Washington Capitals Strike San Jose Sharks, 5-1; Pierre-Luc Dubois Records 400th Career NHL Point; Alex Ovechkin Eight Goals Away From Breaking NHL Record

Washington Capitals Strike San Jose Sharks, 5-1; Pierre-Luc Dubois Records 400th Career NHL Point; Alex Ovechkin Eight Goals Away From Breaking NHL Record

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Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks by a score of 5-1 on Saturday to conclude their three-game California road trip with a 2-1-0 record and the team is now 44-15-8 (.716 points percentage) overall this season. Captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 887th career NHL goal, eight shy of passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, in San Jose. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 17 saves in the win.

Washington’s Lines

Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei Protas
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

  • Scratched
    • D Dylan McIlrath
    • D Alexander Alexeyev
    • RW Ethen Frank
  • Injured
    • LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
    • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
    • RW T.J. Oshie (back)

San Jose’s Lines

William Eklund — Macklin Celebrini — Tyler Toffoli
Collin Graf — Alexander Wennberg — Will Smith
Noah Gregor – Patrick Giles — Ty Dellandrea
Carl Grundstrom — Zack Ostapchuk — Barclay Goodrow

Mario Ferraro — Shakir Mukmamadullin
Jimmy Schuldt — Vincent Desharnais
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Timothy Liljegren

Alexandar Georgiev
Georgi Romanov

  • Scratched
    • LW Klim Kostin
    • RW Nikolai Kovalenko
  • Injured
    • D Jan Rutta (lower-body)
    • C Logan Couture (groin)
    • D Henry Thrun (upper-body)

First Period

Scoring

  • 7:33, 1-0 Washington: Strome wristed a shot under the blocker of Georgiev all alone in the slot to finish a triangulation passing play with Ovechkin and Wilson, who started the play in the neutral zone. Strome has scored three goals in his last four games. Ovechkin recorded his 21st assist of the season on Strome’s game-opening goal, marking his fourth assist in his last three. Wilson has recorded 20 points (11 assists) in his last 16 games.
  • 17:26, 2-0: After Eller got the puck down low, he drove the net and Georgiev held the left post to turn aside his wrist shot. Vlasic and Toffoli were hovering around looking for the puck but Protas went to the cage, hacked and whacked at the puck, and backhanded it over the glove of Georgiev and in. The tally marked Protas’ 27th even-strength goal, which is tied for third in the NHL. Wilson notched his team-leading 18th multi-point game of the season.
  • 18:55, 3-0: Raddysh wristed a shot over the blocker of Georgiev from the right dot after Dubois swooped in and got a loose puck and Carlson faked a shot from the right wing. Carlson reached the 40-assist mark for the second straight season and the seventh time in his career. Dubois recorded 400th career NHL point (162-238–400 in 583 games).

Stats

  • 17-3 Washington in shots
  • .571 Washington on faceoffs
  • Washington did not score on the period’s lone power play
  • 6-4 San Jose in hits
  • 8-3 San Jose in blocked shots
  • 6-4 San Jose in giveaways
Graphs: Natural StatTrick

The Capitals scored three goals in the first period for the fifth time this season. Washington’s five games with three or more goals in the first period are tied for the sixth most in the NHL.

Second Period

Romanov started the second in net for San Jose.

Scoring

  • N/A
  • With 5:04 left, Wilson threw punches with Ostapchuk and drilled him to the ice in the right corner of the Sharks’ zone.
  • 41 seconds later, Duhaime dropped Gregor to the ice along the end boards.

Stats

  • 22-10 Washington in shots
  • Washington did not score on their first three power plays
    • San Jose failed to convert on two opportunities
  • 12-8 San Jose in hits
  • 13-4 San Jose in blocked shots
  • 11-9 Washington in giveaways

Third Period

Scoring

  • 6:19, 3-1: After Ovechkin turned the puck over to Toffoli on the backhand along the halfwall, Toffoli fed Celebrini at the front of the net. Celebrini deked and beat Thompson over the glove.
  • 6:59, 4-1: Van Riemsdyk walked the left half-wall, skated down below the goal-line, and banked a wrister off of the backside of Romanov to score his first goal since March 9, 2023 (145 games). With two assists in San Jose, Eller has tallied his fourth multi-point game of the season and his second since being acquired by Washington on November 12.
  • 10:54, 5-1: Ovechkin tipped in Fehervary’s wrist shot from above the left dot over the right pad and under the glove of Romanov after Vlasic blocked Ovechkin’s shot but the puck went right to Fehervary. Ovechkin scored his 887th career goal, eight away from passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Ovechkin’s strike marked his first career marker against Romanov, the 182nd different goaltender he has scored on in his career.

Stats

  • 29-20 Washington in shots
    • 10-7 San Jose in third period
  • San Jose did not score on three power plays
  • 18-10 San Jose in hits
  • 15-4 San Jose in blocked shots
  • 16-14 San Jose in giveaways

The Capitals own the best road record in the NHL (23-8-2, .727 points percentage) and are 10-2-1 in their last 13 road games.

Washington extended their lead over the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Metropolitan Division by 12 points. Both teams will enter Sunday with 15 regular-season games to go after the conclusion of Carolina’s game at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Washington is 11 in front of the Florida Panthers, who will also have played 67 games following Saturday’s contest at the Montreal Canadiens, for first in the Eastern Conference.

Graphic: @CapitalsPR

Next game: Tuesday vs. Detroit Red Wings (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown

About Harrison Brown

Harrison is a diehard Caps fan and a hockey fanatic with a passion for sports writing. He attended his first game at age 8 and has been a season ticket holder since the 2010-2011 season. His fondest Caps memory was watching the Capitals hoist the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, photography, and hanging out with his two dogs. Follow Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonB927077

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