Caps fall to Sharks, 3-2
The Washington Capitals apparently refuse to do it. They absolutely refuse to put together a win streak. After a thrilling 7-6, his octane win over Anaheim, the Caps fell last night to the San Jose Sharks, 3-2. The losing streak for the Caps continues in San Jose. Washington has not been victorious in San Jose since 1993. Nothing changed that last night.
In typical fashion, Washington fell behind in the first period, when Joe Pavelski scored a short handed goal after a stumbling John Carlson botched a power play pass. But for Sharks fan, they had a mere 22 seconds to celebrate when the Great 8, Alexander Ovechkin scored on a wicked slap shot across the middle to send the game into the first intermission tied, 1-1. It was the 23rdgoal of the season for Ovechkin. The goal was assisted by Carlson and Alexander Semin.
The Caps and Sharks skated to a scoreless second period.
And, again in typical fashion, the Caps came out flat in the third period, refusing to play three full periods of intense hockey. It cost them. A little over 4 minutes into the third period, Ryan Clough tallied his 15thgoal of the season to give the Sharks the 2-1 advantage. Dany Heatley would followup 6 minutes later on the Sharks power play to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead. Heatley’s goal was assisted by Pavelski and Joe Thorton. Nicklas Backstrom tallied at the 18:05 mark to pull the Caps within 1, which is also where the score stayed. It was Backstrom’s 15thgoal of the season and was assisted by Ovechkin and Carlson. For the second consecutive night, Ovechkin added a goal and an assist to his stats.
Michal Nuevirth stopped 25 of 28 shots to take the loss. His record falls overall to 17-9-4.
If Washington points to anything positive from a loss in which they could have picked up two points on Tampa Bay, who loss to Detroit 6-2 last night, is the fact that Ovechkin continued heating up, offensively. Ovie has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 2 games and 3 goals in his last 4 games.
Up next, Washington will face Buffalo in Buffalo on Sunday at 12:30PM.
Game highlights courtesy of CSN Washington.
