Caps Collapse in Third as Sharks Stun Washington with Three-Goal Flurry
For the second time in three nights, the Capitals entered the third period trailing and looking to mount another comeback. On Tuesday, they pulled it off in dramatic fashion against Montreal.
Thursday night against San Jose? Not so much.
Despite holding a 1-0 lead midway through the second, the Caps couldn’t hold the line. The Sharks exploded for three goals in just under three minutes in the third period - all of them from point-blank range - and left Capital One Arena with a 3-2 win. For Washington, it was another missed opportunity and a continuation of a troubling trend: they’ve now failed to string together back-to-back wins in their last eight tries (0-6-2).
“Not even close enough for the first 40 minutes,” head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame. “I could dive into a bunch of the X’s and O’s and reasons why, and that’s what we’ll get to work on.”
And Carbery’s not wrong. Outside of a few early flashes, the Caps came out flat.
Anthony Beauvillier had a couple of quality chances in tight in the opening minutes, but after that, the offense went quiet - like, really quiet. Washington registered three shots in the first minute of the game, then just two more the rest of the first period, both from well outside the danger areas.
Meanwhile, Logan Thompson was sharp early, turning away Alexander Wennberg on a rush chance and holding strong through a flurry of Sharks shots midway through the first. He shrugged off a high heater from Macklin Celebrini on San Jose’s lone power play of the period, keeping things scoreless after 20 minutes.
But the cracks started to show in the second. Dylan Strome finally broke through with a shot just over six minutes in - Washington’s first shot in more than 14 minutes and the first by a Caps forward in over 25 minutes of game time. That’s not just a cold stretch; that’s an offensive deep freeze.
Strome would eventually get the Caps on the board at 10:58 of the second with a power-play goal, cashing in on a fortunate bounce off the back boards after an Alex Ovechkin miss. It was a classic net-front finish - a backhand from just off the right post - and it gave Washington a 1-0 lead. But that would be the high-water mark for the night.
The Sharks responded with a vengeance.
It started with a familiar face. Dmitry Orlov, back in D.C., carried the puck from behind his own net, dumped it in, and beat everyone on the forecheck. He found Zack Ostapchuk alone at the top of the crease, and the rookie didn’t miss - roofing it to tie the game at 1-1.
Less than 90 seconds later, Pavol Regenda picked off a Strome pass just outside the Caps’ blue line, turned it into a quick transition, and fed Collin Graf, who redirected it past Thompson for a 2-1 lead.
Then came the dagger. Celebrini worked the puck behind the Caps’ net, drew defenders in, and made a slick no-look feed to Regenda at the top of the paint. Regenda buried it under the bar for San Jose’s third goal in 2:46 - all of them from inside 10 feet.
For Thompson, who had allowed just three even-strength goals in his previous four starts combined, it was a brutal stretch - but not one he could do much about.
“Similar to last game, I think our first two periods weren’t great,” Thompson said. **“It seems like there is a trend of how we’re getting scored on right now, and I think it’s hurting us.
It’s easy to fix, but we’ve just got to get back to work. But it’s definitely frustrating right now.”
**
The Caps couldn’t capitalize on a late second-period power play that carried into the third, but they did show some life midway through the final frame. Ryan Leonard, one of the few bright spots on the night, sliced through traffic and ripped a shot to the top corner at 9:11 to cut the deficit to 3-2. It was the kind of goal that can swing momentum - and for a moment, Capital One Arena came alive.
But the air came out of the building just as quickly. Less than a minute later, the Caps took a penalty, killing any momentum they had built.
Ovechkin had a golden chance late, redirecting a puck in front that momentarily slipped through Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic’s pads before he clamped down. And in the final minutes, with Thompson pulled for the extra attacker, the Caps controlled the puck, retrieved well, and created looks - but couldn’t find the net. They missed four times, had four more shots blocked, and Nedeljkovic stopped the only puck that reached him, an Ovechkin wrister from the left circle.
Give credit to San Jose. For a team that ranks 30th in the league in goals against, the Sharks put on a clinic in defensive structure down the stretch. They opened a grueling road-heavy stretch - nine of their next 10 away from home - with a gutsy win.
“Besides our first shift of the game, we did some really good things,” said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “I liked our second; that was one of our better second periods of the season.”
For the Capitals, the loss extends a frustrating streak: 43 days and 19 games without consecutive wins. The last time they went this long without back-to-back victories? You’d have to go back 19 years - to when Ovechkin was just a sophomore in the league and the team limped through a 5-17-6 stretch.
“We’re obviously not able to make any ground up, and we don’t deserve to after that game,” said Strome. “Obviously, we played good in the third, but we put ourselves in a hole early and yeah, not good enough.”
The Caps have shown flashes. But flashes don’t win games - consistency does. And right now, Washington is still searching for it.