*Photo from NHL.com*
What a debut it was for Washington Capitals rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek. Vanecek stopped 30 shots, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson added goals, and the Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres by a 2-1 score Friday night, improving to 2-0-0 on the season. Vanecek was a second round draft choice by the Capitals in the 2014 entry draft.
After a quiet first period, Vrana got the scoring started for the Capitals, snapping one past Linus Ullmark 1:34 into the second period. It stayed that way until just 31 seconds into the 3rd period, when Rasmus Ristolainen got the Sabres on the board, tying it up at one. At 7:47 of the 3rd, Wilson scored for the Capitals, which became the game winner.
Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said of Vanecek's debut performance that "He was really good. I thought we were slow out of the gate in the first period for sure. The second period wasn't much better. I think we finally got going in the third period and played a good period to win a hockey game on the road."
Sabres coach Ralph Krueger talked about the Sabres effort, saying that "I thought we were bringing pucks to the net, we had traffic to the net. We hit the metal, we hit posts, we hit feet. What's important is that we did create opportunity. I think the disappointing thing for all of us would be the power plays we were able to get. We had unbelievable discipline again today with no penalties taken, and all those power play opportunities and then the 6-on-5 at the end, coming out empty-handed is certainly the reason we lost this game."
The Capitals play the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, where Ilya Samsonov is expected to start for the Capitals. The Sabres play the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, where Carter Hutton should draw the start.
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