Game Recap: Capitals 1, Sharks 2

WASHINGTON -- William Eklund scored a power-play goal 39 seconds into overtime for the San Jose Sharks in a 2-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Eklund won it with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Mikael Granlund with Capitals forward Tom Wilson in the penalty box for a high-sticking double minor at 17:43 of the third period.

“Mack [Celebrini] and ‘Granny’ had some plays going on on the other side,” Eklund said. “Just trying to be ready for the one-timer and got a hell of a pass from ‘Granny’ there and I was just able to get it in.”

Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Sharks (10-13-5), who have won three straight. MacKenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.

“You're not always going to have the pretty games and dominate a full game,” Toffoli said. “We found a way to score late, and obviously ‘Blacky’ made some really good saves to keep us in the first. As the game went on, we got a lot better and were able to execute on the power play.”

Nic Dowd scored for the Capitals (17-6-2), who had won four in a row, including 6-5 at the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Logan Thompson made 29 saves.

“We’re having a lot of issues right now being consistent with our game,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “That to me was an extremely disappointing performance to come back home and play that way in the second and third periods.”

Toffoli gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 19:00 of the first period. Toffoli intercepted a Rasmus Sandin pass at center ice, entered the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot past Thompson from the top of the slot.

“I think early in the game we couldn’t break out pucks and that was an issue, and then we started breaking out pucks and that let them have to skate with us a little bit and turned it into more of an up-and-down game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said.

Dowd tied it 1-1 at 13:02 of the second period when he scored a one-timer just outside the left circle off a pass across the slot from Martin Fehervary.

After Dowd’s goal, the Sharks outshot the Capitals 18-6 for the remainder of the game, including 13-4 in the third period.

“I think we did a good job of trying to get pucks to the net but didn’t do a good job of getting through the neutral zone and trusting the process of just getting pucks in and trying to get them back and doing it over and over and over,” Dowd said.

NOTES: Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini had an assist to push his point streak to five games (four goals, four assists). The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week on Monday with four goals and three assists in four games.