All the things the Capitals were searching for over the last four games finally came to pass during Thursday night’s decisive 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Verizon Center.
The power play hogged the puck for almost the entire first period. Their star winger pocketed two goals in a personal-best 28 seconds in the second period. They also received an insurance goal from a fourth-liner, took only three penalties against one of the NHL’s dominant offenses and killed each of those anyway.
It was as complete a performance by Washington since its win on opening night at Boston – also a 4-1 victory. And just like that, according to coach Bruce Boudreau, a team in a rut finds itself back in a groove.
“We were going to get back on track. We’re a good team,” said Boudreau, who noted the Caps have a better record now than they did through seven games last season – despite four losses in a row entering the night. “Win the next one and now we’ve got a three-game unbeaten streak and everyone’s going ‘Wow, they’re pretty good.’”
Almost everything went right for the Caps – except for an injury in the first period to goalie Jose Theodore, who left with back spasms. But even then rookie Semyon Varlamov was solid in relief, putting aside his shaky start against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 6. Varlamov stopped all 15 shots the Sharks threw his way. Theodore looked good before his injury as well with 12 saves on 13 shots.
Alex Ovechkin scored the fastest consecutive goals of his career when he struck twice in the second period 28 seconds apart. Credit new linemates Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison for helping create those chances. Each ended up with a pair of assists. It was Ovechkin’s sixth and seventh goals of the young season and just like that he turned a 1-1 game into a 3-1 Washington advantage at 3 minutes, 23 seconds of the second period. The Caps never looked back.
It was the first game together for Ovechkin, Knuble and Morrison as Boudreau tweaked his top pairings. Nicklas Backstrom dropped down to second-line center with Alex Semin and Brooks Laich on the wings – although that group would match up pretty well with a lot of No. 1 lines around the NHL.
“It’s different, yeah,” Ovechkin said of the adjusted pairings. “We continue to work and I think everybody understands that it doesn’t matter who you play with.”
Semin, especially, was ready from the jump. He took five shots in the first 10 minutes and drew three penalties by himself. Semin also recorded his sixth goal of the season during a 5-on-3 power play in the first period to briefly pass Ovechkin for the team lead. That didn’t last long, of course.
“You could tell [Semin] was ready for the game. He knew he was going to score,” Boudreau said. “And when him and [Ovechkin] are both on different lines and playing well it makes it very difficult for other teams.”
Meanwhile, the Caps spent just about half the first period on the power play – 8 minutes, 52 seconds in all. And even though they only scored on one of those chances, they kept the puck in the offensive zone and wore down San Jose’s top players.
“To be honest, I think most of us were pretty tired after the first period. I don’t think we had too much gas in the third period,” said Sharks center Joe Thornton, whose prolific line with forwards Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi was held scoreless and produced just five shots on goal. “When you’re in the box for 10 minutes in the first period it kills you the rest of the game.”
San Jose was still down just 1-0, however, and answered at even strength when Benn Ferriero beat Theodore at 14:07. At least until Ovechkin’s goals early in the second turned the tide again.
