San Jose Sharks deny Washington Capitals comeback with 5-3 victory -NHL Update
Washington was dealt another blow, this time by the San Jose Sharks who denied the Capitals a third period comeback for a, 5-3, victory on Monday night, February 13, 2012, at the sold-out Verizon Center in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.
The Capitals still remain below the playoff division line underneath the Toronto Maple Leafs by a single point at 61 coming out of their third straight loss which sprung from a 4-0 shutout of the Florida Panthers.
Joe Pavelski picked up the first of the night a little over midway through the opening period for his 21st of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season on an assist from Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
The goal came after two missed opportunities on early power play advantages as Washington lost Joel Ward three minutes in and Alexander Semin was booked for interference midway through.
Joe Pavelski kept the momentum going and added his second straight of the night in the opening minutes of the next 20 minute phase on a power play opportunity while Patrick Marleau took San Jose at three nil against Washington on an added man advantage of
his own at the 16:11 mark.
Just when it looked as if Washington had thrown in the towel, Dmitry Orlov fired off his second of the regular season with a second remaining till the mid-period came to a close, finally putting Capitals on the scoreboard.
Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau gave the Sharks a much needed lead in order to secure the match as Washington answered with two more from Roman Hamrlik and Jeff Schultz, but were not enough to take San Jose down.
Penalties really killed it for Washington as San Jose managed to capitalise on three out of six chances during the competition while the Capitals failed on all four chances.
San Jose Sharks managed to bounce back in a big way from a 3-0 shutout by St. Louis Blues as they still managed to hold on to the third number position in the West. They have their next against Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Washington on the other hand needs to save itself from falling down any further in the conference as they playoff against the Panthers once again, this time in Florida.
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