Capitals vs. Sabres: Alex Tuch Burns His Old Team in Overtime as Dylan Strome Scores Twice

Alex Tuch spent the past five seasons in Buffalo. On Saturday night, in his first game against the Sabres, he made them pay for every one of them.

Tuch scored twice, including the winner with 1:18 left in overtime, and the Washington Capitals rallied from an early two-goal hole to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 at Capital One Arena. Dylan Strome added two goals and an assist, and the Capitals improved to 6-4-0 after falling behind 2-0 in the first period.

Buffalo Comes Out Hot

The Sabres looked sharp early. At 6:27 of the first, Jack Quinn took a pass from Olen Zellweger along the left wall, cut to the net and lifted a shot past Charlie Lindgren. Zach Benson had the second assist, and NHL.com noted it extended his season-opening road assist streak to five games, the longest run in Sabres history. Quinn, meanwhile, now has a four-game point streak and nine points in his past six games.

Buffalo doubled the lead at 10:36. Ryan McLeod picked off a Jakob Chychrun pass behind the Washington net and fed Josh Doan, who buried a one-timer from the right faceoff dot.

Lindgren did not dodge the blame. "I personally did not like my start at all," he said. "Just kept on working, kept on fighting."

Tuch Finds a Familiar Stick

Washington's first goal came courtesy of an old friend. At 16:10, Tuch threw a centering pass toward the crease, former teammate Tage Thompson tried to block it, and the puck deflected off his stick and past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Jordan Kyrou got the assist.

Tuch could not resist a little trash talk afterward. "I said (to Thompson), 'I can always find your stick,'" he said. "That was a crazy bounce obviously, the kind of break I thought we needed to get back on the horse there and start pressuring them a little bit more."

Strome Owns the Second

Strome took it from there. At 2:59 of the second, four seconds after a power play ended, he corralled a bouncing puck in front and slid a backhand inside the right post to tie it 2-2, with Kyrou and Chychrun assisting.

Late in the period, Lindgren made a left pad stop on a Benson partial breakaway, and 46 seconds later Strome cut across the low slot and snapped the puck home at 17:24 for a 3-2 lead. Justin Sourdif and Martin Fehervary drew the assists. A potential 3-2 Buffalo lead became a 3-2 Washington lead in less than a minute.

Rasmus Dahlin did not like what he saw from his team in the middle frame. "We've got to remember it's 60 minutes and we have to push every single shift and it's not going to be easy," he said.

Ostlund Answers, Tuch Finishes

Buffalo did not wait long to respond. Noah Ostlund tied it 3-3 just 2:20 into the third when his shot deflected in off Washington defenseman Matt Roy, with Owen Power and Dahlin assisting. "I think we've been playing good in all the third periods this year," Ostlund said.

Neither team scored again in regulation. Then, in overtime, Strome worked the puck from behind the net to Tuch in the slot, and Tuch beat Luukkonen at 3:42 for his seventh goal of the season.

"'Tuchy' made a great move to get away from the guy, and I saw him in the slot," Strome said.

Tuch, for his part, was not pretending it was just another game. "I loved playing for the Sabres, and I think everyone knows that," he said, before adding that "you always want to score and to be able to get the game-winner was pretty special."

Strome and Tuch Run the Show

Strome's night included two goals, an assist, 20:59 of ice time and 11 faceoff wins in 16 tries. Tuch was effusive about his center. "I thought he was the best player out there tonight," he said. "Always got his head up, so much poise, always looking for the next play."

Tuch, who logged 22:32, is already paying off a big investment. Washington acquired him in a June 26 sign-and-trade, a deal NHL.com said came with an eight-year, $84 million contract. NHL.com also noted he became the fastest Capitals player to record his first three multigoal games with the franchise, needing 10 games to beat Alex Ovechkin's mark of 11 in 2005-06.

Chychrun had two assists and five blocked shots, Kyrou also had two assists, and Lindgren settled in to stop 18 of 21 shots. He also passed Pat Riggin for sixth on the franchise list for games played by a goalie, with 144.

Buffalo leaned hard on its top defensemen. Power played 30:09 and Dahlin 27:20. Luukkonen made 30 saves on 34 shots.

Turning Point: The Pad Save

With the game tied 2-2 late in the second, Benson got loose on a partial breakaway. Lindgren got a left pad on it, and 46 seconds later Strome put Washington ahead for the first time. Buffalo tied it later, but the Capitals had flipped the energy of the night and never gave it back.

Stats That Matter

• 34-21: Washington's edge in shots on goal.
• 21-9: Washington's edge in blocked shots, with Chychrun accounting for five.
• 24-15: Buffalo's giveaways compared with Washington's.
• 0-for-5: The combined power plays. Every goal came at even strength.
• 30:09: Power's ice time, a heavy workload in a game the Sabres could not close out.

What It Means

Washington moves to 6-4-0 with 12 points and 5-2-0 at home, and has won three of four. The Capitals bounced back from a 5-2 home loss to Los Angeles on Tuesday and host Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Buffalo falls to 4-4-3 with 11 points and 1-1-3 on the road. The Sabres have lost three straight and four of five (1-1-3), and now head out for three games in California, starting Tuesday in San Jose. Dahlin tried to keep it light. "Yeah, we got one point today, and now we're going to Cali," he said.

The Ex Factor

There is something cinematic about a player beating his old team in overtime, like the plot twist in a sports movie everybody saw coming but still cheered for. Tuch scored off his former teammate's stick, then won it on a feed from his new one. Buffalo got a point, but Washington got the better story, and the guy at the center of it got the last laugh.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.