Washington plays Buffalo, looks for 4th straight road win

Washington Capitals (35-20-10, fourth in the Metropolitan) vs. Buffalo Sabres (23-33-8, sixth in the Atlantic)

Buffalo, New York; Friday, 7 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Washington visits Buffalo aiming to prolong its three-game road winning streak.

The Sabres are 11-18-8 in conference games. Buffalo is 10th in the Eastern Conference with 29.8 shots per game and is averaging 2.6 goals.

The Capitals are 13-5-1 against opponents from the Metropolitan. Washington is seventh in the Eastern Conference averaging 5.2 assists per game, led by John Carlson with 0.7.

Washington beat Buffalo 3-2 in the last meeting between these teams on Dec. 11.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 27 goals, adding 21 assists and totaling 48 points. Kyle Okposo has four assists over the last 10 games for Buffalo.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 40 goals and has 76 points. Evgeny Kuznetsov has seven goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Washington.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sabres: 7-3-0, averaging 2.7 goals, 3.8 assists, 3.6 penalties and 11.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game with a .916 save percentage.

Capitals: 7-2-1, averaging 3.8 goals, 5.5 assists, 3.8 penalties and 7.6 penalty minutes while allowing 2.8 goals per game with a .913 save percentage.

INJURIES: Sabres: None listed.

Capitals: Johan Larsson: out (lower-body), T.J. Oshie: day to day (lower body), Nic Dowd: day to day (upper-body).

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