Capitals at Sabres
THE STORY: The Christmas break couldn't come soon enough for the slumping Buffalo Sabres, who have lost three straight games and continue to plummet in the Eastern Conference standings. Hoping to be refreshed after three days off, the Sabres face another of the league's most disappointing teams when the Washington Capitals pay a visit to the First Niagara Center on Monday night. Buffalo is sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, one slot and two points behind the Capitals, who have shown no signs of turning things around after busting out of the gate with a 7-0-0 record. Jason Chimera, Washington's leading goal scorer, was not in a festive mood following Friday's shootout loss at the New Jersey Devils. “I don't know if guys were looking forward to the Christmas break or what was wrong. But the execution was terrible. We looked like peewee hockey players,” Chimera said.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, RIS, NHLN-CA, CSN-MA+
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (17-14-2): Switching coaches has failed to inspire Washington, which has gone 5-5-1 since Dale Hunter replaced Bruce Boudreau. Chimera scored a pair of goals to rally the Capitals from a 3-0 deficit against the Devils before they fell in the shootout. He now has a team-leading 13 goals, which is three more than last season and four shy of his career high set in 2005-06. G Michal Neuvirth has started four straight in place of slumping Tomas Vokoun.
ABOUT THE SABRES (16-15-3): Buffalo could be without leading goal scorer Thomas Vanek, who did not play in the final period of Thursday’s 3-2 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs due to an upper-body injury. The Sabres need to find offense from someone other than Vanek and captain Jason Pominville. RW Drew Stafford has only six goals – two in the last 21 games – after pumping in 32 last season. He also started slowly a year ago before scoring 22 goals in his final 42 games.
OVERTIME:
1. Neuvirth is 3-0-0 lifetime against Buffalo. Vokoun was in net for a 5-1 loss at Buffalo on Nov. 26.
2. Pominville has two goals and eight assists in his last 10 games.