890th goal, moves 5 away from breaking Gretzky's record

Ryan McLeod, Sam Lafferty, Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs also scored for the Sabres, winners of four of the last five.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 890th career goal to move within five of passing Wayne Gretzky, Jakob Chychrun had two goals and Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Capitals, who have lost three straight games for the second time this season.

James Reimer extended his winning streak to four games, stopping 24 of 29 shots to advance to 13-5-6.

Meanwhile, Logan Thompson stopped 15 of 22 shots in the loss to drop to 31-5-6 on the season.

Takeaways Sabres: Tage Thompson struck twice on the power play for his fourth goal in as many games and now leads Buffalo with 38 goals this season. The Sabres now have power-play goals in back-to-back games and three of the last five overall.

Capitals: Chychrun continues to be a valuable pickup for D.C., as he hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career with another multigoal outing. He's the first Capitals defenseman to record at least 20 goals in a season since Mike Green in 2008-09.

Key moment Quinn capitalized on a turnover and broke away, beating Logan Thompson for the eventual game-winning goal.

Key stat After playing for just under three minutes in the second period, Ovechkin scored on a deflection. He has 37 goals on the season, tied for the fifth-most in the NHL despite missing 16 games with a broken fibula.

Up next The Sabres visit Ottawa on Tuesday, the same night the Capitals play at Boston.

Regular Season Series

BUF wins series 2-1

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 10:06 Jakob Chychrun Goal (19) Slap Shot, assists: Alex Ovechkin (25), Dylan Strome (46)
Goal 1st Period 12:49 Tage Thompson Goal (37) Wrist Shot, assists: Alex Tuch (26), JJ Peterka (35)
Goal 2nd Period 2:14 Ryan McLeod Goal (18) Snap Shot, assists: Jack Quinn (19), Owen Power (32)
Goal 2nd Period 2:46 Jakob Chychrun Goal (20) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 2nd Period 5:17 Alex Tuch Goal (30) Tip-In, assists: Connor Clifton (12), Jason Zucker (28)
Goal 2nd Period 11:52 Sam Lafferty Goal (3) Backhand, assists: Connor Clifton (13)
Goal 3rd Period 0:37 Aliaksei Protas Goal (30) Snap Shot, assists: Tom Wilson (29), Martin Fehérváry (19)
Goal 3rd Period 1:28 Tage Thompson Goal (38) Snap Shot, assists: Jason Zucker (29), JJ Peterka (36)
Goal 3rd Period 5:52 Jack Quinn Goal (14) Wrist Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 9:11 Alex Ovechkin Goal (37) Tip-In, assists: Rasmus Sandin (24), Trevor van Riemsdyk (20)
Goal 3rd Period 14:03 Pierre-Luc Dubois Goal (19) Tip-In, assists: Alex Ovechkin (26), Dylan Strome (47)
Goal 3rd Period 15:34 Alex Tuch Goal (31) Tip-In, assists: Mattias Samuelsson (8)
Goal 3rd Period 19:36 Peyton Krebs Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: Jack Quinn (20)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/buf.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originBUF https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/wsh.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originWSH
19 Blocked Shots 12
16 Hits 21
7 Takeaways 3
23 Shots 29
2 Power Play Goals 1
5 Power Play Opportunities 2
40.0 Power Play Percentage 50.0
0 Short Handed Goals 1
0 Shootout Goals 0
28 Faceoffs Won 25
52.8 Faceoff Win Percent 47.2
7 Giveaways 13
3 Total Penalties 5
6 Penalty Minutes 12
Washington Capitals Washington Capitals Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Matt Roy, D Day-To-Day Apr 3
Logan Thompson, G Day-To-Day Apr 2
Buffalo Sabres Buffalo Sabres Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Jordan Greenway, LW Day-To-Day Apr 2
Tyson Kozak, C Day-To-Day Apr 1
Josh Norris, C Out Apr 1

Game Information

Capital One Arena

Location: Washington, DC
Attendance: 18,573 | Capacity:

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 46 25 96 4
Tampa Bay 44 25 93 5
Florida 44 27 92 4
Ottawa 39 29 84 6
Montreal 35 30 79 9
Detroit 34 33 75 7
Buffalo 32 36 70 6
Boston 30 36 69 9

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Washington 48 18 105 9
Carolina 46 24 96 4
New Jersey 40 29 87 7
NY Rangers 36 32 79 7
Columbus 34 30 77 9
NY Islanders 32 32 74 10
Pittsburgh 30 34 71 11
Philadelphia 31 36 71 9
Full Standings