Alex Tuch Powers Capitals Past Former Club, Sabres Lose Third Straight

The Buffalo Sabres have continued to put forth incomplete efforts this season, that is costing them valuable points in the standings. The Sabres have dug themselves early holes in most of their first 11 games, but the club uncharacteristically took an early lead, before squandering it in the second period in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday. 

Former Sabre Alex Tuch scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner with 1:18 remaining in overtime, to hand Buffalo their third straight loss. Jack Quinn and Josh Doan staked Buffalo to a 2-0 lead, but Tuch and Dylan Strome erased that lead, and Strome scored his second of the game to give Washington the lead after 40 minutes. Noah Ostlund tied the contest in the third, but the Sabres were outshot in the game 34-21. 

"There were mistakes  by  both  teams.  They  capitalized  on  a  couple  of  ours,  and  I  thought  we  could  have  capitalized  on  a  couple  of  theirs  late," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. " I  thought  we  possessed  it  for  a  while (in overtime)..  We  just  didn't  make  the  right  decision  on  a  couple  plays.  I  thought  we  could  have, tried  to  get  some  subtle  picks  in. The  play  on  the  goal,  we're  still  in  man-on-man  coverage,  and one  of  our  forwards let  go. 

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Tuch, who leads the Capitals with seven goals, got a fortunate bounce off of a Buffalo player past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen late in the first, and scored from the slot to give Washington the win. 

"I  thought (Alex) played  well.  I  guess  you'd  have  to  say (he was)) pretty  fortunate  on  the  first  one." Ruff said. " I  think  he  had  one  or  two  looks  in  the  game,  but  I  thought  he  played  well.  I  just  expected  him  to  play  well,  and  I  thought  he  did."

The Sabres were without forward Jiri Kulich, but Ruff indicated that he was feeling better after getting hit with a puck in the face at practice on Friday. The 22-year-old is hoping to join the club for the California leg of their four-game road swing, but will have to pass tests in Buffalo before reuniting with his teammates. The head coach also indicated that with Alex Lyon still not ready to play, backup Colten Ellis will see action in one of the three games against San Jose, Anaheim or Los Angeles. 

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