Thursday May 28 7:30pm
The Buffalo Sabres look to keep their perfect record on home ice during the postseason intact tonight when they host the Washington Capitals in Game Three of the Eastern Conference finals.
Buffalo drew first blood with a 2-0 victory in the series opener, but Todd Krygier scored at 3:01 of overtime in Game Two on Monday to even the series at one game apiece.
The loss was Buffalo's first since dropping Game Two of the quarterfinals to Philadelphia, ending a club-record eight-game postseason winning streak. The Sabres have won all four of their games in the playoffs at Marine Midland Arena, outscoring the opposition, 19-7.
In 11 playoff games, the Sabres have outshot their opponent just twice, while the Caps did it for the first time in 13 games on Monday.
Buffalo is 1-for-11 on the power play in this series and a league-best 22.4 percent (15-for-67) overall in the postseason. Washington is 1-for-12 against the Sabres and 8-for-48 (16.7 percent) in the playoffs.
Matthew Barnaby leads Buffalo with six goals and 12 points, while Donald Audette is scond with 11 points. Adam Oates leads the Caps with 12 points and Joe Juneau is second with 11. Surprisingly, defenseman Sergei Gonchar is Washington's leading goal-scorer with seven.
Washington's Olaf Kolzig boasts a league-best .948 save percentage, while counterpart Dominik Hasek is right behind at .944.
The Capitals have won four of five road playoff games, losing only Game Three to Ottawa in the semifinals.
The Sabres have not played at Marine Midland Arena since May 10th, when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game Two of a four-game conference semifinal sweep.
Game Four is Saturday in Buffalo.
