A TWO Point Night: Washington Capitals -- Game 18: Capitals 4 - Sharks 0

The Washington Capitals played a beautiful ugly game in San Jose on Saturday night, riding a pair of goals from both Conor Sheary and Alex Ovechkin, plus a 22-save effort from goalie Ilya Samsonov, to defeat the Sharks, 4-0, to give the Caps points in the first three games of their west coast road trip.

First Period

Conor Sheary got the Caps off to a good start just 2:17 into the game when the Caps broke into the San Jose zone, but lacking a numbers advantage.  Nevertheless, Daniel Sprong found Sheary on his left with a pass that broke Sheary behind the Sharks’ defense, and he snapped a shot through the pads of goalie Adin Hill, who looked to have misplayed the puck.

Washington was awarded the game’s first power play when the puck was shot over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty on Marc-Edouard Vlasic at 13:29 of the period.  Alex Ovechkin made the Sharks pay by converting a pass from John Carlson into a one-timer from the top of the left wing circle at 13:58, Ovechkin’s first goal off a one-timer from his office this season.

The Caps had their second power play when Noah Gregor cross-checked Garnet Hathaway in the ribs in the neutral zone at the 17:34 mark.  The power play was wiped out when T.J. Oshie was called for interference at 18:00 of the period.  The Caps took another penalty when Justin Schultz was called for goalie interference when he cleaned out Hill in the San Jose crease at 18:30 into the period.  The Caps killed the 4-on-3 Sharks advantage and almost all of the two-man advantage when the horn sounded to send the teams to the locker rooms with the Caps holding a 2-0 lead.

-- The teams split 12 shots on goal evenly, and San Jose out-attempted the Caps, 14-12, in the period.

-- The two teams combined for 32 credited hits in the period, the Caps with 17 of them and T.J.Oshie leading the team with four.

-- Connor McMichael had a fine period. In 5:43 of ice time, he had a shot on goal, two credited hits, and won five of six draws.

-- Alex Ovechkin led the Caps with 7:21 in ice time.

Second Period

San Jose started the period with almost a full minute of carry-over power play time, but they failed to convert the opportunity.

San Jose dominated zone time in the first 15 minutes, and then they were awarded a four-minute power play when Carl Hagelin was called for a double minor for high sticking at 14:49 of the period.  The Caps killed off both ends of the double minor penalty and then received a power play of their own when the Sharks took their second delay of game/puck over glass penalty, this one charged to Gregor at 18:58 of the period.  Washington did not convert the extra-man chance before the end of the period, but 62 seconds would carry over into the third period.

-- San Jose outshot the Caps, 10-7, in the period and out-attempted them, 23-10.

-- Nic Dowd and Evgeny Kuznetsov had a devil of a time trying to win faceoffs in the first 40 minutes, combining to win only seven of 26 draws (26.9 percent).

-- Conor Sheary led the Caps in shots on goal (three) and shot attempts (five) through two periods.

Third Period

The Caps did not convert the remainder of the power play carrying over into the period, and the teams played on with the Caps holding on to their 2-0 lead.

The teams fought back and forth without either team getting many in the way of chances until the 16^th minute when Sheary got his second goal of the game when he followed up his own shot from the seat of his pants, finding a hole between Hill’s pads to make it 3-0, 15:10 into the period.

Ovechkin put an exclamation point on the effort with an empty net goal 18:56 into the period to make it a 4-0 game.  That would be how the game ended, with Samsonov earning the shutout.

Other stuff…

-- For Ilya Samsonov it was a second consecutive shutout and his third in his last five appearances.  Over those five games he is 4-0-0 (one no-decision), 1.36, .950, with those three shutouts.

-- Conor Sheary had his first multi-goal game of the season with his pair of tallie, and he had his second multi-point game, his first on the road this season.

-- Alex Ovechkin had a three-point game (2-1-3), the 120^th of his career, tying Mark Recchi and Ray Bourque for 28^th place all-time.

-- Ovechkin’s empty net goal was the 42^nd of his career, second all-time (Wayne Gretzky: 56).

-- John Carlson had the 77^th two-assist game of his career, third best in team history.

-- San Jose outshot the Caps, 22-21, and out-attempted them, 51-34.

-- The teams combined for 79 credited hits, San Jose one better than the Caps, 40-39.  Garnet Hathaway had nine for the Caps; T.J. Oshie had eight.

-- Sheary and Ovechkin led the Caps with four shots on goal apiece; Sheary led in shot attempts with five.

-- The Caps extended their road points streak to six games (4-0-2) and their overall points streak to seven games (6-0-1).

-- With the win, the Caps increased their goal differential to plus-23, tied for third in the league behind Carolina and Florida at plus-24 apiece.

In the end…

Nice game.  Very efficient, very much a textbook road game – get a lead, clamp down, limit chances late when the outcome is in doubt, put it away at the end.  Do it again on Sunday, and a 3-0-1 record on this west coast trip looks mighty fine.