On a road trip

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SAN JOSE , Calif. (AP)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 , 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 ,” 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.— SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The job of a fourth line is usually to provide energy, give some rest to the top players and occasionally chip in with a goal.San Jose’s group of Eric Fehr, Barclay Goodrow and Jannik Hansen did a lot more than that.Hansen scored his first goal of the season and Fehr and Goodrow also scored for a fourth-line hat trick that helped the Sharks win their season-high fifth straight game , 6-2 over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.”It’s probably been a while since that happened,” Fehr said of all three fourth-liners scoring in a game. ”It’s nice to contribute. Obviously everybody has been going for a while now. To be able to chip in offensively and defensively gives the guys a little bit of a break. It’s always nice for us.”Logan Couture added his 30th goal of the season, and Joe Pavelski and Mikkel Boedker also scored to give the Sharks a four-point lead over third-place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division with one game in hand.Brent Burns added three assists and Martin Jones made 26 saves.The scoring barrage by San Jose spoiled Cory Schneider’s return to net for the Devils. Schneider allowed four goals on 14 shots before getting pulled for Keith Kinkaid midway through the second period of his first start since March 8. Schneider has lost 11 starts in a row since his last win for the Devils on Dec. 27.”To me it’s not on the goaltender or either goaltender that was in,” coach John Hynes said. ”Our team has to be better in lots of aspects of it.”Taylor Hall scored his 32nd goal of the season and Blake Coleman also scored for the Devils, who lead Florida by just one point in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers have two games in hand.After Hansen and Fehr scored in the first period, Goodrow chipped one in midway through the second period on a surprising night of scoring from the fourth line when he beat Schneider on a 2-on-1.”We were talking about that after the first,” Goodrow said. ”It would be nice to complete the hat trick for the line. Definitely felt good to score that one.”Couture then scored 40 seconds later on San Jose’s first shot against Kinkaid for his third career 30-goal season. Boedker added San Jose’s second power-play goal of the night late in the second and the rout was on.The Sharks got off to a fast start in their first game back from a 3-0 Canadian road trip, scoring three goals in the first period and killing 1:20 of a two-man advantage for New Jersey.”We didn’t get off to a great start and then we got behind the eight ball and never recovered from it ,” Hynes said.The teams traded goals to start with Fehr beating Schneider over the shoulder from a bad angle and Hall answering when he stole a bouncing puck from Justin Braun and beat Jones with a quick shot.San Jose then scored twice in a span of less than three minutes to take the lead. Pavelski tipped in a shot from Kevin Labanc on the power play to give the Sharks the lead.Then after Jones denied Damon Severson from in close at one end, Dylan DeMelo sent a long pass that Hansen chased down and then beat Schneider on a breakaway for his first goal since March 30, 2017.”It’s always nice to see a guy who hasn’t put one in in a while finally get rewarded,” Couture said. ”He comes into the lineup and he works hard. He doesn’t play every game. It’s not an easy thing to do.”NOTES: DeMelo has 10 assists this month. … San Jose D Brenden Dillon has a five-game point streak. … Devils F Miles Wood (upper body) was scratched and Jesper Bratt played in his place.UP NEXTDevils: Visit Pittsburgh on Friday.Sharks: Host Vegas on Thursday.—