OT win keeps Sabres in playoff mix
Pominville nets winner after Caps turn puck over
WASHINGTON — A giveaway in overtime by a player with two goals ruined the Buffalo Sabres' night Wednesday in Atlanta. In a bizarre bit of Groundhog Day hockey, it was the same scenario Friday night in the Verizon Center.
But this time, the Sabres got the benefit of the big mistake.
Washington veteran Sergei Fedorov was the victim, as his lazy backhand pass up the middle was intercepted by Tim Connolly. The Buffalo center fed Jason Pominville for the breakaway that produced the game-winning goal at 1:51 of OT as the Sabres outlasted the Washington Capitals, 5-4, to squeeze tighter into the playoff race.
Fedorov, who beat Ryan Miller with a pair of long-distance goals in the second period to give the Caps a 4-3 lead, never got his pass to Alex Ovechkin. The Washington star had already burned Buffalo with his league-leading 55th goal and two assists but never got the puck on the game's key play.
"I was skating up that side and [Fedorov] looked at Ovechkin," said Connolly, who had three assists. "I had to read the play and get a jump on the pass. I got it and then Pommer made a great play."
Connolly chased the puck inside the blue line and feathered it past defenseman Jeff Schultz to Pominville streaking down the slot with no Caps in sight.
Pominville sized it up and made no mistake, blowing a quick snap shot through Simeon Varlamov's legs for his 17th of the year. The Sabres are just 2-4 in OT this year and had not won one since Derek Roy beat Minnesota way back on Oct. 23.
"Timmy just stopped it, I had to go onside and he just laid it in there for me perfectly," Pominville said. "I was shooting five-hole. I didn't want to at first but kind of saw it and decided right there."
Fedorov's goat horns matched the ones earned by Thomas Vanek, who lost the puck to Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk for the game-winner Wednesday.
"We leaned on their mistake like Atlanta leaned on ours the other night," said coach Lindy Ruff. "It was an identical mistake."
The Sabres also got some help out of town as the red-hot Thrashers won at Florida, 3-1. The Sabres have 85 points, four behind the idle, eighth-place New York Rangers (who have a toughie this afternoon at Boston) and just two behind the Panthers.
Buffalo survived a wild game before a roaring, red-clad crowd of 18,277 that also included plenty of Sabres fans.
Washington scored three power-play goals, two in the second period when the Sabres took six penalties and were short two men for nearly five minutes. Alexander Semin and Fedorov (on an unscreened 50-footer) scored in a nine-second span early in the period to put the Caps into a 3-2 lead.
Still, the penalty killers did yeoman's work as the damage tab could have been much worse and left the Sabres no chance to recover
"We battled hard. ... Guys were sacrificing bodies, staying in shot lanes," Ruff said. "We were right there. We just had to stay with it. If you battle that hard, you're going to get rewarded."
The Sabres tied it on Roy's power-play goal, a neat redirection from Connolly at 18:17. But the Caps took a 4-3 lead when Fedorov's screened shot from the left boards eluded Miller 23 seconds later.
Maxim Afinogenov tied it at 4-4 with 9:39 to go on another Connolly feed after having a goal wiped out early in the period on a dubious goaltender interference ruling.
Miller made 33 saves and worked hard with the penalty-killing unit. He also drew the ire of the crowd for a face-wash with his glove on Ovechkin, who barreled into him on a bull rush to the net in the third period and earned an interference penalty.
"He's a big body and he thinks he deserves a chance to cut as hard as he wants," Miller said. "I'm coming off an ankle injury and I don't want anybody blowing me over.
"Whatever. I get to play the villain for the night. I don't go into too many rinks where I'm getting booed for something other than stopping the puck. I held off. I didn't hit him. I gave him a push to say, "Smarten up.'"
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