It certainly was a messy pileup for the Caps in San Jose last night.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Sharks 5, Capitals 2: The NHL playoffs do a fine job of sorting things out, but you could do worse than a prognostication of Washington versus San Jose in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Sure, both teams have worthy challengers — Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New Jersey in the East; Chicago, Phoenix and Colorado in the West — but there’s a real chance that we’ll be looking back with interest at these teams’ two regular season meetings come June. So while the Caps fired a shot across the San Jose’s bow back in October, with a 4-1 victory at the Verizon Center, last night, San Jose returned the favor. The Caps once again started slow offensively — they somehow managed to undercut Monday’s four-shot first period with only three shots on goal — and two penalty shot goals doomed them to a 5-2 loss. The Sharks hopped out to a three-goal lead capped off with Ryan Clowe’s backhanded conversion of a penalty shot. Mike Knuble pulled one back early in the third, but a couple more goals, including another penalty shot conversion by Joe Thornton, sealed the deal for the Sharks. Alex Ovechkin did score late in garbage time, tying Marion Gaborik for the league lead with 26 tallies. After this, only the third game that the Capitals have failed to hold a lead this season, the Caps will look to end a two-game swing in sunny California with a win over Los Angeles on Saturday in their first game of 2010.