Capitals at Sabres
Sabres 4, Capitals 3 in a shootout · first star Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (0 GA, .912 SV%).
2025-26 regular season · Preseason. The 2026-27 regular season starts Sep 29. Data as of September 28, 2026, source NHL.
Washington Capitals 3 at Buffalo Sabres 4
Shot chart
Every shot attempt, computed from the league's play-by-play coordinates. Capitals attack left, Sabres attack right, all periods folded onto one rink. Attempts are plotted where the league recorded them, so a mark in a team's own end would be an attempt logged from there (none in this game). Boxscore shots on goal: WSH 34, BUF 24.
Shots by period
| Period | WSH SOG | WSH G | BUF SOG | BUF G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 9 | 2 | 10 | 3 |
| 2nd | 15 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 3rd | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| OT | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 34 | 3 | 24 | 3 |
Shots by situation
| Situation | WSH SOG | WSH G | BUF SOG | BUF G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Even strength | 30 | 3 | 17 | 3 |
| Power play | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Short-handed | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Attempt share by period
Capitals took 55.5% of the shot attempts, and 56.8% of the 81 attempts taken at 5-on-5. An attempt is a goal, a shot on goal, a miss or a blocked shot; CF% is the share of them belonging to the Sabres and FF% their share of the ones that were not blocked, so the Capitals hold the remainder. All situations unless the 5-on-5 figure is named. All 32 teams
| Period | BUF CF% | BUF FF% |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 53.7 | 56.7 |
| 2nd | 35.7 | 34.4 |
| 3rd | 57.7 | 55.0 |
| OT | 10.0 | 12.5 |
| Game | 44.5 | 44.4 |
Team totals only: per-player on-ice numbers need shift data, which this source does not publish.
Scoring summary
1st period
- 01:07
Dylan Strome (3) Ryan Leonard (3) · snap 1–0 - 02:15 Aliaksei Protas (5) Connor McMichael (3), Tom Wilson (7) · snap 2–0
- 02:30
Tage Thompson (5) Jason Zucker (3), Jordan Greenway (1) · snap 2–1 - 10:02 Alex Tuch (5) Josh Doan (5), Owen Power (4) · wrist 2–2
- 18:45 Isak Rosen (1) Jack Quinn (4), Conor Timmins (4) · wrist 2–3
2nd period
- 19:17 Sonny Milano (1) Matt Roy (2), Martin Fehérváry (4) · tip-in 3–3
Shootout
- 00:00 Bowen Byram Unassisted · wrist 3–4
Three stars
-
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen BUF · G #1 · 0 GA, .912 SV% -
Isak Rosen BUF · R #63 · 1 G, 0 A -
Bowen Byram BUF · D #4 · 0 G, 0 A
Penalties
| Time | Team | Player | Infraction | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:39 | WSH | Tom Wilson | unsportsmanlike conduct | 2 |
| 07:04 | BUF | Jordan Greenway | illegal check to head | 2 |
| 07:04 | WSH | Tom Wilson | instigator | 2 |
| 07:04 | BUF | Jordan Greenway | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 07:04 | WSH | Tom Wilson | fighting (major) | 5 |
| 07:04 | WSH | Tom Wilson | instigator misconduct (misconduct) | 10 |
| 06:20 | BUF | Alex Tuch | interference | 2 |
| 14:16 | WSH | Ryan Leonard | hooking | 2 |
| 19:17 | BUF | Bowen Byram | roughing | 2 |
| 19:17 | WSH | Ryan Leonard | embellishment | 2 |
| 03:11 | WSH | Declan Chisholm | holding | 2 |
| 06:09 | BUF | Peyton Krebs | tripping | 2 |
| 08:26 | BUF | Beck Malenstyn | tripping | 2 |
| 16:48 | BUF | Alex Tuch | holding | 2 |
Boxscore
Washington Capitals
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dylan Strome #17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 22:13 |
 Aliaksei Protas #21 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 18:25 |
 Sonny Milano #15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 09:07 |
 Connor McMichael #24 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16:48 |
 Ryan Leonard #9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12:14 |
 Tom Wilson #43 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15:32 |
 Martin Fehérváry #42 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17:55 |
 Matt Roy #3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 19:44 |
 Hendrix Lapierre #29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 09:27 |
 Justin Sourdif #34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13:02 |
 Nic Dowd #26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16:41 |
 Alex Ovechkin #8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 19:15 |
 Brandon Duhaime #22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:13 |
 Anthony Beauvillier #72 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17:27 |
 Declan Chisholm #47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:39 |
 Jakob Chychrun #6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27:21 |
 John Carlson #74 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 28:05 |
 Trevor van Riemsdyk #57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16:00 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Charlie Lindgren #79 | O | 24 | 3 | .875 | 64:52 |
Buffalo Sabres
| Player | G | A | PTS | SOG | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tage Thompson #72 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 19:23 |
 Alex Tuch #89 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 20:14 |
| Isak Rosen #63 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14:44 |
 Jason Zucker #17 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15:07 |
 Jordan Greenway #12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13:28 |
 Jack Quinn #22 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16:23 |
 Josh Doan #91 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 15:32 |
 Conor Timmins #21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 17:47 |
 Owen Power #25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 19:54 |
 Jiri Kulich #20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11:19 |
 Josh Dunne #44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11:51 |
 Peyton Krebs #19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15:08 |
 Ryan McLeod #71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18:05 |
 Beck Malenstyn #29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12:42 |
| Bowen Byram #4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18:54 |
 Mattias Samuelsson #23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 20:22 |
 Michael Kesselring #8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18:27 |
 Rasmus Dahlin #26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26:12 |
| Goalie | DEC | SA | GA | SV% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen #1 | W | 34 | 3 | .912 | 64:28 |
SOG shots on goal · BLK blocked shots · FO% faceoff win percentage · EV / PP saves over shots by strength. Skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Source NHL (boxscore, play-by-play, game summary). Shot locations are the league's tracked coordinates; the chart and the situation tables are computed by Play-Pause Hockey. Data as of 2026-09-28.