It was a slow Sunday start for the Washington Capitals vs. the San Jose Sharks in what looked like a possible trap game. They were outshot for most of the first period and ended up down a goal when Luke Kunin scored halfway through the first. Darcy Kuemper was strong in net to keep the game within a goal.
The second period started out with incidental contact on Martin Fehervary from Tomas Hertl inside the San Jose blueline. Fehervary was sprawled out on the ice, giving major concerns as he does have some concussion history. Fehervary would return halfway through the second period though. Not much else happened in the second period as both teams stayed scoreless. It was also the last time either team saw power play time.
The third period started out strong for the Capitals as Dylan Strome scored his fifth goal of the season to even up the game. The Capitals would build on the momentum outshooting the Sharks in the third period and overall in the game 42 to 30. The top line of Ovechkin – Strome – Wilson would again get a goal as Tom Wilson would net a rebound that bounced in off of San Jose defenseman Kyle Burroghs. The Capitals would hold on to the lead and add in an Evgeny Kuznetsov empty netter to get the win 3-1.
Three Takeaways:
- The Capitals went 0 for 3 on the power play. The first opportunity with the extra man in the first period had a lot of good puck movement with some sustained zone time; the second chance was much shakier, as San Jose was able to block shots and line up their penalty killers on the blue line to prevent a clean zone entry by the Caps (and we’ve seen that movie before). That opportunity also resulted in a dangerous, shorthanded scoring chance by Kunin that thankfully didn’t strike paydirt.
- Anthony Mantha had 14 minutes of ice time and was noticeable in this game – in a good way, earning some time on the second line (swapping out with Connor McMichael) as the game went on. He had four shots on net and had one good scoring chance and set up another.
- Darcy Kuemper only gave up the one goal in the first and looked solid throughout the game, and was a key to the team even getting out of the first period down only one.
- Bonus Takeaway: Congrats to Hardy Häman Aktell on his first NHL point!