Capitals 2, Sabres 0
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Goalie Braden Holtby made 31 saves, leading the Washington Capitals to a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Left winger Alex Ovechkin and right winger Jay Beagle scored second-period goals for the Capitals (27-6-2).
Holtby recorded his second shutout of the season and the 29th of his career.
Goalie Linus Ullmark made 24 saves for the Sabres (15-17-4).
Ovechkin opened the scoring 19 seconds into the middle period after being left all alone in front of the Buffalo net. Center Nicklas Backstrom found the Washington captain, who buried a quick wrist shot to the glove side for his 18th goal of the season.
Beagle made it 2-0 with 7:05 remaining in the period following a fortunate bounce in the Buffalo end. Defenseman Tom Wilson's long shot ricocheted off the end wall and fell right to Beagle, who was alone in front and had an open net in front of him. It was Beagle's sixth goal of the season.
Holtby's best save came with one minute remaining, when the goaltender reached to make an acrobatic glove save on Sabres left winger Evander Kane. Kane appeared to have an open net in front of him, but Holtby showed tremendous agility to quickly slide to his left and grab the puck.
The Sabres briefly thought they ended Holtby's shutout with 4:10 remaining, but officials quickly waved off an apparent goal.
After Holtby corralled a long-distance shot by Kane, right winger Tyler Ennis crashed the crease and forced the puck into the net after colliding with the goaltender. Officials immediately denied the goal, and incidental contact with Holtby was confirmed moments later following a coach's challenge by the Sabres.
The Capitals came close to increasing their lead to 3-0 on two separate occasions late in the second period. Ovechkin had a shot go off the post with 6:08 remaining, and defenseman Matt Niskanen had a second shot go off the post seconds later.
NOTES: D John Carlson (lower body) and RW Stanislav Galiev were scratched for the Capitals. Carlson's injury ended a streak of 412 consecutive games played for the Capitals, the second-longest streak in franchise history. ... LW Marcus Foligno and D Carlo Colaiacovo were scratched for the Sabres. ... LW Evander Kane played for Buffalo after reports Sunday that he is being investigated for a possible sex offense. Kane said he did "nothing wrong" in a brief statement earlier Monday. ... This was the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Capitals this season. They meet again on Wednesday in Washington and their final meeting takes place on Saturday, Jan. 16 in Buffalo. ... This was the 150th all-time game between the teams.