Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 Monday night at Capital One Arena. The win raises the Capitals record to 16-11-1. The Capitals continue their season-long homestand Wednesday night when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. Puck drop is 8:00 PM. 

STARTERS
Philipp Grubauer (1-5-0-1,  3.49 GAA, .886 sv%) got the start in goal for the Caps. Martin Jones (10-6-0, 2.23 GAA, .926 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Sharks. Travis Boyd was called up from Hershey on Sunday and made his first career NHL start in this game. The starting lines for the Capitals:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Boyd-Eller-Connolly
Smith-Pelly-Beagle-Chiasson

Orpik-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Bowey

Scratches: Tyler Graovac and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches. Chandler Stephenson missed the game due to an upper body injury he sustained in the Columbus game. He is listed as “day-to-day”. Andre Burakovsky missed his 19th straight game due to a fractured left thumb.

FIRST PERIOD
San Jose held a slight edge in the early going, leading in shots on goal 5-1 after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Capitals would begin to catch-up on shots and chances later in the period. Eventually Devante Smith-Pelly would light the lamp at the 16:49 mark of the opening frame, giving the Capitals an early 1-0 lead. This was Smith-Pelly’s 4th goal of the season.

That would be all of the scoring in the first period. The Capitals led in shots on goal 10-7 after the first 20 minutes. The Caps also lead 19-16 in 5v5 shot attempts and did not allow a shot attempt in the final 8:30 minutes of the period. There were no power plays in the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would stretch their lead to 2-0 on a break-away goal by Alex Ovechkin at 7:11 of the middle frame. With the goal, Alex Ovechkin passed Mark Recchi for 20th place on the NHL’s all-time goals list with his 578th career goal.

John Walton with the call:

The Sharks would cut the lead in half at 11:32 on a goal by Timo Meier.

However, Brett Connolly would regain the two-goal edge for the Capitals at the 19:08 mark of the second period. The goal was setup by a beautiful stick-handling move and pass by Alex Ovechkin.

The period would end with the Capitals leading 3-1. San Jose led in shots on goal 8-7 for the second period. Caps led 17-15 after two periods of play.

T.J. Oshie was injured late in the second period from a hit by Joe Thornton. Oshie would be helped from the ice. He would not return to the game. He will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

THIRD PERIOD
Tom Wilson and Joe Thornton would drop the gloves early in the final frame. This was in response to the hit Thornton made on Oshie that made Oshie leave the game.

The game continued to get a bit feisty after the Wilson-Thornton fight. Brooks Orpik and Timo Meier would drop the gloves. Then Alex Chiasson and Barclay Goodrow would do the same.

Jakub Vrana would stretch the Caps lead to 4-1 with a power play goal at the 11:36 mak of the third period. This was Vrana’s first goal on the man-advantage.

The Capitals would hold on for the convincing 4-1 win.

SHAVINGS

• This was Travis Boyd’s first NHL game.
• This was the first time the Caps beat the Sharks on home ice in regulation since 2009.
• Ovechkin recorded his second game-winning goal of the season against the Sharks, passing Mats Sundin for 11th place on the all-time list.
• Tonight’s attendance was 18,506, the Capitals 378th consecutive sellout at Capital One Arena.
• NHL box score is here.

By Jon Sorensen

SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT

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