The Washington Capitals lost their second game in as many days on Monday night, as one of the Western Conference's best teams came to Verizon Center and ran away with a decisive 5-3 win. The San Jose Sharks were incredibly effective on the power play all night and jumped out to a four goal lead deep into the third period.
After Washington got on the board late in the second period, San Jose quickly responded and extended their lead back to three goals just five minutes into the final period. Brent Burns fired a low laser from the blue line and with John McCarthy camped out in front, Braden Holtby never had a chance.
Just two minutes later, the Sharks made it 5-1 on their third power play goal of the night. Patrick Marleau went streaking to the front of the net and took a centering pass from Joe Thornton from the bad angle. Holtby stopped the initial poke by Marleau but a loose puck was pushed through by Ryan Clowe. Marleau did all the work but Clowe was eventually credited with the goal.
Down four, the Caps made it interesting late and cut San Jose's lead in half with two goals from Dale Hunter's defenseman. Roman Hamrlik got the first score, flipping a backhand from the right wing that snuck past Thomas Greiss. Marcus Johansson brought the puck into the zone, dropping it off for Hamrlik who used a Jay Beagle screen in front to get his second goal of the season.
The Caps second goal of the period came from an even more unlikely source as Eric Schultz got his first goal of the season. With a little under six minutes remaining, Schultz fired a low shot from the point that Greiss never saw due to traffic in front set up by Alex Ovechkin.
But the Caps couldn't pull off the long-shot comeback and San Jose closed it out for a 5-3 win. The Caps now have three days off before heading south for a huge division matchup with the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
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