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 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.
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.
The move 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, handed the Sharks their most lopsided home loss of the season.
The last time the Sharks lost by six or more goals on home was on Nov. 2, 2023, when they were hammered 10-2 by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Dmitry Orlov scored hist first of the season for the Sharks’ lone goal at the 12:58 mark of the third period.
The Sharks created a handful of scoring chances in the first half of Wednesday’s game but heir biggest issues Wednesday 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.
The Sharks begin a five-game road trip against the Dallas Stars 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.