Capitals Fall to San Jose in NHL Action

SAN JOSE, Nov. 22 -- The San Jose Sharks are the best team in the NHL and they're almost unbeatable in front of the raucous crowds that routinely pack HP Pavilion.

Saturday night, the Sharks showed the Washington Capitals all that makes them so dominant.

Patrick Marleau became the sixth opposing player to score on his team's first shot, and San Jose, wearing its all black alternate uniforms for the first time, steamrolled the Capitals, 7-2, before a sell-out crowd of 17,496.

By the time the Sharks had taken five shots on goaltender Brent Johnson, they were ahead 3-0 and well on their way to defeating the Capitals for an 11th consecutive time. With the win, the Sharks improved to 11-0-1 at home this season, while Washington still hasn't won a game in San Jose since 1993.

"We made three or four mistakes, and they're the kind of team, you make mistakes, they capitalize on it right away," Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They are that good."

"We had been getting away with two or three mistakes and them not hurting us," he added. "Tonight, it hurt us."

A road trip that began with such promise after a 6-4 victory in Anaheim on Wednesday has slowly begun to disintegrate for the injury-depleted Capitals, who lost in Los Angeles, 5-2, on Thursday. That defeat, coupled with Saturday's marked only the third time the Washington has suffered back-to-back regulation setbacks under Coach Bruce Boudreau, who was hired exactly one year ago.

Washington was again without Mike Green (bruised shoulder) and Alexander Semin (upper back strain), and Sergei Fedorov left the first period after aggravating his sprained ankle in the first period.

Despite the injuries, the Capitals started strong. Donald Brashear pounded Jody Shelley with right and left handed punches in a fight in the opening minutes, Brashear beating down Shelley, who left the ice with a trail of blood following him.

It was all downhill from there for the Capitals.

Marleau opened the scoring at 9:13, snapping a patient pass from Dan Boyle (three assists) past Johnson. The scoring play developed after defenseman Shaone Morrisonn collided with Devin Setoguchi in the corner, effectively taking Morrisonn out.

Ryane Clowe (2 goals) made it 2-0 with an assist from Morrisonn. Clowe was the last Shark to touch the puck before it ricocheted off of Morrisonn's skate and toward the goal. Morrisonn reached out to control it, but instead wound up fumbling the puck and depositing in the goal. Morrisonn slammed his stick on the ice in disgust before heading to the bench, then shook his head angrily after watching the replay on the video screens above center ice. It was the Sharks' second goal on his their third shot.

"I tried to get, but it just hit my stick, went over it and went in," Morrisonn said. "It was bad break. It's something I have to forget and move on."

Boudreau was less diplomatic about Morrisonn's play.

"It was really deflating," he said. "He struggled. He gave the puck away just before that. And he gave it away a couple of times before that."

"The biggest thing you need when you are down a few players," he added. "You need your best players to be your best players. And I didn't think our best players were our best players tonight."

Johnson finished with 19 saves, while the Capitals were held to a season-low 21 shots for the second consecutive contest.

One shot later, Setoguchi put the Sharks ahead 3-0, firing in a one-timer from Joe Thornton, who had a goal and an assist.

Early in the second period, the Capitals got one back on a gritty goal by Tom Poti, who crashed the crease and poked a Matt Bradley shot over the goal line to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 7:56.

But that wasn't nearly enough to turn the momentum.

Thornton craftily redirected a Marc-Edouard Vlasic power play shot from the point past Johnson to extend the edge to 4-1 at 12:19 of the second period. Michael Nylander, whose name has resurfaced in recent trade speculation, in the penalty box for an offensive zone holding foul.

Vlasic then put the contest of the Capitals' reach with 33 seconds remaining in the second period with the Sharks' fifth goal. The defenseman's blast from the point sailed over Johnson, who was screened by three players.

In the third period, Tomas Fleischmann redirected a slap pass from Alex Ovechkin past Brian Boucher on the power play to make it 5-2. Goals from Clowe and Grier, in the final minute, completed the scoring for the Sharks.

"They're a really good team, but I think we can play with them," Bradley said. "We just shot ourselves in the foot a bunch of times, and it kind of got out of hand at the end. We're not going to make any excuses. We have guys who are hurt and we have guys to replace them."