San Jose Sharks blasted at home by Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals a

SAN JOSE – Alex Ovechkin scored the 910th goal of his NHL career at the 8:25 mark of the first period on Wednesday night as the Washington Capitals took an early lead over the San Jose Sharks.

Then the Capitals kept pouring it on, and the Sharks looked helpless to stop them.

Ovechkin’s goal, his 13th goal of the season, opened the floodgates for the Capitals, who scored four first-period goals in a span of 8:42 and were never threatened the rest of the way in a 7-1 win over the Sharks before an announced crowd of 15,466 at SAP Center.

The Sharks looked lost in their own end at times as they also allowed first-period goals to Sonny Milano and Ryan Leonard before Brandon Duhaime scored while shorthanded at the 17:07 mark to give the Capitals a 4-0 lead.

“I think they’re on the same page. They know what they’re doing,” Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov said of the Capitals. “They’re not being themselves. Throughout the game, it was adults playing against kids. I would say. It’s not good enough.”

Duhaime’s goal caused Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky to yank starting goalie Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped eight of 12 shots, in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic.

“Feel bad for (Askarov). Both our goalies, Nedeljkovic too,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “We weren’t good enough in front of them. Too many odd-man rushes and too many open chances for the Caps tonight. I feel for (Askarov). I didn’t think he played badly at all.”

The goalie change did little to inspire or wake up the Sharks, as Ovechkin, playing in what might be his final game in San Jose, scored his second goal, again from right beside the Sharks’ net, for a 5-0 Capitals lead at the 2:41 mark of the second.

Dylan Strome and Leonard both added goals to round out the scoring for the Capitals, who handed the Sharks their most lopsided home loss of the season.

“Terrible. Our defense was terrible.” Warsofsky said.

The last time the Sharks lost by six or more goals at home was on Nov. 2, 2023, when they were hammered 10-2 by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Winger Pavol Regenda scored for the second time in as many games for the Sharks’ lone goal at the 12:58 mark of the third period.

“They’re mature. They’re well-structured, and they play the right way,” Ferraro said of the Capitals. “They take care of their own end really well.”

The Sharks created a handful of scoring chances in the first half of Wednesday’s game, but their most significant issues came in their own end, specifically in front of their goalies.

The Sharks were a mess in their own zone as they failed to pick up sticks on the first-period goals from Milano and Leonard. On Duhaime’s goal, defenseman John Klingberg, on a Sharks power play, lost control of the puck inside the Capitals zone. He then could not slow down Aliaksei Protas, who, on a breakaway, passed it back to Duhaime for an easy goal on a nearly wide-open net.

“Snowballs out of control, really,” Warsofsky said. “We turn one over on the power play, and it goes in the back of our net, and next thing you know, the momentum shifts dramatically.”

The Sharks begin a five-game road trip against the Dallas Stars on Friday.

“There are no easy games in this league, and we learned that early on,” Ferraro said. “But the biggest thing is our response here now. We’ve got to learn from this and have a good night on Friday.”

The Capitals only visit the Sharks once per season, and Ovechkin is in the final year of a five-year, $47.5 million contract. He has not indicated at any point that this will be his last year in the NHL, but he’s also not definitively said that he’ll return in 2026-27 for a 22nd season.

“I just take day by day,” Ovechkin said in October before the Capitals began their season. “You have to have fun, you have to enjoy yourself, and try to do it as best as you can.”

Certainly, Ovechkin hasn’t slowed down much.

Ovechkin scored 44 goals last season – tied for third-most in the NHL — on his way to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 goals in April.

Except for the pandemic-shortened 2020-2021 season, Ovechkin has scored at least 31 goals every year he’s been in the NHL. A nine-time winner of the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading single-season goal scorer, Ovechkin has scored at least 50 goals nine times.

This year, after a somewhat tepid start with two goals and seven points in the Capitals’ first 12 games, Ovechkin, in his last 15 games, had 10 goals and 20 points, tied for 11th most in the NHL in that time.