It didn't look good at all in the second period. The San Jose Sharks were up 3-0 to the Caps until Marcus Johansson scored on the power play off a very well executed tic-tac-toe play from Ovechkin, Carlson, Brouwer and Backstrom.
Joe Pavelski quickyl made it 4-1 shortly after, and it seemed the Caps energy might have been sucked dry, however a few quick goals and Washington was knocking on the door once again.
Alex Ovechkin scored two and Mike Green tallied his second of the season. Troy Brouwer, with less than 5 minutes in the third took the puck across the Sharks blueline and cut across to the slot and fired home the game-tying goal.
It seemed the Capitals would not go down easily.
However, after an uneventful overtime, the shootout proved once again to be a thorn in Washington's side. All three Capitals players (Backstrom, Kuznetsov and Fehr) missed their shootout opportunities, and San Jose only needed one goal, from Joe Pavelski, to wrap it up for the win.
It was an impressive game though, for the Caps, who showed some perseverance being down by three goals to come back and tie the game. Alex Ovechkin was particularly good, taking 8 shots on goal, and almost had a hattrick if not for some spectacular goaltending by Antti Neimi.
Trotz said of Ovechkin after the game: "I thought [Ovechkin] was the best player on the ice. A couple goals, he's blocking shots, he's running over people, he was a beast out there. When your best player is your best player and he's pushing the dial and sort of dragging everyone around with him, that's what you want." (NHL.com)
The Sharks, however, were in control for the majority of the game, something that they strive for and a reason why they remain undefeated in this early season. The Capitals, though, did their best to fight back after a tough first period.
"[Washington] is a dangerous team," said Joe Pavelski. "We knew they had a lot of firepower, a good power play, and their shooters put it in some pretty good spots at times. You want to give them a little credit, but we believe with the group we have in here we can control games depending on how we play. We didn't do a good enough job but we got the points."(NHL.com)
"We knew they were going to do it and I just think we let them," said Marcus Johansson of the Sharks' first-period dominance. "They came out hard and we didn't push back and I think that's what got them those early goals. It's tough to come back from three goals behind, but I think we did a great job of doing that. That start cost us the two points. In the long run, that can cost us a lot, but I think we've got to bring the last two periods of the game with us and keep working off that because we played great and worked really hard and that's what we need." (NHL.com)
Defensemen Brooks Orpik and John Carlson were a bit of disappointment last night. They were on the ice for 5 of San Jose's goals. While that doesn't necessarily mean all 5 goals were their fault, there were some mistakes made, like Orpik's errant pass that resulted in a John Scott (yes, John Scott) goal.
Braden Holtby didn't fair well either, being pulled early after letting 3 goals on only 7 shots. Holtby was coming off a very strong performance against Boston that resulted in a shutout. Justin Peters came on in relief and was fairly solid, allowing 2 more goals on 16 shots and giving up the shootout winner to Pavelski. Antti Niemi stopped 29-34 Washington shots.
It was a tough loss, especially since they played so well against the Bruins, but the fact that the Caps went down fighting is the silver lining, and that should bode well when the face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. The Devils scored 13 goals in their first three games to remain undefeated.
More to come...
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