After a less than stellar performance against the Kings the Capitals headed to San Jose to face the Sharks at a much more reasonable puck drop start for you east coasters.
The lack of offense would not be the case today as Dylan Strome streaking in the middle of the ice got a nifty pass from Ovechkin and finished it home 1-0 Caps. This was Strome’s 21st of the season and has 3 goals in his last 4. Ovechkin recorded his 21st apple on the play and is 3 road points away from passing Gordie Howe for 8th most in NHL history.
Big Pro who continues to shine gets another for Washington as he waited patiently out front for a loose puck and finished it home, 2-0 Caps. Protas scored his 29th of the season.
Shortly after Taylor Raddysh delivered a nice little snipe piece from the faceoff circle to make it 3-0 in favor of the Caps. This was his 7th of the season and his 99th career point.
There might not have been any goals in the 2nd but there sure wasn’t a lack of fireworks. First it started with Ostapchuk hitting Wilson in the stitched up mouth which Wilson didn’t take to kindly so he decided to beat the breaks off of him, mess with the bull you’re gonna get the horns!
Then Brandon Duhaime fought Noah Gregor and won that fight as well.
Then in the 3rd Sharks young potential super-star Macklin Celebrini breaks the shutout off a bad Ovi turnover that allowed the puck to find a wide open Celebrini who beat LT to make it a 3-1 game.
Then not too long after TVR was about to sneak the puck off the backside of the Shark’s goalie to break a tremendously long goal drought, 4-1 Caps. It was his first goal since March 9th 2023!
Then we got to see Ovi get one of his own off a nice deflection to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Despite missing 16 games Ovi is tied for 5th in NHL goals this season. Ovi is now only 8 away from passing Gretzky!
LT was solid tonight getting back to above .900 on the year after some iffy starts.
This game got chippy quick in the second but wasn’t enough to rattle the much better Caps team.
After this road trip the Capitals will finally head back to D.C. and the home stretch of the season. Stay healthy, keep the momentum, and get Ovi to break the record before we gear up for the playoff run!
The Morning Skate 