Sabres dent Capitals' wild-card hopes

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves and the Buffalo Sabres beat the visiting Washington Capitals 4-2 on Thursday night. Washington began the night with a one-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but those teams were playing each other. Alex Tuch scored his 22nd goal of the season for the Sabres (38-37-5, 81 points), who had lost two straight and have been eliminated from playoff contention.