The San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals both decided not to play defense on Tuesday night, and we were all better off for it, as their game ended in a thrilling 7-6 overtime Sharks victory. It was this close, however, to being a 6-5 Caps win on the strength of an Alex Ovechkin hat trick, until the Sharks scored the equalizer with just one second remaining.
In a last gasp in the dying moments of a wild back-and-forth game, Joe Pavelski sent the puck on net with nothing but a prayer behind it, but a small deflection from Tomas Hertl allowed it to go across goaltender Braden Holtby and onto the stick of Evander Kane. At 19:59 of the third, Kane potted the simple tap-in for his second score of the night.
In the extra period, Hertl sealed the comeback with an almost too-easy wrister for a hat trick of his own, ensuring that the Sharks wouldn’t finish their rocky four-game road trip empty-handed while also saddling the slumping Caps with their sixth loss in a row.