The Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres played an inspired, gritty game in Buffalo. The Sabres gave the Eastern Conference leaders all they could handle and lost the game on the only two mistakes they committed all night. The Sabres lost 2-0 but earned handed the Caps a heavy helping of physicality.
The two teams meet again tonight in Washington and I am expecting some pre-New Years Eve fireworks.
Several Caps players, including Michael Latta, Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin took exception with the manner in which a Sabres grinder separated one of their teammates from the puck. That's their right as hockey players to stick up for their teammate.
Flashback to the second period of Monday night's game when Buffalo battler Nic Deslauriers floored Caps winger Justin Williams with a heavy body check on the glass.
Watch this #CarubbaCollision from Nic Deslauriers! 💥 RT for a chance to win tickets.
Deslaurier's stick clipped Williams as the two men crumpled to the ice. Nothing intentional.
In my opinion, Williams should have taken note of who he was on the ice with before the heavy hit. That he got plowed by Deslauriers is his fault. Move the puck quicker next time, Justin.
Immediately after the hit, the Washington bench erupted and then accused Deslauriers of an elbow on Williams. I was sitting 17 rows up from the glass adjacent to the Washington bench and saw Overching and Wilson screaming at Deslauriers and then the linesman for not calling a penalty on the play.
Midway though the second period, on a faceoff play, Michael Latta chirped Deslauriers as he skated by him then challenged the heavyweight scrapper to a fight.
Bad idea, Latta.
You do know that Deslauriers is a mauler, right?
Deslauriers landed several heavy punches in the one sided fight and dropped Latta with emphasis.
Latta would not return to the game due to an injury sustained during the fight. Latta and the Caps will think twice about trying the rough stuff with Deslauriers in the future. Or any other Sabres player for that matter. Latta will not play tonight.
Later in the game, Caps forward Tom Wilson hacked and slashed Sabres players looking for a dance partner. To no avail. The Sabres kept their mitts on while trailing 2-0. They pressured Braden Holtby for the final 10 minutes of the third period but could not get a puck past him. As far as the Sabres were concerned, the beef ended when Latta fought Deslauriers. The Caps obviously feel differently. They feel like they have a score to settle with Deslauriers and the Sabres.
Wilson will dance with a Sabre tonight.
Late in the third period Monday night, Ovechkin recklessly plowed Josh Gorges from behind late in the game sending that Buffalo D-man flying face first into the wall. No penalty call on the play.
The Sabres were not happy about Ovi's greasy prison shank on Gorges. Rather than whine about it, they filed it away for tonight.
Gorges may want to remind Michael Latta that it's not cool to whine about heavy hockey. The NHL is a man's game. If you call out a brawler and then get beat up, you shut up and play on. You don't pop off about it.
After today's morning skate, Latta told reporters that his arm went numb when Deslauriers beat him up. That will happen when you lose a punch in the face contest. Was Deslauriers supposed to stop fighting Latta at that point? Did Latta tap-out or tell Deslauriers to stop the madness? Does it make Deslauriers a bad person because he accepted the fight after Latta chirped and challenged him?
Arm went numb? Looked like the whole body was tingly after the fight. Bad fight humor, I'll take a lap, Coach.
Michael Latta says his arm went numb in fight with Deslauriers: 'I don't think he would have been cheering like that if he knew.'
Latta added a bottle full of cayenne pepper to the stew by saying that Deslauriers embarrassed himself by trying to fire up the Buffalo crowd after his knockout of Latta.
More from Latta on Deslauriers: 'I would never do that, personally. ... I think he embarrassed himself more than anything.' #CapitalsTalk
Best for both teams to handle business on the ice, between the whistles. Not after the game day skate on the internet.
I get the distinct impression that the first place Capitals looked right down their noses at the team that finished 30th overall the past two seasons. The Caps thought that the Sabres would retreat and hide after the opening faceoff on Monday night. They appear to have a high team ego and a superiority complex about themselves. When the "lowly" Sabres dared to push back and drill their star players like Williams, Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Kuznetzov and the like it pissed off the Caps bench. The Sabres may have lost 2-0 on the score board, however, they physically imposed their will on Braden Holtby and any player in a white sweater. The Sabres showed zero respect for the NHL's best goalie and his team. Respect is earned, not given.
Too bad.
Latta's dome must still be rattling after Nikita Zadorov cart-wheeled him 15 months ago.
The Caps have recalled AHL speed bag Zach Sill for tonight's dance party. Calling up an AHL dancing bear wreaks of desperation and premeditation on the part of the Caps. Again, the Latta-Deslauriers fight should have squashed any beef. If shenanigans ensue tonight, Tim Murray will have anecdotal evidence to take to the NHL if supplemental discipline and/or suspensions are warranted as defense for an attack on Deslauriers. If Sill were a player, he'd be playing in the NHL. There are 730 players in the NHL and he isn't one of them. Which tells me that he is being taxi'd into Washington for one thing: to bait Deslauriers and the Sabres into an alley fight. I'd caution Sill, Wilson and the Caps that the Sabres are a tough team and that they will retaliate if/when provoked.
Buffalo is team tough. When you mess with one Sabre, you have to take on Jamie McGinn, Evander Kane, Zach Bogoosian, Marcus Foligno, Mike Weber, Josh Georges, Cody Franson, Zemgus Girgensons, and Jake McCabe. Hell, Robin Lehner loves to fight and he is damn good at it. It's better for the Caps that Lehner is still injured and did not travel to Washington.
If and when the Caps want to scarp, the Sabres will be more than willing, ready and able to oblige them.
These types of games are the types of bonding experiences that bring teams closer together. The Sabres are already a tight-nit family of a room. Any tomfoolery and untoward advances on one of their players will only make their bond stronger. And that's a good thing for the Sabres.
***
Is tonight Patrick Kaleta's final game inside First Niagara Center?
It just might be.
PK36 and his Rochester Amerks will host the St. John Ice Caps in the only building Kaleta has ever called home in his nine year NHL career.
Kaleta told his former line mate Andrew Peters on Wednesday's "Sabres Hockey Hotline" that he would rather be playing for the Sabres right now rather than Rochester. Kaleta literally broke his body and spilled his guts for the Sabres and their fans for the past decade. He wants another chance to prove to Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma that he can add value to the Sabres by providing energy and grit.
The decision isn't up to him though.
Kaleta will become a free agent on January 1 and will be free to sign with any team that wants to sign him. Kaleta told Peters that the Sabres reserve first right of refusal. In other words, if Lindy Ruff wants him to play in Dallas, the Sabres could meet or beat any offer for Kaleta if they choose to. Imagine Kaleta playing for Montreal or Boston. It very well could happen. Both teams need toughness and speed. The Habs were serious about signing Kaleta as a free agent last summer but opted instead to add Zack Kassian by trade with Vancouver for Brandon Prust. The Habs traded Kassian to Edmonton on Monday.
In 348 games in 9 NHL seasons with Buffalo, Kaleta collected 542 PIMs. He scored 27 goals and added 27 assists.
Kaleta would add immediate value to a contending team's roster. He still skates like a freight train. He still finishes his checks with ferocity. He still blocks shots, kills penalties, wins loose pucks, holds onto pucks and fore checks like a Rottweiler on a steak bone.
Kaleta would have been a perfect player to play tonight in Washington. When most guys shrink during rough hockey games, Kaleta grows to seven feet tall. Kaleta rises to the challenge. Always did. Always will.
Kaleta is an NHLer. He just needs another opportunity be it in Buffalo or in another NHL city.
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