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Sabres fall to Caps despite Miller return
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2010, Friday
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THE Washington Capitals spoiled Ryan Miller's return from Olympic action as the National Hockey League's leading team ground out a 3-1 victory over the US goaltender's Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Miller received a long standing ovation from his home crowd and made 37 saves but still came out on the losing side in his first appearance since helping the United States win a silver medal at the Vancouver Olympics.
Jason Chimera gave Washington (42-13-8) the lead in the second period before Mike Green and Boyd Gordon sealed victory with third-period goals.
"When you play against a guy like Miller, you know he's not going to give up too many goals," Washington goaltender Jose Theodore said after improving to 11-0-2 in his last 13 decisions.
"It was a real tight hockey game and I'm really happy with the way we got the win."
Jochen Hecht converted a wrist shot in the second for the slumping Sabres (33-20-9), who have lost eight of their last nine games.
Despite a second defeat in as many days, Buffalo remains one point behind the Ottawa Senators in the Northeast Division.
Elsewhere in the NHL, it was: Canucks 6, Red Wings 3; Panthers 7, Flyers 4; Blackhawks 5, Oilers 2; Wild 4, Flames 0; and Avalanche 4, Ducks 3.
In Buffalo, New York, Alex Ovechkin had a quiet night for Washington after playing for Russia at the Olympics along with Washington teammate Alexander Semin.
NHL points leader Ovechkin made four attempts on goal in nearly 19 minutes of action as the potent Washington offense outshot Buffalo 40-24, finally breaking through with 4:37 left in the second.
Theodore preserved the win with 23 saves, shutting down the Sabres after allowing a score at 16:23 in the second. He made a couple of big saves in the final four minutes of the contest, including one from Buffalo defenseman Chris Butler.
The Sabres withdrew Miller in the final seconds, which allowed the Capitals to complete the scoring with an empty-netter.
"It's all about who's going to crack in their system first," Miller said. "If you don't commit to it, if you don't accept it, you're not going to win consistently. Right now we're just looking for an easier way to play our system but it doesn't exist."
Hours after acquiring four players at the trade deadline, the Capitals ended a three-game losing streak.
In Detroit, US Olympian Ryan Kesler scored twice, and gold-medal winning Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo made 28 saves as Vancouver downed Detroit.
Alex Burrows, Kyle Wellwood, Sami Salo and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks.
Jason Williams, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen netted for Detroit.
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