Capitals fall to Sharks

The Washington Capitals begun their five game road trip on the wrong foot. They fell to the San Jose Sharks 2-1 as their offense and power play woes continued. While they were bad they were also simply unlucky with a few shots clinging off the post.

At 10:23 the Sharks struck first with a goal by Fabian Zetterlund. 1-0 Sharks was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 13-11 in the opening period.

In the second period at 16:25 the Capitals tied it with Evgeny Kuznetsov’s fourth goal of the season. It came on a shot and it was the Caps only lucky bounce of the night. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Martin Fehervary had the assists. 1-1 was the score after two with the Caps outshooting the Sharks 14-6.

At 12:48 in the third period there was a power play goal. But to the surprise of no one that power play goal did not come from the Caps. Luke Kunin gave the Sharks the 2-1 lead which would go on to be the final score.

The Caps outshot the Sharks 7-6 in the third and 34-23 overall. Darcy Kuemper finished with 21 saves in the loss. The Caps power play went 0 for 3 on the night.

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery spoke on the lack of offense from his team:

“It’s a broken record. We’ll look at all the different shots and rebounds and (ask) what can we do better? …We have to find a way to break through. We, just for whatever reason, haven’t hit our stride offensively.”

The Caps will look to bounce back on Wednesday night when they head to Los Angeles to take on the Kings. The game starts at 10:30 p.m. eastern. You can catch it on Monumental Sports Network and Monumental Sports Network 2.

The loss drops the Caps record to 10-6-2 with 22 points. That’s fourth in the Metropolitan Division and third in the wild card.