Sharks eye rare back-to-back wins, welcome Capitals

The San Jose Sharks will attempt to win consecutive games for just the second time this season when they host the Washington Capitals on Monday night.

The Sharks defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday. Mikael Granlund and Mike Hoffman scored 86 seconds apart early in the third period and the Sharks held on.

After starting the season 0-10-1, San Jose is 4-5-1 in its past 10 games.

"Think about where we were three weeks ago against this team, and how far we've come and the progress we've made," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "No one's probably faced more adversity than we have, and these guys have stuck together and all they've done is come here and get better every day. I give them a ton of credit."

Ty Emberson scored his first NHL goal, and Tomas Hertl and Calen Addison each had two assists for the Sharks, who had lost three straight. Kaapo Kahkonen made 30 saves. Granlund and Hoffman each had an assist.

Vancouver had won the first two meetings between the teams by scores of 10-1 and 3-1.

Emberson gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead with his first goal in 13 NHL games.

"It's a dream come true, and obviously something that you work a long time for," Emberson said. "But it was nice to get it in a win."

The Capitals, 9-2-1 in their past 12 games, open a five-game road trip. Washington had won five in a row before dropping a 5-0 decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday on a day when nothing went right.

"You're not always going to have your best," Capitals first-year coach Spencer Carbery said. "But to play like that coming off of Thanksgiving before we go on the road, it's a very, very immature game, almost something you would expect from a young team that thinks they're already in California and halfway on the plane before that the game starts."

Charlie Lindgren made 30 saves for the Capitals.

Edmonton was 3-for-4 on the power play. Washington was 0-for-5 and is 3-for-50 on the season, having gone 10 games without a goal.

"We're going to have to change a bunch," Carbery said of his power play. "Tons of different things personnel-wise, puck-management wise, puck recovery, decisions, routes. You name it. ... We'll continue to try and find a combination of five guys who are able to execute the power play."

Washington will open its road trip without forward T.J. Oshie, who left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury after a hit from Mattias Ekholm at 2:09 of the second period and did not return. He did not travel to San Jose with the team.

On defense, Martin Fehervary could return after missing the past five games with an undisclosed injury.

Monday night's game features the bottom two scoring in teams in the league. Washington is averaging 2.41 goals per game; San Jose is averaging 1.62.

The Capitals beat the Sharks 3-1 in Washington on Oct. 29, scoring three third-period goals to rally for the win. Darcy Kuemper, Monday's likely starter, made 30 saves.