Samsonov gets second straight shutout for Capitals in win against Sharks

SAN JOSE --Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist for the Washington Capitals in a 4-0 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves for his second straight shutout after making 34 saves in a 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. He has not allowed a goal in 151:27, dating to a 4-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 12.
"He seems focused, he's dialed in," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "He looked sharp, he looked focused, he made the [saves] he was supposed to make, and then he made some real tough ones to go with it."
Conor Sheary scored twice, and John Carlson had two assists for the Capitals (11-2-5) who extended their point streak to seven games (6-0-1).
Adin Hill made 17 saves for the Sharks (8-8-1), who have lost four of five.
"You can't blame goaltending when you don't score goals, it's pretty simple," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "I thought we played a pretty hard game and we just couldn't get that bounce. It's tough when you're not scoring goals."
Sheary gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 2:17 of the first period with a wrist shot that went five-hole on Hill.
Ovechkin scored his 13th goal of the season on a slap shot from the left face-off circle on a power play at 13:58 to make it 2-0.
It was his 272nd career power-play goal, two shy of tying Dave Andreychuk for the most in NHL history.
"That goal, obviously, he's scored hundreds of times from that position, and we talked about it," Boughner said. "We didn't run quite the right route on that. … I was disappointed as somebody who worked on it and talked about it all day."

Sheary increased the lead to 3-0 at 15:10 of the third period, shooting between Hill's legs as he was falling backward.
Ovechkin scored into an empty net at 18:56 for the 4-0 final. It was his 744th goal, 22 behind Jaromir Jagr for third in NHL history.
"It was fortunate that we came out of the second period up 2-0, and then I thought we played a really good third period," Laviolette said. "Much more detailed and simple and disciplined game with the puck."
NOTES:Sharks forward Jonathan Dahlen sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and left the game after one shift in the second. He will be re-evaluated Sunday, Boughner said. … Samsonov has three shutouts this season and six in the NHL. … Ovechkin has 152 multigoal NHL games, fourth on the all-time list behind Wayne Gretzky (189), Brett Hull (158) and Mario Lemieux (154). … Ovechkin had his 605th NHL assist to move past Pavel Datsyuk for fourth among Russia-born players behind Sergei Fedorov (696), Evgeni Malkin (680) and Sergei Zubov (619). … Capitals forward T.J. Oshie had an assist and eight hits in 14:15 after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury. … Washington forward Nic Dowd returned after missing five games with a lower-body injury. He had an assist and three hits in 16:06. … Carlson has seven assists in a four-game assist streak and 420 in the NHL to move past Michal Pivonka for third in Capitals history behind Nicklas Backstrom (722) and Ovechkin (605). … Washington forward Aliaksei Protas had an assist for his first NHL point in his seventh NHL game. … San Jose forward Kevin Labanc sat out after being suspended one game for slew-footing St. Louis Blues forward Tyler Bozak in a 4-1 loss Thursday. … Sharks forward Noah Gregor, recalled from San Jose of the American Hockey League on Saturday, made his season debut. He had five shots and two hits in 19:05.