Sharks Vs. Capitals: Logan Couture Scores Another Game Winner As San Jose Blanks Washington

Logan Couture keeps making his case to win that Calder Trophy this year. The San Jose Sharks rookie scored another game-winning goal on Tuesday night, this time a third period tally that downed the Washington Capitals. Dan Boyle added on a few minutes later as the Sharks went on to the 2-0 shutout victory.

Antti Niemi made 21 saves for San Jose while Michal Neuvirth did his best to keep his Caps in the game, making 34 stops at the other end. It wasn’t enough, though, and really, all we can do is praise Couture. He’s broken the all-time record for most game-winning goals on the road by a rookie with seven and he’s all alone atop the NHL standings in that category with eight overall GWG’s.

He broke a scoreless tie in this one that reached its arm all the way into the third period. Japers’ Rink talked about how strange that is for these two teams, who kind of seem like mirror images of each other quite often.

A year ago the Capitals and Sharks were two of the premier offensive teams in the NHL, combining for 582 goals over the course of the 2009-10 season. This season has been a different story, however, with each team hovering around the middle of the League in terms of goal-scoring despite the bevy of high-priced, high-powered offensive talent on their respective rosters.

So unlike the last time they faced off, expectations for a run-and-gun, goal-filled game were considerably tempered and all signs pointed to a more grinding effort. And for most of the game, those expectations were met as the Caps and Sharks traded chances - and their goalies traded saves - in a stalemate that spanned almost 52 minutes.