Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch planned to get dinner together on Friday night, before the Buffalo Sabres visit the Washington Capitals on Saturday. It’s not anything new for the two veteran forwards. They’re very close friends, a tight bond that extends to their families.
This time, however, will be different.
When they enjoy that meal somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, they will do so as opponents for the first time in more than five years.
“It’s kind of the business that you’re in,” Thompson said. “I think everyone’s gone through something like that, where they’ve had a teammate leave and you play against them, and it’s definitely a different feeling. But I think kind of when you’re out there and you’re in the game, you’re not really thinking about it. You kind of just forget. … But, yeah, it’s gonna be different for sure.”
Thompson, who is looking for his third consecutive 40-goal campaign, is the longest tenured Sabre, with nine previous seasons and 218 goals under his belt.
Saturday’s contest comes four months to the day that Buffalo sent Tuch, who was a pending unrestricted free agent, to Washington in a sign-and-trade deal. Tuch had been traded twice before in his career. Originally drafted by the Minnesota Wild, in 2017 the then-21-year-old was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the expansion draft.
Nearly four years later, the Sabres acquired him from the Golden Knights, along with Peyton Krebs and a first-round pick that became Noah Ostlund, in the blockbuster deal that sent Jack Eichel to Vegas on Nov. 4, 2021.
“I thought we had a pretty special group there (in Buffalo), and it’ll be a little bit different,” said Tuch, now 30. “… It’ll be good to see them and hopefully hear some new stories. But it’s just a lot of excitement. A little nerves, but mostly excitement.”
Tuch has enjoyed a solid start in his new hockey home. His five goals are most on the Capitals, while his seven points are second only to second-year forward Ryan Leonard (eight).
Washington could be without goalie Logan Thompson against Buffalo. Thompson, who was in net for a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in their most recent outing on Tuesday, is day to day with a lower-body injury. Coach Spencer Carbery said they’ll see how he is Saturday morning.
The Capitals will also be without defenseman Vincent Desharnais, who had surgery for a sudden appendectomy and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks.
On the positive side, they could get forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Justin Sourdif back. Both were full participants at practice Friday after being sidelined by illness. Dubois has missed five games and Sourdif has missed two. Carbery had yet to speak to the team’s trainers to determine each player’s availability.
The Sabres, meanwhile, could be without forward Jiri Kulich. The 22-year-old took a puck to the face at practice Friday and had to be helped off the ice. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff didn’t have an update after practice, with Kulich being looked at by team doctors at the time.
“It didn’t look good,” Ruff said.
The Sabres are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, an outing in which they outshot the Flyers 16-9 in the first period but fell behind 2-0. They managed just 12 shots over the final 40 minutes.
The loss snapped a four-game point streak for Buffalo (2-0-2).
The Capitals have been off since Tuesday when they fell to the Los Angeles Kings, 5-2.