Samsonov Shuts Out Sharks, 4-0

Starting his second straight game for the first time this season, Ilya Samsonov stopped 22 shots to record his second straight shutout on Saturday night in San Jose, helping the Caps to a 4-0 victory over the Sharks. Conor Sheary and Alex Ovechkin each struck for a pair of goals in support of Samsonov.

Saturday marks the 12th time that a Washington goaltender has authored shutouts in consecutive starts, and just the fourth time that feat has been achieved on the road. The last Caps goalie with consecutive road shutouts was Clint Malarchuk on Feb. 19-20, 1988.
"Through the course of both games, I think he's had to make a few really big saves," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "He seems focused and dialed in and he seems like he's in control. I think everybody had the same feeling this game as they did last game - that he was just in position, he was there, he looked sharp, he looked focused. He made the ones that he was supposed to make, and then he made some real tough ones to go with it."
Washington gave Samsonov all the offensive support he would need early in the game, scoring on its first shot on net of the evening. From the half-wall in his own end of the ice, Aliaksei Protas banked a pass off the wall, sending Daniel Sprong up ice with a trio of Sharks lurking around him and Conor Sheary on the weak side with a step on his coverage. Sprong gained the line and fed Sheary, who beat San Jose goalie Adin Hill through the five-hole for a 1-0 Caps lead at 2:17 of the first.
Soon after the midpoint of the first frame, the Caps went on the game's first power play. They doubled their lead about half a minute into the man-advantage when Ovechkin cranked a one-timer home from his left dot office at 13:58, his first goal on a one-timer this season.
The Caps' second power play came in the waning minutes of the first, but it was short-circuited by a pair of Washington penalties that resulted in a 4-on-3 and then a 5-on-3 advantage for the Sharks as the clock wound down to zero in the first. The Caps survived that stretch and Samsonov made a key save, denying Brent Burns' one-timer late in the final minute of the first.
Washington struggled in the second period. The Caps weren't able to establish a forecheck or an offensive zone presence and they were guilty of icing the puck five times, with four of them coming less than three minutes apart in the middle of the period. San Jose had the better of possession in the second, but the Caps permitted only 10 shots in the second despite being on the penalty kill for four minutes when Carl Hagelin took a double-minor for hi-sticking in the back half of the frame.
In the third, the Caps were more assertive and they made better decisions with the puck. Samsonov needed to make a big save on Alexander Barabanov early in the third, but he faced only six shots total in the period.
With just under five minutes left, Sheary gave Samsonov and the Caps some more breathing room with his second goal of the night. After taking a feed from Ovechkin, John Carlson put a shot on net from the right point, Sheary tipped it, losing his balance as he did. As he was going down, he swept the puck through Hill's legs for a second time, making it 3-0 with 4:50 left.
As time was winding down, and Hill was pulled for an extra attacker, Ovechkin dialed long distance, turning and firing it straight into the vacant cage from just inside the Washington line. Ovechkin's 14th goal in 18 games accounted for the 4-0 final.
The game was similar in some ways to the Caps' 2-0 win over the Kings in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but it was a more physical affair. The Sharks finished their checks routinely,
"We took the first period," says Ovechkin. "Obviously in the second period, we gave them a lot and we just finished off the game. I think Sammy today played great. Back-to-back shutouts, it's good for us."
Saturday's win in San Jose extends Washington's point streak to seven (6-0-1). Three of those six wins have come via the shutout route.