Back on December 3, the Washington Capitals stormed into SAP Center and bum rushed the Sharks in a 7-1 white washing. The Sharks had a chance to return the favor on Thursday night as they kicked a 4- game road trip that is the start of 9 of their next 10 games on the road before the Olympic break. The Sharks did a little bum rushing of their own in the 2nd period by scoring 3 goals in a 2:40 span. They would hold on during a wild final 3 minutes of the game to win 3-2.

Alex Nedeljkovic made his 200th career game count, making 21 saves to earn his 8th win of the season. The goaltender played big in the 3rd period. He would surrender a pair of goals,, but Washington played the final 3 minutes with an extra skater after pulling goaltender Logan Thompson.

The Sharks netminder has now won his 3rd consecutive start. which helped the Sharks reclaim the 7th best record in the Western Conference with the win. It was their 24th win of the season.

After their December drubbing at the hands of the Capitals, the Sharks should have been more diligent with the puck in their own end. That did not appear to be the case early in the contest. The bigger and faster Capitals lineup forced a handful of turnovers in the San Jose end that made for a lively opening period.

San Jose began to show some life in the last third of the opening frame after falling behind 5-1 in shots. Collin Graf had a nice chance in front of the net, forcing the issue at the top of the crease.

The Sharks would generate the last 10 shots on net in the period aided by a John Carlson interference penalty on Macklin Celebrini. San Jose led 11-5 on the shot counter after 20 minutes.

Carlson served up another great opportunity for the Sharks by taking a hooking penalty 56 seconds into the 2nd period. The Capitals 25th ranked penalty kill did the job however, denying San Jose from capitalizing on the man advantage once again.

Former Capitals defenseman Vincent Iorio made a dubious return to Capital One Arena by taking an interference penalty at 9:46. The leagues 31st ranked power play should have been brushed aside, but Washington beats the odds and converted when Dylan Strome scored for the game's first tally.

The San Jose offense pinned their ears back at that point and went to work. They would use that 2:40 span to stun the Capitals. It was a complete about face from their first meeting.

First Zach Ostapchuk tied the game at 13:27 on a strange play. The Sharks dumped the puck into the Washington zone and former Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov chased the puck in. He chipped at it from the end boards as Jakob Chychrun also converged on it. The two hi the puck simultaneously which resulted in a deflection out front where Ostapchuk was Johnny on the spot to poke it past Thompson.

Collin Graf gave the Sharks the 2-1 lead 1:26 later after San Jose forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Pavol Regenda intercepted the puck in front of the penalty boxes then raced up the left side. The big forward slid the puck to the front of the net where Graf beat a defender to chip it past Thomson for this 13th goal of the season.

Regenda got in on the goal scoring act by flipping a Macklin Celebrini feed home from 8 feet out. Celebrini evaded a pair of Capitals defenders along the end boards before sending a blind backhand pass out front while facing the boards. Regenda simply put it on net for his 7th of the season.

Washington turned up the heat in the 3rd period down by a pair of goals. They would cut the Sharks lead to 3-2 at the 9:11 mark when Ryan Leonard snapped a shot past Nedeljkovic after a lengthy stay in the Sharks zone.

San Jose's zone clearing woes continued late in the period. Alex Ovechkin just missed on a redirect chance from the doorstep with 3:30 left in the period.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery pulled Thompson with 2:55 left in regulation for the extra attacker. Nedeljkovic was a wall in that last 10 minutes, but even bigger when Washington attacked with the extra attacker.

The puck rarely left the Sharks zone as the Capitals desperately hunted for the equalizer but Nedeljkovic said no.

Game Notes:

* Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic played in his 200th career game. Game counts for goaltenders lower than skaters because they don't play every day. By comparison, Evgeni Nabokov played in 563 games for San Jose and 697 total for his NHL career (he played 3 seasons on Long Island and 1 in Tampa Bay).

* Ty Dellandrea was officially moved to the injured reserve. He has been out since January 7th, battling a leg injury. That opens up a roster spot which is likely to be filled by Will Smith who will come off the injured list on Friday. Smith is expected to play against the Red Wings as the Sharks play the back end of their 3rd straight set of back-to-back games.

* The win was the Sharks 15th 1-goal victory which is tops in the league. Their next opponent, the Detroit Red Wings, also has 15 wins by a lone goal advantage this season.

* Macklin Celebrini led all Sharks with 6 shots on goal. He was also 13 for 19 (68%) in the faceoff circle. The Sharks won 35 of 60 draws (58%). Alexander Wennberg was 11 of 17 (65%) on faceoffs.

* Michael Misa skated 14 shifts for 9:58 of ice time in his 2nd game since returning to the Sharks lineup. He recorded 1 shot on goal and was 1 for 5 from the faceoff circle.