Alex Tuch scored his second goal of the night 3:42 into overtime to lift the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena on Saturday.
Buffalo opened an early two-goal cushion in the first period. Jack Quinn opened the scoring at 6:27 with a wrist shot set up by Olen Zellweger and Zach Benson. Josh Doan doubled the lead at 10:36, converting a snap shot off a feed from Ryan McLeod. Washington cut the deficit before the intermission when Tuch scored on a backhand at 16:10 off a pass from Jordan Kyrou.
The Capitals pushed ahead during the second period behind two goals from Dylan Strome. Strome evened the score at 2-2 at 2:59 with a backhand goal assisted by Kyrou and Jakob Chychrun. Strome struck again at 17:24, using a snap shot off assists from Justin Sourdif and Martin Fehervary to give Washington a 3-2 edge. Buffalo drew level at 2:20 of the third period when Noah Ostlund scored on a wrist shot with assists from Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin, sending the contest to overtime. Tuch decided the matchup in the extra session on a snap shot assisted by Strome and Chychrun.
Charlie Lindgren earned the win in net for Washington, stopping 18 of 21 shots. Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen turned aside 30 of 34 shots as Washington outshot Buffalo 34-21. Neither team capitalized with the man advantage, as the Capitals finished 0-for-3 on the power play and the Sabres went 0-for-2.
The victory improved Washington to a 6-4-0 regular-season record. Strome contributed three points with two goals and an assist, while Kyrou and Chychrun each supplied two assists. Buffalo moved to 4-4-3 and is now winless in three consecutive games (0-1-2).
Buffalo visits the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday at 10:30 PM ET. Washington remains at home to host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET.
