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Caps coast in San
Jose
Best road team in the NHL destroys
Sharks
The clock struck December for the Sharks, and their
carriage turned into a pumpkin on Tuesday night. San Jose morphed back into the
defenseless discombobulated hockey team that could nothing right in October, en
route to a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals at SAP Center. San Jose scored a
pair of goals to book-end 5 straight tallies from the Capitals, who took
advantage of a slew of Shark mistakes. John Carlson scored a goal and added two
assists to lead the Capitals.
Washington entered the game with an
11-2-1 record on the road this season, and they showed exactly why that's the
case. The Capitals pounced on positioning errors that cost San Jose. Radim
Simek was on the ice for four of the Capitals five goals.
The Sharks
jumped out to the early 1-0 lead when Melker Karlsson finished on a breakaway
chance 2:33 into the contest. Brendan Dillon setup the goal with a pretty pass
up the rink that he banked off the right wing boards from his own zone. Dillon
saw Karlsson streaking up the wing, but had John Carlson in his way. He got the
puck around Carlson by bouncing it off the side boards, springing Karlsson.
Washington tied the game at 13:31 on a questionable goal. John Carlson
fired the puck in on net from the point, but Garnet Hathaway touched the puck
in one way shape or form to get credit with the goal. The issue was Hathaway's
stick was clearly above the crossbar, so by rule, the goal should have been
disallowed.
The Capitals scored again just 53 seconds later when
Carlson hit Jakub Vrana with a pass in the front of the net as the Sharks
defense was caught on the right side of the rink. Vrana had all day to pick his
shot, opting for the bottom left corner to beat Martin Jones who was hung out
to dry by his defense.
Jones flat out missed the next shot he faced,
allowing Carlson to blast a puck off his glove and into the net at 16:32 of the
period. San Jose was late to cover Carlson, who took a Michal Kempny feed to
the right of the high slot before stepping into a shot that headed for the top
right corner.
Hathaway converted his second of the game 2:31 into the
2nd period after Nic Dowd stripped Simek of the puck in the Sharks zone. Dowd
raced in on net and slid a pass to the slot for a Hathaway shot that Jones
stopped, but Simek's half-hearted attempt to cover the winger resulted in a tap
in for a 4-1 Capitals lead.
Vrana added his second goal of the game
with 3:45 left in the period, snapping a shot from the high slot that slipped
between Jones and the right post.
Evander Kane scored his 13th goal of the season at
13:07 of the 3rd period, on a shot from the high slot. Still trailing by 3
goals, the ensuing celebration was subdued.
The game went from bad to
worse at 14:59 when Kane was sent to the showers for a phantom elbowing major
on Radko Gudas who lost an edge and fell into the boards. The game officials
reviewed the play and still deemed it an elbow, even though video showed Kane's
glove touching Gudas on the side of the head.
Game
Notes:
* Tomas Hertl appeared to aggravate the lower boy injury
that sidelined him for four games earlier in November.
* The TV
broadcast caught an exchange between Joe Thornton and Tom Wilson while game
officials were reviewing the Kane elbowing major. Wilson could be heard telling
Thornton that "at least I got a ring out of it," which was in response to
Thornton's deft reminder that Wilson was suspended for a hit in the playoffs
two seasons ago.
* Kane has not endeared himself to officials this
season. After earning a suspension for abuse of an official (which was more of
a bear hug), the sharks forward did not get the benefit of the doubt on his
phantom "elbow" of Radko Gudas.
* Gudas racked his head on the boards
in front of his own bench because his chin strap was too loose.
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| WAS |
3 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ, M.
Karlsson 3 (Dillon, Ferraro), 2:33. 2, WAS, Hathaway 3 (Carlson, Dowd), 13:31.
3, WAS, Vrana 13 (Carlson, Oshie), 14:24. 4, WAS, Carlson 9 (Kempny), 16:32.
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| 2nd period - 5, WAS,
Hathaway 4 (Dowd), 2:31. 6, WAS< Vrana 14 (Eller, Orlov), 16:15. |
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| 3rd period - 7, SJ, Kane
13 (M. Karlsson), 13:07. |
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| 2nd period - Gambrell,
SJ (tripping), 6:23. |
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| 3rd period - Kane, SJ
(elbowing major), 14:59; Kane, SJ (game misconduct), 14:59. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| WAS - Holtby |
25 |
23 |
| SJ - Jones |
23 |
18 |
| SJ - Dell |
5 |
5 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| WAS |
13 |
10 |
5 |
28 |
| SJ |
10 |
7 |
8 |
25 |
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| Referees: Hebert,
Joanette. Linesmen: Brisebois, Daisy. |
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