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What do sharks have? A killer instinct. And even after one WILD WHIRLWIND of a game, that’s exactly what San Jose demonstrated up to the last second.
So how did it go down?
Here’s Tuesday night’s Plus/Minus:
Plus: Both Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky snapped their goal-scoring droughts.
Minus: The Capitals have now given up fifteen (15) goals in the past two games.
And now, this…
Ten more notes on the game:
1. The Capitals came into Tuesday night’s contest riding the worst kind of amusement park ride: a 5-game losing streak. After two team meetings this week, could they right the ship and stop the bleeding against a frenzied San Jose Sharks team?
2. We would NOT have to wait long to find out. Just 12 SECONDS into this contest, San Jose’s Joe Pavelski (creepy white hockey stick and all) gathered a blocked shot in front of the crease and tossed it past Braden Holtby to make it 1-0 Sharks almost immediately.
3. Alex Ovechkin answered back right away, drifting towards the crease and flipping a puck over goalie Martin Jones from ever-decreasing geometry to knot it at 1-1.
4. The Capitals struck again when handsome boy wonder Andre Burakovsky connected with a WICKED wrister from the left circle, painting Jones in Shades of Semin to make it 2-1 Caps.
5. San Jose’s Tomas Hertl punched back for the finny fish to tie it at 2-2, but Real American Hero T.J. Oshie got loose on a 2-on-1 and hit the backhand deke move that made him famous as T.J. Sochi, and the first period ended with Washington up 3-2.
6. THEN the second period got loose like Christian Djoos. Just 52 seconds into this period, San Jose’s Evander Kane made some chop suey of his own out of a loose puck scrum, knocking it over Holtby and in to tie it at 3-3.
7. Three minutes later, Evgeny Kuznetsov collected a sharp angle loose puck himself, turning and firing the puck into the net for his first goal in a long, long time. And then, minutes after that, a streaking Alexander Ovechkin pumped the brakes along the boards, stopped, a ripped a bullet past Jones to give the Capitals a two-goal lead, 5-3.
8. But thennnnnnn, things got weird. First, San Jose’s Logan Couture scored on a 3-on-0 breakaway (you read that right) to cut the lead to 5-4.
9. NEXT, Alex Ovechkin connected for the THIRD time in the evening, recording his 36th goal of the season and ANOTHER hat-trick to make it 6-4 Caps! But Tomas Hertl quickly scored again to cut the lead to one, and with ONE SECOND ON THE FREAKING CLOCK, Evander Kane tapped the puck through Holtby’s legs to tie it at 6-6 and send the game to overtime.
10. And in the extra stanza, Hertl scored a third and final time for his hat track and the Sharks win, 7-6.
That’s six straight losses for the Capitals. For his part, T.J. Oshie seems to feel it’s largely an effort problem:
Next up is the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Wednesday. The 2019 NHL All-Star Game is this Saturday.
Game highlights: