On a road trip where Washington struggled to generate any offense

SAN JOSE Custom Winnipeg Jets Jerseys , Calif. (AP) On a road trip where Washington struggled to generate any offense, Nicklas Backstrom’s goal was enough to send the Capitals home on a good note.Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for his fifth career shutout and Backstrom broke a scoreless tie late in the second period to help the Capitals salvage the final game of their California swing with a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.”I just thought it was a pretty complete team effort,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”I would probably say the last seven, eight periods we played pretty well. We just didn’t get the results that we wanted in all three games here.”Washington was outscored 7-1 in losses to Anaheim and Los Angeles to open the trip before a narrow win in San Jose moved the Capitals one point ahead of Pittsburgh for first place in the Metropolitan Division, pending the Penguins’ game in Toronto later.Alex Ovechkin, two goals short of 600 for Washington, was held scoreless for the third straight game. Marc-Edouard Vlasic thwarted one chance for Ovechkin to get goal No. 599 with a strong back check and goalie Martin Jones robbed Ovechkin on a partial breakaway midway through the third period to keep San Jose’s deficit at 1-0.Lars Eller’s empty-net goal sealed the win for the Capitals.The Sharks were unable to get anything past Grubauer and fell to 3-2 on their six-game homestand. San Jose failed on two power-play chances, falling to 1 for 32 with the man advantage over the past 14 games.”We were one shot away from tying that game or maybe going the other way www.goldenknightsshoponline.com , but definitely that second period we didn’t have that push that we needed,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said.Jones made 24 saves for the Sharks but couldn’t stop Backstrom’s one-timer late in the second period after Washington appeared to enter the zone offside.Brett Connolly found Backstrom alone in the faceoff circle and he beat Jones high to the glove side for his 17th goal of the season. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer didn’t challenge for offside, and the goal stood.”It wasn’t offside. It wasn’t offside,” DeBoer said. ”He didn’t touch it before the other (player) came out and tagged out, so it clearly wasn’t offside. That’s why we didn’t call it.”The Sharks controlled play for much of the first period but were unable to turn that into goals as Timo Meier hit the post during a power play on San Jose’s best opportunity. Tomas Hertl also hit the post on the power play in the second period as San Jose failed to take advantage of two penalties by Tom Wilson.”It could have gone the other way today,” Grubauer said. ”They had four or five posts. It could have gone a different way, too. Lucky and blessed to get the two points.”The Capitals took over in the second, outshooting the Sharks 12-3. That heavy pressure finally paid off late in the period with Backstrom’s goal that was Washington’s second on the trip.”It’s hard to be satisfied with your game when you’re not scoring or winning Vegas Golden Knights T-Shirts Womens ,” Backstrom said. ”That’s something we all are as a hockey player. We want to win and that’s what counts. We weren’t happy with our situation. But obviously it’s nice we turned it around tonight and got two points. That’s huge.”NOTES: The Capitals had not won in regulation at San Jose since their first trip to the Shark Tank on Oct. 30, 1993, when they won 4-2. Washington had 13 losses, one tie, one overtime win and one shootout win since then. … The Capitals are 24-3-3 when scoring first.UP NEXTCapitals: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.Sharks: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.— ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues have three players poised to make their season debuts against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night, but the biggest question surrounding the team this week is the uncertainty in goal.Starting goalie Jake Allen left Saturday’s 7-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks late in the second period after a collision with teammate Zach Sanford.Goalie Ville Husso was recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate in San Antonio and skated with backup Chad Johnson in practice Monday and Tuesday, but Husso was sent back to the Rampage after Allen skated Tuesday and Wednesday.Article continues below ...Allen, who went through concussion protocol Vegas Golden Knights Hoodies Womens , said he’s ready to go against the Golden Knights if head coach Mike Yeo decides to put him in the lineup.“It was a hard play to the net. I just made a save and it was a tough blow to the side of the head,” Allen told NHL.com. “I was really (shaken) up at the time. It was the right decision to take me out. It took a little bit of time to gather myself. But after that, I was OK.”Forwards Robby Fabbri, Nikita Soshnikov and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson could all make their season debuts against Vegas.Fabbri, who just completed a three-game conditioning assignment in San Antonio, has not played in a regular-season game since tearing the ACL in his left knee against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 4, 2017.“I think what we have to find out here is how close is he to 100 percent,” Yeo told NHL.com. “His hundred percent for me is pretty high. That’s a pretty high level. That’s going back to a level that I saw him play at two years ago.”Gunnarsson is also returning from an ACL tear and hip surgery. He is coming off a two-game stint with San Antonio.“That was the last kind of speed Vegas Golden Knights Hats Womens , get to game speed and all that, so a good test, and two pretty good games,” Gunnarsson told NHL.com. “That was the last test, it held up well, I feel good, so green light. Now it’s just up to the coaches.”The Blues went 1-0-2 against the Golden Knights last season.Vegas is coming off of a 4-1 loss at Nashville on Tuesday. Forward Ryan Hartman scored twice for the Predators as the Golden Knight allowed four straight goals.“For me, we played the perfect road period against a real good team in the first (period) Custom Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys ,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And then after that, we made some real bad mistakes and it cost us goals every time.”Forward Reilly Smith scored a power play goal in the first period for the Golden Knights, but after putting 13 shots on net in the first, Vegas was held to 11 shots in the final two periods.“We made a couple mistakes maybe over-forechecking and not covering for each other as well as we should, and they did a good job capitalizing on odd-man rushes,” Smith told the Review-Journal. “I think it was a game tailored to them where they just threw a lot of pucks to the neutral zone and waited for bounces. They were able to capitalize on them.”