The Washington Capitals controlled every period — highlighted by a four-point night from Ryan Leonard and two goals from Alex Ovechkin — in a dominant 7-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves for the Capitals, who now have the most points — although not the best points percentage — in the Eastern Conference.
Game Recap
Both teams got good chances in the opening several minutes. The Capitals got breakaway chances from Tom Wilson and Anthony Beauvilier, but Yaroslav Askarov stopped both of them. The Sharks’ best early chance came from Barclay Goodrow, who narrowly missed the net from up close.
From that point on, the rest of the first period was all Capitals. Ovechkin opened the scoring on a scramble play around the net, followed by Sonny Milano scoring off of good puck movement. The Sharks unsuccessfully challenged the latter goal for goaltender interference, but killed off the ensuing delay of game penalty.
Shortly thereafter, however, Leonard scored a goal on a rebound to give Washington a 3-0 lead. The Sharks hoped to gain some momentum back when Beauvillier’s second penalty of the game gave them a power play — but that was quickly wiped out when John Klingberg lost the puck near the blue line, creating a rush the other way. Aliaksei Protas made a great drop pass to set up Brandon Duhaime for a shorthanded goal. At this point, Askarov was pulled from the game and replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic, and the first period finished with a 4-0 Caps lead.
The start of the second period offered much of the same. With the Capitals on the power play, Leonard made a pass near the crease that snuck through multiple players and found its way to Ovechkin, who knocked in the puck for his second goal of the game. After a lengthy back-and-forth stretch with a few good chances for both teams — more for the Capitals than the Sharks — but no goals, Washington got yet another goal in the closing seconds of the period when Dylan Strome tipped in a Matt Roy one-timer.
The Capitals got their best goal of the game in the third period, with Leonard fighting through Timothy Liljegren to drive to the net and flip in a high shot over Nedeljkovic. The lone bright spot for the Sharks came with about seven minutes remaining, when Pavol Regenda deflected Dmitry Orlov’s shot off his skate and into the net to avoid the shutout.
The Capitals improve to 17-9-2, and continue their road trip on Friday (Dec. 5) against the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks fall to 13-12-3 and also play next on Friday, when they begin their own road trip against the Dallas Stars.
