Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated PressThe Sharks' Patrick Marleau (12) scores on Capitals goalie Braden Holtby in the second period.WASHINGTON -- Sharks head coach Todd McLellan was surprised to hear his team has won 16 of its past 17 games against the Capitals.
"There isn't a magic wand or any secret formula to beating them," McLellan insisted.
Perhaps. A fluke of a first score, success on the power play, and two goals each by Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau sure do help, though. So does getting to face a goalie playing in the NHL for the first time in nearly a year.
Add it all up, and the Pacific Division-leading Sharks beat Washington 5-3 Monday night, as Pavelski also delivered two assists, Joe Thornton collected three assists, and Brent Burns scored on Braden Holtby, who was brought up from Hershey of the American Hockey League in the afternoon.
Washington's No. 1 goalie, Tomas Vokoun, was ill, and No. 2 Michal Neuvirth played Sunday in a loss to the Rangers in New York.
The Sharks didn't know they'd face Holtby until warm-ups. Didn't matter.
"Nothing changes," San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle said. "Goalies have to be pretty good to get to this level - and most of them are."
The Sharks went ahead 12:12 into the game after going about eight minutes without registering a single shot on goal. Indeed, they were coming off a power play during which the best chance for either team came when Capitals forward Brooks Laich bore down 1-on-1 during a shorthanded breakaway but Thomas Greiss made one of his 39 saves.
A little more than 1 1/2 minutes later, Boyle struck a shot from beyond the red line. The puck deflected off Pavelski's stick, bounced off the ice, then trickled off Holtby's glove and into the net to make it 1-0, San Jose. Pavelski was credited with his 21st goal of the season.
"You see it bounce, and you hope when you're that far away that something stupid happens," Pavelski said.
Pavelski got his 22nd in the second period on a far-more-usual goal - one of three power-play goals scored by San Jose a night after going 0-for-4 in a loss at St. Louis. With Laich in the penalty box for cross-checking, Logan Couture centered the puck right in front of the net for Pavelski, who lifted a shot over Holtby's glove and into the upper corner at the 3:26 mark of the second.
Pavelski was credited with an assist when his shot was redirected by Marleau at the 16:11 mark of the second period; the puck hit Holtby in the right shoulder on its way in. That made it 3-0 before Greiss allowed Dmitry Orlov's slap shot from just inside the blue line past him in the final second of the second period.
San Jose went up 5-1 in the third period before Roman Hamrlik and Jeff Schultz scored late for Washington.
This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San?Francisco?Chronicle
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