Don Smith/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals wrapped up their California swing with a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday night. The loss dropped the Capitals record to 49-15-4 (103 points). The win raised the Sharks record to 37-24-6, (82 points). The Capitals next host the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night at Verizon Center. Puck-drop is 7:00 PM EST.

The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Johansson-Wilson
Winnik-Richards-Beagle

Defensive Pairs:
Alzner-Niskanen
Orpik-Orlov
Weber-Schmidt

Michael Latta, Stanislav Galiev and Taylor Chorney were the Caps healthy scratches for tonight’s game. Philipp Grubauer got the start in net for the Capitals. Martin Jones got the call for the Sharks. The goalie match-up, provided by @washcaps:

QUICK TAKES
The Capitals once again gave up the game’s first goal, making it 13 of the last 15 games in which the Capitals have done so. The Sharks were 28-4-2 when scoring first, heading into this game. The Caps trailed 1-0 after one period of play, although play was fairly even. The Caps would once again battle back, notching two goals in the second period (Oshie, Williams), heading to the second intermission tied 2-2. Unlike third periods of recent games, the Caps appeared to be out of gas, giving up two quick goals and looking disjointed in their play in the final frame. Team stats for the game can be found here: Player stats for the game can be found here: Faceoff stats for the game can be found here:

A rather pedestrian opening five minutes to this contest, with little in the way of scoring chances for either team. The Caps Jason Chimera was whistled for the game’s first penalty, slashing at 5:02, giving the Sharks the games’ first man-advantage. Tom Wilson made two nice clears and the Sharks fumbled the puck outside the blue line on two occasions as the Sharks came up empty on the power play. 5-on-5 play remained fairly even through the middle of the period, until the Shark’s Joe Thronton knocked in a rebound at 9:16, to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.

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San Jose’s Nick Spaling was called for high-sticking at 19:46 to give the Caps their first power play of the game. The Caps were unable to do anything with the power play to end the first period. The Sharks led 1-0 after the first. The Sharks led 11-8 in shots on goal for the first period.

The Caps started the period with 1:30 of remaining power play time, and were given an additional man-advantage when the Sharks were called for delay of game, giving the Caps a 5-on-3 for 1:20. T.J. Oshie would tie the game on a nice sharp-angle shot from the left side at 1:21.

The Sharks would regain the lead on a short-handed goal by Patrick Marleau at 5:14 of the middle frame.

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Justin Williams would tie the game on the end of a nice setup pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov at 10:12 of the middle frame.

Evgeny Kuznetsov was called for hooking with 40 seconds left in the second period, giving the Sharks their third power play of the game. Jay Beagle would get a short-handed break-away and was pulled down to the ice, rendering a penalty shot, but Beagle would be able to convert. The second period ended in a 2-2 tie.

The Capitals would be unable to successfully kill the remaining 1:40 left on the Sharks power play as Joe Pavelski would knock one home at 0:49 of the final frame.

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The Sharks would quickly add another tally at 2:51 on a shot from top-center by Brenden Dillon, giving the Sharks a 4-2 advantage.

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The Caps would be unable to muster any kind of serious push in the remaining time, as the Sharks would add an empty-net goal at 19:16 and win this one 5-2.