Alex Ovechkin can stop fretting about what the Washington

BUFFALO Authentic Adrian Peterson Jersey , N.Y. (AP) Alex Ovechkin can stop fretting about what the Washington Capitals captain described as the worst game of his career.He and the Capitals were much better in a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, two days after a 7-1 meltdown at Chicago.After being held without a shot against Chicago, Ovechkin responded by scoring his NHL-leading 35th goal, and Washington reclaimed the top spot in the Metropolitan DivisionArticle continues below ...”Yeah, I think the last game I didn’t play my game. I think it was the worst play of my career by myself. I take the blame on it,” Ovechkin said. ”I think we understand the game in Chicago was just forget about it, you know. We moved forward. We got two points.”Capitals coach Barry Trotz noticed how much more involved Ovechkin was against Buffalo, particularly after a few early exchanges with Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.”Sometimes to wake up the bear up, you poke him a little, and he goes,” Trotz said of Ovechkin, who reached the 35-goal plateau for the 10th time in 13 NHL seasons.John Carlson had a goal and assist and Philipp Grubauer stopped 32 shots in a game Washington led 2-0 after two periods.Evgeny Kuznetsov sealed the victory by scoring into an open net with 26 seconds remaining to put Washington up 3-1, and the Capitals ended a four-game road trip at 2-1-1.Washington improved to 34-18-7 for 75 points Adrian Peterson Jersey Elite , moving one ahead of the idle Pittsburgh Penguins, while preparing for a showdown at home Tuesday against Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.Kyle Okposo spoiled Grubauer’s shutout bid by having Scott Wilson’s shot from the high slot deflect in off him with 7:18 remaining.Evander Kane closed the scoring with 4 seconds left in a final period in which Buffalo managed 17 of its 34 shots. Backup goalie Chad Johnson stopped 27 shots, starting in place of Robin Lehner, who was given a day off to rest a nagging lower-body injury.Though disappointed in the outcome, Sabres coach Phil Housley was more pleased with his team’s overall performance following a sloppy 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.”The result, definitely we don’t like. We want to win at home here,” Housley said. ”But against a really good hockey team, I can’t fault our guys for the effort.”The Capitals struck twice in the second period on goals determined by video reviews.Ovechkin scored 1:18 into the period by getting his stick up to bat down Christian Djoos‘ rising shot from the left point and bounce it inside the left post. The goal held up, with the NHL ruling Ovechkin’s stick was not above the crossbar.Carlson scored with 6:27 left in the second period during a scramble for the puck to the left of the Buffalo net. Carlson jammed the puck loose and into the crease, where it briefly rolled across the goal line an instant before Okposo kicked it out.Play continued until the next whistle with 6:13 left, when a review determined the puck went in.Johnson wasn’t sure how high Ovechkin’s stick was on the first goal, though he knew the second goal was in.”It’s just two lucky goals and that’s the game,” Johnson said. ”Obviously http://www.washingtonredskinsteamonline.com/adrian-peterson-jersey , we made a good push in the third. It just wasn’t enough.”Carlson said the Capitals can take some positives out of a trip in which they opened with a 4-3 overtime loss at Winnipeg and then beat Minnesota 5-2.”The stinker, everyone talks about it,” Carlson said, referring the loss at Chicago. ”But we played a lot of good minutes of hockey on this trip.”NOTES: A few hours before the opening faceoff, the Capitals acquired D Michal Kempny in a trade with Chicago for a conditional 2018 third-round pick. … Trotz laughed in describing the phone conversation he had in welcoming Kempny to the team. ”I told him, we’re not as bad as he saw in Chicago,” Trotz said. … Buffalo recalled G Linus Ullmark from AHL Rochester to back up Johnson. Ullmark was returned to the minors immediately after the game.UP NEXTCapitals: At home against Tampa Bay.Sabres: Play their next two on the road, starting at the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.— SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Roberto Luongo spoke eloquently on the ice and then played brilliantly in net.On a night when the Florida Panthers honored the victims of last week’s shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, their veteran goalie delivered a stirring speech to the crowd during a somber pregame tribute.Once the puck was dropped Thursday, he made 33 saves in his third game since returning from a groin injury to lead the Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.”The first 10 minutes of the game was very difficult. I was not in a zone, that’s a good way to put it. Emotions were still running high from the ceremony,” said Luongo Authentic D.J. Swearinger SR Jersey , who lives in Parkland, where the shooting occurred.Vincent Trocheck scored the winning goal with 19.1 seconds left for Florida. With the score tied at 2, he redirected a shot by Jonathan Huberdeau past goaltender Braden Holtby during a power play.Nick Bjugstad scored the tying goal for the Panthers late in the third period, and Maxim Mamin got his first NHL goal.It was the first home game for the Panthers since the tragedy. They had been on a road trip in Canada for the past 11 days.”We had little angels helping us tonight to help us pull out a big win here,” Luongo said.Trocheck celebrated his go-ahead goal by encouraging fellow players to sign his stick. He plans on donating it to the students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.”It was very emotional,” Trocheck said. ”It was a powerful game. Powerful speech before the game by Lou. Powerful meaning behind the game. Team played great in the third period, showed a lot of character and to be able to put that in the net at the end of the game, it was exciting.”Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller also scored for the Capitals. Holtby stopped 30 shots but lost his fifth straight.Before the game, the arena video screen showed the names and faces of each of the 17 students who were killed on Valentine’s Day in nearby Parkland. The darkened ice was then illuminated with 17 circles of light, with a student’s name inside each one.Players from both teams stood for the ceremony, some wiping tears from their eyes.Luongo followed with an emotional address about how he has lived in Parkland for 12 years with his wife and children, and how much he loves the town. He lauded the bravery of those who lost their lives trying to save others and spoke about how inspiring the students have been in coping with the tragedy.”Usually D.J. Swearinger SR Jersey Elite , sporting events start with a lot of fanfare and a lot of noise, and it wasn’t that,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ”It had some meaning to the people in this region, it had some meaning to the players on the other side, and it had some meaning to us. After he (Luongo) got through the first period, it settled into a hockey game.”Florida players will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas logos on their helmets and MSD uniform patches for the remainder of the season.”I thought Louie did a heck of a job with his speech and to get in net and to throw a performance out like that after, it was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen in a long time,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said.Bjugstad tied the game at 2 when he took a pass from Aleksander Barkov in front and poked in the puck with 3:42 left.”The second goal they got a little fortunate on,” Holtby said. ”I think he misplaced his pass and it went off his back foot. You just move on from those.”Burakovsky’s power-play goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 9:56 of the second. Alex Ovechkin fed the puck to Burakovsky in the slot, where he lined it up and fired a shot past Luongo.Mamin gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 4:50 of the first period when he poked in the rebound of a shot by Ian McCoshen. Mamin’s goal was his first point in eight NHL games.The Capitals tied it on Eller’s goal. Burakovsky took a shot from the high slot that glanced off Eller’s stick and in with 1:05 left in the first.NOTES: Capitals defenseman Michal Kempny, acquired from Chicago late Monday night, made his Washington debut. … The Panthers acquired forward Frank Vatrano from Boston for a third-round pick in this year’s draft. … RW Radim Vrbata was a healthy scratch for the eighth time in 11 games.UP NEXTCapitals: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.Panthers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.—