The Washington Capitals sure could have used a goal or two from the touchdown and extra point they scored on Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks in their 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night and can you tell, I already miss football.
Washington is 0-9-1 in its 10 visits to the Shark Tank. The Sharks have outscored the Caps on the scoreboard by a combined 38-19 in those 10 games. Washington is now 1-6 against the Pacific division and 1-8 against the western conference this season.
The big names continued to score as Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom lit the the lamp for Washington but it wasn’t enough as Alexander "hat trick" Semin did his usual disappearing act following a good performance in last night's game. Semin has 21 goals this season, every one coming in a Washington victory.
After a rather boring 18 minutes of first period hockey, Washington seemed to catch a break when the Sharks Ben Eager picked up a tripping penalty, giving the caps a late period power play. Unfortunately Lemony Snicketts casted an unfortunate event on Washington defenseman John Carlson. Carlson fell down at the blue-line trying to control a pass. The Sharks Patrick Marleau made him pay for his clumsiness.
Marleau scooped up the loose puck and took off on a two-on-one shorthanded break towards Washington's starting goalie Michael Neuvirth. Marleau slid a pass to Sharks center Joe Pavelski, who beat Neuvirth with a quick one-time wrist shot. The short-handed goal was the second in consecutive nights the Capitals have surrendered and their fourth of the year.
Before the public address announcer could finish announcing the Sharks goal, Alex Ovechkin tied the game at one goal apiece. Caps defenseman John Carlson who fumbled the puck allowing the chance for the SH goal hit Ovechkin with a pass in (surprise…surprise) the high slot. Ovechkin wasted little time with the puck making one move, firing his customary wrist shot past San Jose's net minder Antti Niemi.
The Power play goal was Ovechkin's fourth with the extra man and 23rd overall goal this season. All four extra man markers by Ovechkin this season have come away from home ice. The goal also stopped Niemi’s shutout streak against the Caps at 79-minutes and 49-seconds. Niemi shut out Washington 2-0 back on Feb-8 in DC.
Although he has just half of the goals that he had this time last year, Washington captain Alex Ovechkin continues to exemplify the duties of a team captain. His leadership has been evident in his play. Since getting off the plane in Phoenix and through Thursday's game in San Jose, Ovechkin has played smart, physical two-way non-stop hockey, while seemingly getting his offense back on track.
"Ovey looks like the old Ovey now," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I hadn't been able to say that but in recent games he has been, so let's hope he continues. The energy he's playing with, he's coming back hard and he's not staying upright and his shifts were short. And all those things encompass a good leader. That's what he was doing."
Neither team would score or would commit a penalty in the second period, as Washington would head into the third period out-shooting San Jose 18-14.
Washington had to feel good about their third period chances. The Sharks did not seem to have Washington's intensity, what little there was. The Sharks returned home from a seven game, two -week road trip that saw them win five times away from the Shark Tank.
San Jose will play eight of their next 11 at home but that does not sound as good as it has in years past. Having lost just 11 times in the past two seasons combined at home, San Jose has already lost ten times this season at the Tank.
Instead, Washington left their game in the locker room. Jeff Schultz and Mark Chimera got caught chasing behind their own and to the same side as defenseman Scott Hannan cheated towards the play allowing the Sharks Ryan Clowe to skate in and tip home a Kyle Wellwood shot, putting the Sharks ahead just 4:27 into the last period.
With John Erskine in the penalty box for Washington serving a hooking minor, San Jose would stretch their lead to 3-to-1 scoring a power play goal. Danny Heatley scored the goal that proved to be the game-winner on the power play. Heatley tipped in a point shot from Dan Boyle that deflected off the stick of Washington's Karl Alzner, the Sharks Joe Pavelski, and Joe Thornton before Heatley knocked it past Neuvirth for the Sharks' first power-play goal in six games.
Prior to Wednesday's game against Anaheim, the Caps had killed off 29 of their last 42 short-handed situations. With the San Jose PP goal, Washington is just two-for their last four on the kill and while they did score with the extra man last night they have also surrendered two shorthanded goals in two games.
This is not the kind of special teams play head coach Bruce Boudrea would like to see at any time of the season, much less with just 23 games remaining. Every team is starting to scoreboard watch, as playoff seeds and home ice advantage are seemingly up for grabs every night headed down the stretch. Case and point, San Jose moved from fourth to second with tonight’s win as just three points separates first and last in the NHL's Pacific division.
The Capitals would draw to within a goal with only 1:55 remaining, but could not get Neuvirth to the bench and establish the extra man chance with less than a minute to play. The Backstrom goal was his 15th of the season as Carlson and Ovechkin drew the assists. Ovechkin enjoyed back to back multiple point nights for the first time since Jan 20-22.
Washington will have to wait one more year to get a win in San Jose. What is the hurry anyway, the Caps have not won there since October-30, 1993, a 4-2 win. According to the Washingtoncapitals.com, Arturs Irbe, now the Capitals’ goalie coach, was in net for the Sharks on that night more than 16 years ago.
Craig Berube, Peter Bondra, Keith Jones and Mike Ridley were the goal scorers for Washington that night. Rick Tabaracci made 25 saves to earn the win for the Caps.
Several of the participants in that game – including San Jose’s Rob Zettler, Mike Sullivan and Irbe and Washington’s Steve Konowalchuk and Berube – are now coaching in the NHL. Only Ray Whitney (now with Carolina) is still active in the league. Whitney was in his third season in the league in 1993-94.
The Caps will spend the night in San Jose tonight and then head for Buffalo to play the Sabres in a nationally televised NBC game on Sunday.
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