Sharks 2 - 1 Capitals
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Sharks win in SO, keep run of success vs. Caps alive

Jan 15, 2014 - 4:36 AM Washington, DC (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Jose Sharks' run of dominance over the Washington Capitals continued with Tuesday's 2-1 shootout win at Verizon Center.

Patrick Marleau was called for the Sharks' lone minor penalty when he hooked down Mikhail Grabovski with 1:15 remaining in regulation. The Sharks killed off the Washington power play that bled into overtime, and Marleau wound up scoring the lone shootout goal in the second round of the tiebreaker.

Marleau moved the puck from the backhand to the forehand and fired a shot past Philipp Grubauer and in off the left post.

San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 35 shots and needed to make only one save in the shootout after both Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom missed the net.

The Sharks have won six straight against the Capitals and 17 of the last 18 meetings dating back to the 1999-2000 season.

Grubauer made 28 saves.

"It was a good test for us. A good team. They've been together for a long time," said Ovechkin. "I think we had good chances to win the game in (regulation), in the third period, but we got the point."

The Capitals got off to a strong start, registering seven of the game's first eight shots against a Sharks team that entered play having scored the most first-period goals (51) in the league.

San Jose recovered to outshoot Washington 11-10 in the first period and grabbed a 1-0 lead on Tyler Kennedy's goal. Kennedy was between the circles when he deflected a feed from Jason Demers past the stick side of Grubauer with 6:30 remaining.

The Capitals drew even on Ovechkin's NHL-best 33rd goal of the season. Ovechkin swept Karl Alzner's pass and beat Niemi from a sharp angle in the bottom portion of the left circle at 12:44 of the second period.

"He still got one. It goes to show what great a release he has, scored from a pretty bad angle, but it was a helluva shot," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said about Ovechkin.

Game Notes

San Jose improved to 8-5 in shootouts this season, while Washington fell to 8-6 ... The Capitals were also called for only one minor penalty ... Kennedy scored his first goal in 22 career regular-season games against the Capitals.






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