offtopic » Less than a week after losing in a shootout

WASHINGTON —Brock McGinn Jersey Kids , the Buffalo Sabres will seek a measure of revenge Friday when they return to D.C. to face the Washington Capitals.In that 4-3 defeat on Dec. 15, Buffalo couldn’t figure out a way to slow Alexander Ovechkin, who netted the tying goal and registered the shootout winner. Stopping the Capitals’ veteran would again seem to be the primary goal for Buffalo, which is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Panthers in which they lost for the first time all season when leading after two periods.“I really liked the way our guys played,” Sabres coach Phil Housley told reporters after practice Thursday about the recent meeting with Washington. “Obviously, that’s a very good team, a physical team, a heavy team. But we played them with speed and pace. We had an opportunity to win a game and that breeds confidence within our group.”Article continues below ...Buffalo continues to battle through injuries, with defenseman Jake McCabe and Lawrence Pilut returning to the ice for practice Thursday www.minnesotawildteamshops.com , though their status remains unclear for Friday. Winger Jason Pominville left the Panthers game after an on-ice collision, and Housley said his status was “day-to-day.”In addition, Buffalo announced Wednesday that center Patrik Berglund was placed on unconditional waivers with the intent to terminate his contract. The veteran, who was having a disappointing season, was indefinitely suspended when he didn’t show up for the Sabres’ flight to Washington last week.“I’m not going to comment on that,” Housley said. “It’s an unfortunate situation, but we’re focused on the guys in that room.”The Capitals are coming off a hard-fought, 2-1 loss to rival Pittsburgh on Wednesday that ended their five-game winning streak. But Washington’s players felt like they did enough in the loss to carry some positive momentum into the game against Buffalo.“We’ve played some good hockey here, a good stretch Authentic Jaccob Slavin Jersey ,” forward Tom Wilson told reporters. “We’ll regroup here and get back after it.”Ovechkin saw his 14-game point streak come to end in the loss to Pittsburgh, but in 46 games against Buffalo, he has 47 points, including 30 goals. And with Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom all having solid years, the Sabres are aware of the dangers when facing the Capitals.“They’re so skilled over there — they have so many good players,” Buffalo’s Jack Eichel told the team’s website. “They generate a lot of really grade-A chances and they play well together.”Washington likely will go with starter Braden Holtby between the pipes as they head toward the holiday break. He is 8-3-0 since Nov. 19.“For us, moving forward, we’ll push into these final two games before we get a much-needed break Jordan Staal Jersey ,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden told reporters. “I like a lot of things we’ve done. I want to win every single game, and we’ve been doing a good job of trying to win most of them.” GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) AJ Mleczko understands there is not a lot of women’s hockey on television outside the Olympics.Mleczko took home Olympic gold with the U.S. in 1998 and silver in 2002. She took on a broadcaster’s role for the 2006 Games. And now she will make the transition to men’s hockey at the NHL level for at least one day when she does color analysis on NBC’s national broadcast March 6 when the Detroit Red Wings visit the Boston Bruins.The 42-year-old Mleczko follows the footsteps of former U.S. national teammate and Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato, who did rinkside reporting for NBC in 2006-07 and Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who works NHL games for Sportsnet in Canada and was the first woman to do color commentary on ”Hockey Night In Canada.””I’m excited because it’s a big opportunity for me and I love being involved in hockey,” Mleczko said. ”This opens up doors for me to be able to do this.”Hockey has been a bit slower than some other sports in getting women into the broadcast booth for play-by-play or color analyst roles. ESPN has used Jessica Mendoza full-time on ”Sunday Night Baseball” since 2016 and has had Doris Burke doing college and pro basketball color work since 2000.Mleczko impressed executives so much with her work in South Korea that NBC Sports executive producer and president of production Sam Flood asked her what she was doing March 6 and if she’d be interested in being in the booth with play-by-play announcer Chris Cuthbert and work with between-the-benches analyst Brian Boucher for the Detroit-Boston game.Of course Mleczko was interested, so it’s her gig.”AJ has done a wonderful job as an analyst at the Olympics, both in Pyeongchang and dating back to her work at the Torino Games more than a decade ago,” Flood said. ”She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the booth Womens Justin Faulk Jersey , and we’re excited to have her team up with Chris and Brian in Boston.”Mleczko certainly earned her chance with her work on the Olympic women’s tournament that ended with the United States beating Canada for its first gold medal since 1998. She was on the broadcast with Kenny Albert and Pierre McGuire for the instant classic women’s final that went to a shootout .That’s a more important game than a meeting between the Bruins and Red Wings on a Tuesday night in March, but it’s a reward for Mleczko and perhaps an audition for more NHL games down the road.”I feel like I’ve learned a lot through the years that I’ve worked with them,” she said. ”And the fact that NBC has enough to faith to give me this opportunity, it means a lot to me. It does mean a lot to me and I feel the pressure partly because I want to make them proud and make myself proud of work that hopefully will be able to do.”—