I attended my third Sharks game this season, which was my second one in two weeks. Although the Sharks got rocked by the Washington Capitals, the game was quite entertaining with plenty to cover here. Let’s begin:
The promotional theme to this latest game was Celebration of South Asian Heritage, primarily due to the Indian holiday Holi taking place around this time. Like last week’s game, free beanies were given out to everyone in attendance, except the patch on the free beanies had a different design on it. As for the items I purchased at this game, those consisted of a Will Smith, also known as the Fresh Prince of San Jose, t-shirt, a commemoratory Sharks vs. Capitals puck with Macklin Celebrini and Alex Ovechkin on it, and a Yaroslav Askarov player card that benefitted the Sharks Foundation.
Next was warmups, in which I was able to catch in its entirety this time. Besides seeing my Sharks for the third time this year, I was most excited to see Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals play in person for the first time ever. Seeing this particular player and opponent was important to me, as they are two of my favorites in the NHL not on or named the Sharks. In addition, it was cool seeing Zack Ostapchuk make his Sharks debut. Ovechkin was easy to point out on the Capitals' side of the ice, as he was the only one without a helmet and his jersey tucked in before some of his padding. My seats were located in section 212 in the second deck toward the corner of the ice where the Sharks shoot twice. There was a bit of an obstruction with the guard rail, but other than that, the view was pretty sweet. Onto the game itself, the Sharks were no match for the Capitals in this particular game, as Washington was firing on all cylinders to begin this one, opening a 3-0 lead throughout the first period on goals from Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, and Taylor Raddysh. Alexandar Georgiev was yanked after the first period in his sixth consecutive start to try to get some of the Sharks' mojo back, finishing his day with 14 saves on 17 shots against and replaced by Georgi Romanov.
The last aspects of the first period worth mentioning are that Klim Kostin had fallen to the ice and was in a ton of pain after blocking a shot, but luckily he remained in the game after briefly heading into the dressing room. on the more fun side, SJ Sharkie put on a bit of a show during a stoppage in play by doing his best Benson Boone impression. It remained 3-0 Caps through two periods of play, but it featured two fights, tensions boiling over between these two clubs, and inconsistent officiating. The first fight occurred between Zack Ostapchuk and Tom Wilson, while the following one that ensued soon after was between Noah Gregor and Brandon Duhaime. Both of these fights helped make things more interesting heading into the third period. The Sharks were able to get on the board early in the third period on a brilliant goal by Macklin Celebrini for his 21st of the season, assisted by Tyler Toffoli. Any extra hope following the Sharks avoiding getting shut out would get quashed seconds later, as Trevor van Riemsdyk responded with his first goal of the season to restore the Caps' three-goal lead. About four minutes later, a bit of history was witnessed, as Alex Ovechkin deflected one in for the 887th goal of his career and is now eight goals away from breaking the all-time goals record. Most everyone in the building cheered when Ovi scored to practically put this one away for good. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't inch closer to this elusive record against my Sharks, but at the same time, I am grateful I got to witness a bit of history in person, and I have nothing but respect for the Great 8.
Georgi Romanov compiled nine saves on 11 shots against in relief for Georgiev, while the Sharks couldn't solve Logan Thompson for much of this contest. The Sharks' record now falls to 3-2-2 when I am at their games, and the Washington Capitals have become the ninth NHL team I have now seen play in person. This game was fairly one-sided in favor of the Caps, but I am incredibly thankful I got to witness this game in person, as this could possibly be my only chance to see the great Alex Ovechkin play in person before he potentially calls it a career. Now that this game has concluded, it has become easier for me to root for Ovechkin to break the all-time goals record and heading into the playoffs, and hopefully this major accomplishment is realized for him before the end of this season. I can't entirely fault this Sharks team for putting up a stinker against one of the top teams in the NHL on Saturday, but witnessing how certain aspects of this game unfolded was simply surreal, and I am incredibly thankful to have shattered my record for most NHL/Sharks games I have attended in a season in 2024-25. In the meantime, the Sharks don't play again until Thursday, when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in their next game at 7:30 pm PT.
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