Capitals at Sabres - HSBC Arena - 7pm

The Capitals (3-1-0) go up against a Sabres (1-2-0) team that, while without the services of Chris Drury and Daniel "The Spear" Briere, is still a mighty dangerous customer, despite its lackluster record.

It goes without saying that the Capitals cannot put forth the sort of effort (or lack thereof) that they've shown in their last two games, because the Sabres will certainly make them pay dearly for it. Four of the Sabres 12 goals this season have come on the power play, and without Boyd Gordon to anchor the PK unit, the Capitals are going to have to find a solution in very short order.

Not taking 5 penalties in the first period would probably help things as well...

One bit of good news is that Buffalo's defensive play doesn't appear to be what it once was. They've given up 9 goals in the three games they've played - and keep in mind that they shut out the Hurricanes on Thursday, so those 9 goals came over the course of two games. Jocelyn Thibault's save percentage stands at 3.04 at the moment. But then again, like I said, they shut out the Hurricanes on Thursday... Who knows which game they'll be bringing tomorrow night, but the Caps would do well to prepare for the latter.

The key to winning this game is continuing the style of play that the Capitals put up against the Blueshirts in the third period of tonight's game. The Capitals amped up their game (after spending the first period with it set on "peewee league") gradually until the last minute of regulation, when they finally resembled the Capitals that manhandled the Thrashers and Hurricanes. They need to keep that level of play rolling into tomorrow night's match. If they don't, it's probably going to be another disappointing night.