San Jose Sharks: Narrow Victory Against Capitals

If you were feeling weirdly uncomfortable about the San Jose Sharks leading the NHL with two shutout victories, fear not. The Sharks were right were the fans are most used to them: on the brink of an embarrassing loss after blowing another lead, narrowly winning 6-5 against the Washington Capitols.

Throughout the first period, the Sharks scored three unanswered goals, two from Matt Irwin from his first and third shift of the season, and one from a very tall and very tough John Scott, landing him his third career goal. Another breath of fresh air though, the second Matt Irwin goal solved the Shark’s power play problem, with the goal scored with only two seconds left on the penalty.

Brayden Holtby was pulled from the net after only five minutes of play, being replaced by Justin Peters. It was obvious that the Capitals were struggling to gain footing under the offensive onslaught of the Sharks. The only team that seemed to be really trying on the ice was the California team.

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The second period brought a more familiar version of the Sharks back onto. The Sharks’ defense began to dismantle, allowing lots of real estate to be accessed by the Capitals. The Sharks gave up a penalty, courtesy of Tomas Hertl, to give Caps’ Marcus Johanssen the opportunity to put one past Niemi. Just as you thought the Sharks solved their power play problem, another problem surfaces.

After Joe Pavelski scored later that period, the power kill problem became very apparently, with both Mike Green and Alexander Ovechkin scoring, cutting the Sharks’ lead from 4-1 to 4-3.

In the third period, another penalty, thankfully, was killed and Tommy Wingels scores his third of the year off of his own rebound. But then, later, two Capitals goals came, one by Ovechkin on the power play and Troy Brouwer. The Sharks’ on the ice looked muddled and confused, the seemingly easy win seemed to slip away all too quickly.

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Overtime came and went, and then came the shootout. Niemi, who had stayed in throughout the entire 5-5 ordeal, stayed stone cold and blocked three Capitals’ shots as Pavelski came to win the game for the Sharks.

By the looks of things, the Sharks have only been getting lucky with their three games so far. What they’re doing on the ice isn’t nearly enough; there’s a certain balance that’s needed to maintain a strong presence on the ice. So far, that strength comes from the back end with Niemi and Stalock and there needs to be more than just one heavily-padded player on the ice.