The San Jose Sharks picked up a three goal win against the Washington Capitals at the Capital One Center in Washington DC on Sun Feb 12, 2023 (@SanJoseSharks photo)

By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks (17-26-11) wrapped up their eight game road trip with a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals (28-21-6), finishing the grueling trek that began January 21st in Columbus a respectable 3-3-2. There were plenty of positives like Erik Karlsson’s three-point effort, Tomas Hertl’s first goal since January 11th and Kaapo Kähkönen’s third strong showing. Kähkönen also was involved in the negative of the day, exiting the game with an injury after 37 minutes. Aaron Dell made the final eight saves in relief with James Reimer out with an illness.

Kähkönen exited the game on Washington’s scoring play. Evgeny Kuznetsov was able to drive the net and slide the puck past Kähkönen on the far post, making the score 2-1 Sharks at the time with 3:04 left in the second period.

The Sharks Evgeny, Svechnikov, opened the scoring 2:54 into the game. He beat Ryan Lindgren after entering the Caps zone on the left wing and beat the netminder glove side. Karlsson had the secondary assist while Jonah Gadjovich picked up his fourth helper.

Alexander Barabanov scored on the power play 9:04 into the second on a rebound in the slot. Hertl had the initial shot and Karlsson assisted as well, his 55th of the year.

After Kuznetsov’s goal, Karlsson added breathing room at the 12:55 mark, taking a facroff win along the boards and firing a snifter for his 18th of the year. Hertl added the empty netter, and first in 11 games.

The Sharks return home for a Valentine’s Day date with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then they hit the road, though they won’t log as many miles this time. It’s a trip to Sin City for a bout with Pacific Division rival Vegas before returning home Saturday night against Buffalo.