The Washington Capitals have tried everything this season to win, and it\u2019s usually been in vain. In Saturday night\u2019s date with the Buffalo Sabres, they resorted to the last trick they had up their sleeve: scoring a lot of goals. Hope lives.<\/p>\n
The first period was a bonanza. Chychrun sunk a rebound and Strome went to the net before the game was four minutes over. Connor McMichael<\/a> made it 3-0 and chased Alex Lyon<\/a> from the net.<\/p>\n The Sabres rallied. Someone screened Logan Thompson<\/a>\u2018s vision as Rasmus Dahlin<\/a> cracked the shutout, then Beck Malenstyn<\/a> (I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers) hit a yawning open net. 3-2 after one silly period.<\/p>\n The second was a more staid affair, with the Sabres controlling play, but the only goal of the frame belonged to Washington and Aliaksei Protas<\/a> in particular, with a precision shot over relief goalie Colton Ellis.<\/p>\n Ryan Leonard<\/a> got assists from Cole Hutson<\/a> and Justin Sourdif<\/a> \u2013 all first-year players. Tom Wilson<\/a> scored shorthanded while Hutson was in the box.<\/p>\n Get RMNB ad-free<\/p>\n Support us on Patreon for $5 to hide all ads and get other perks<\/p>\n More Info<\/a><\/p>\n We don\u2019t have a lot of opportunities to do this. Let us dance. Let\u2019s use the live in Belfast version to keep it fresh.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sabres goalie Alex Lyon<\/a> has been half of the league\u2019s best goaltending duo since the start of 2026. The Caps ventilated him with three goals on five shots. See if that .400 helps out his season stats. From the Palantir out-of-town scoreboard, Evgeni Malkin<\/a> scored a hat trick to eliminate the Panthers from postseason contention. I posted this and no one said anything.<\/p>\n But more from the Palantir out-of-town scoreboard: The Blue Jackets and Islanders both lost in regulation. That\u2019s intriguing. Joe looking like a citrusy springtime snack. Like a brilliant clump of flax-leaved stiff-aster purple flowers. Hey, are we still doing “must win”? Okay then, must win.<\/p>\n \u2014 RMNB (@rmnb.bsky.social)<\/a> 2026-04-04T23:00:35.454Z<\/a><\/p>\n As this game wore on, one thought kept sneaking up in my mind. I couldn\u2019t get rid of it. It said, \u201cboy howdy I sure wish the Caps didn\u2019t huff farts against the Devils on Thursday.\u201d That loss had outsized importance. But winning against a winning team while a couple foes fumble their games \u2013 that\u2019s a good night.<\/p>\n Now to simply turn a good night into a good weekend by trouncing the Rangers on Sunday night. By the way, I don\u2019t know what the hell this is:<\/p>\n
\nMy large son Aliaksei Protas<\/a> returned to play since suffering that apparent head injury on the 28th. He didn\u2019t look too hot, but he scored a sharp goal during a four-on-four stretch, so I don\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n
\nIs the Ryan Leonard<\/a> goal really a rookie \u00e0 trois? Yes for Sourdif, though he\u2019s a rarer kind of rookie at age 24. Leonard played only 9 games last season so this counts as his rookie season. Except by that logic, Cole Hutson<\/a> won\u2019t play enough games for this to count as his rookie season. He\u2019s pre-rookie. Can you have two rookie seasons? Three?
\nHutson, by the way, has had three minors in his last three games.<\/p>\n