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Capitals vs Sharks live analysis and updates (March 4, 2023)

By Ian Oland

 2 Comments

March 4, 2023 6:02 pm

This is your place to check for updates and comment along with the Washington Capitals vs. San Jose Sharks game on March 4, 2023.

The Washington Capitals are back in action and will play their first game after the trade deadline against the San Jose Sharks. GM Brian MacLellan, who traded five pending unrestricted free agents last week, made zero moves on trade deadline day, deciding to hang on to several other veterans, like Conor Sheary, because he didn’t like the return.

While at forward the Capitals will remain mostly old, the team will have one of its youngest blue lines in years against the San Jose Sharks. Rasmus Sandin, who the Caps acquired in the Erik Gustafsson deal, will make his debut for Washington on the first pairing. The Caps first overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Vincent Iorio, will make his NHL debut along with Gabriel Carlsson, his defensive pairing partner in Hershey.

The Capitals’ direction, as explained by Brian MacLellan on Friday night, is kind of confusing and maybe a little disconcerting, but hopefully, the new kids in the lineup can erase those vibes.

Today’s game is on NBC Sports Washington. Puck drop, in San Jose, is a little after 6 pm (EST).

Links

Lines

Pregame Shenanigans

1st Period

The Capitlas start Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson and Sandin-TVR. Darcy Kuemper is opposing Kaapo Kahkonen in net.

Tomas Hertl takes the game’s first penalty for high-sticking Craig Smith.

🚨 1-0 Sharks. Tomas Hertl scores in front of the net after a bad line change. At that point, the Sharks had 15 of the first 18 shots of the game. The goal came 12:03 into the period.

🚨 2-0 Sharks. Alexander Barabanov scores in front of the net after being unguarded by Evgeny Kuznetsov. The goal came 15:30 into the period.

Nic Dowd takes a double-minor for high-sticking after missing on a lift check.

The Sharks lead in shots on goal 20 to 5. The Sharks have the edge in 5v5 attempts 19 to 9. The Sharks have an expected goals edge, 1.96 to 0.90.

2nd Period

Caps still struggling to generate any sort of offense.

NAK takes a penalty at the 5:08 mark.

🚨 2-1 Sharks. Craig Smith scores after a nice setup by Dylan Strome.

🚨 2-2 tie. Nicolas Aube-Kubel unintentionally passes the puck into the net for a goal.

🚨 3-2 Capitals. Matt Irwin appears to score from the point. Conor Sheary may have tipped it.

Capitals have rebounded from an extremely uninspired start.

🚨 4-2 Capitals. Craig Smith has two goals after bunting a mid-air puck out of the air with his stick

The Sharks have a 29-20 shots on goal advantage, but the Capitals now have the lead in 5v5 shot attempts, 34-32. The Sharks still have a big expected goals edge, 3.15 to 2.11.

3rd Period

Alex Alexeyev goes after Kevin Labanc for clipping Vincent Iorio behind the net. Love that. Caps to the power play.

David Quinn ejected after arguing the call.

🚨 5-2 Capitals. TJ Oshie scores five hole on a spin-o-rama rebound attempt. Ovi gets the assist. That’s point no. 1468.

🚨 5-3 Capitals. Nico Sturm scores after Vincent Iorio falls over while trying to pivot at the blue line. Rookie mistake in what was a very solid game.

🚨 6-3 Capitals. Alex Ovechkin with a big blast for his 814th career goal.

🚨 7-3 Capitals. Alex Ovechkin’s got another after Vinny Iorio’s first career assist and point.

🚨 8-3 Capitals. Dylan Strome scores in front of the net. Bad turnover by the Sharks in the D-zone.

Comment below. Refresh this article throughout the night as we’ll be updating it live.

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