Game 80: An appreciation of sorts

The Sabres wrapped up their home schedule by delivering yet another blow to the Capitals' playoff hopes with a 4-2 win.

BUFFALO — Fan appreciation night in Buffalo is generally a bittersweet kind of night and that wasn’t any different this year, although it was for slightly different reasons.

The Buffalo Sabres took down the Washington Capitals for the second time in nine days at KeyBank Center, this time by a 4-2 decision. The Caps tried to tighten up defensively and, for the most part, they did that. But once Buffalo got on the board, the game seemed to turn in Buffalo’s favor the rest of the way and doomed Washington to another defeat.

It was a commendable effort from the Sabres. A mature win, if you will, where the Caps tried to take away the Sabres’ speed and skill by bottling them up. It worked for most of the first period, but the Sabres turned that on its head when Zach Benson broke through with a tip of a Jeff Skinner shot past Charlie Lindgren with a minute to go in the period.

With a 1-0 lead going into the second, the Sabres pushed back and eventually grabbed a 2-0 lead on an Alex Tuch snipe from the high slot. Although Connor McMichael cut the lead in half roughly two minutes later, Jack Quinn’s toe-drag snipe nearly halfway through the third made it 3-1 to virtually ice it. Dylan Cozens’ empty-net goal made it 4-1 although Tom Wilson tipped a puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a minute to go to provide the final score.

If it weren’t for the Capitals fighting for a playoff spot still this would’ve been up there for one of the most ho-hum games of the season apart from the fracas that ensued at the final buzzer when TJ Oshie took a long run at Tage Thompson that Rasmus Dahlin took exception to and sparked a pair of fights between Jordan Greenway and Wilson and Thompson with Max Pacioretty. Yeah, we don’t get that one either.

On a fan appreciation night in which the announced attendance was 15,454 in a season where fans’ frustration at another season without the playoffs, it was a good win that sent those who went to the game home happy…even with a lingering air of doubt about what awaits the Sabres when the season ends Monday in Tampa.

“I mean, it feels good to win,” Tuch said. “I guess if we can’t be in, we don’t want other teams to be in. They’re one of the teams we were chasing, so we’re not looking to help any team in particular, that’s for sure. But we’re just trying to win, plain and simple. If we knock a team out of the playoffs in the process, that’s fine, too.”

A few more takeaways from Thursday night…