The Washington Capitals and new head coach Barry Trotz faced off this evening against the Buffalo Sabres in a pre-season match up in D.C.

The Caps shut the Sabres out 1-0 with a goal from a potential superstar, Andre Burakovsky, with 6:46 left in the first. After a nice feed from Jason Chimera, Burkovsky curl-and-dragged the puck around a Sabres defenseman, and fired a nice a shot passed goalie Nathan Lieuwen, who stopped 24-25 shots on net tonight.

The Capitals rookie made a nice impression, playing alongside Chimera and Joel Ward for most of the night. Burakovsky had just the one shot on net, but he showed a lot of skill with and without the puck. He's eyeing a spot on the roster this season, and so far his case is getting stronger.

Defenseman, Madison Bowey also had a solid game, playing over 19 minutes, while Cam Schilling played over 22 minutes, mostly with newcomer Matt Niskanen. Schilling has his eye on the bottom 6 pairing, or at least the 7 spot, on the Caps now deep defense. With Jack Hillen hurt again, it looks like Schilling may get his chance.

In net, the Caps played rookie Pheonix Copley who stopped all 6 shots he faced. He split time with eventual number one, Braden Holtby who stopped all 19 shots against him.

Holtby looked comfortable and confident, as he usually does when he's on his game. The Caps are looking to see him play the puck more this season, which he did tonight and made a few nice plays to break up the Sabres forecheck.

Ovechkin saw some power play time, and finished the night with 2 PIM and 1 hit. In his 17:37 of ice time he wasn't very noticeable upfront, but he was hustling back on the play and had two blocked shots. It was clear that Ovechkin was working with more ice tonight than he would have had done last year, and he was more involved in the all-around flow starting from the Caps zone.

The one player who I was really impressed with was Brooks Laich. After a tough last two seasons battling a groin issue, Laich was skating well tonight and engaging himself more than he was last season when he attempted to come back. He's an enormous piece of the puzzle for Washington and he needs to be healthy if the Caps are going to make a move this season in the standings.

It wasn't a very exciting game by any means, but it was great to see hockey again after a few short months of waiting.

More to come...

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