The Sharks kicked off a 4-game home stand at SAP Center on Saturday night and showed the near sellout crowd that they have some work to do if they want to make any serious run at a playoff appearance this coming spring. The visiting Washington Capitals completed their California sweep with a resounding 4-0 victory over the Sharks.

The game was marred by an injury to Sharks forward Jonathan Dahlen, who suffered an apparent shoulder injury after colliding with the end boards behind the Capitals net in the opening period. Dahlen appeared to be tugging at his arm, which suggested a separation. The forward would try and skate in the 2nd period, but after a pair of shifts, he called it a night.

That was the last thing the Sharks struggling offense needed to hear. They had little success against Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who stopped all 22 shots he faced. Samsonov's workload was relatively light, but he made the big saves when he needed to.

The same couldn't be said for Sharks netminder Adin Hill, who surrendered a pair of goals on the Capitals first 5 shots. Conor Sheary scored on the first shot of the game after he blew passed Brent Burns and Jonah Gadjovich on the left side and snapped a shot that beat Hill via the 5-hole. It wasn't a particularly difficult shot to handle, but Hill was late to get his pads closed.

The Capitals capitalized on a Sharks penalty 13:58 into the contest after Marc-Edouard Vlasic was sent off for lofting a puck over the glass. Washington scored a patented Alex Ovechkin one-timer from the left side after John Carlson made the feed from the top of the right circle. It was textbook Ovechkin, but surprisingly his first goal off the one-timer this season.

Noah Gregor was making his season debut for the Sharks after being called up to replace Kevin Labanc, who was suspended for one game for slew-footing Tyler Bozak in the Sharks loss to the St Louis Blues on Thursday. Gregor made use of his time with the big club by cross checking Garnet Hathaway with 2:26 left in the period. The Capitals were already rolling, but Gregor responded by taking a penalty in the middle of the ice after getting beaten by Hathaway as the Capitals entered the Sharks zone.

Luckily for Gregor, T.J. Oshie was whistled for an interference 26 seconds later to negate the Sharks penalty, but Justin Schultz setup the Sharks to scratch back into the game when he ran Hill to take a goaltender interference penalty 56 seconds into Oshie's penalty.

The Sharks fumbled and bumbled their way through the 64 seconds of 5-on-3 time, whiffing on a golden opportunity to cut into the Washington lead. Schultz penalty would carry over into the 2nd period, but San Jose's power play could not muster a single shot once play resumed.

Carl Hagelin gift-wrapped another chance for the Sharks to make an appearance when he cut Gadjovich with a high stick to the face at 14:49 of the period. The Sharks used the ensuing 4 minutes to generate a total of 4 shots, but Samsonov kept the puck out of his own net.

The missed opportunities on the man-advantage would doom the Sharks. They were spoon fed chances to make a game of it, but they just couldn't solve Samsonov.

Sheary put the game out of reach with 4:50 to play by slipping a put-back chance through Hill's pads once again. This time the Sharks goaltender failed to contain a Carlson shot form the right dot. The puck kicked out to Sheary, who got a follow up shot off as he was falling backwards. Hill couldn't squeeze those pads shut in time and Washington was well on their way.

Ovechkin padded his own stats with an empty net goal that he scored by sending a blind shot down the entire length of the ice with 1:04 to play.

Game Notes:

* The Sharks were mum on Dahlen's injury following the game. If the injury was a shoulder separation, Dahlen's prognosis will depend on if there was any ligament damage.

* Both teams participated in the NHL Fight's Cancer event. The team skated in white and purple jerseys which will be auctioned off for charity.

* Defenseman Santeri Hatakka was scratched and Radim Simek was reinserted into the lineup. Simek only saw 14:09 of ice time, recording 5 hits and a takeaway. He was not on the ice for any of the 4 Capital goals.

* The Sharks placed Lane Pederson on the injured reserve. The forward sustained a lower body injury, thought to be a knee, in the Sharks loss to Winnipeg and had been a scratch for the last three games. San Jose recalled Noah Gregor and Jeffrey Viel.

* Nick Bonino may be a cursed man. The Sharks veteran missed on a slam dunk chance to score a goal during the double minor in the 2nd period. He also missed out on an assist when Loan Couture also missed on a setup by Bonino. The forward has yet to record a point for the Sharks in his first 17 games with San Jose.