issued a walk to Miley to open the third inning before Goldschmidts tw

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Nicklas Backstrom scored the winning goal in the shootout to lead the Washington Capitals to their first win in San Jose in more than 20 years, 3-2 over the Sharks on Saturday night. Eric Fehr and Chris Brown scored in regulation for the Capitals, who had lost 11 times and tied once since winning their first game at the Shark Tank on Oct. 30, 1993. This is only Washingtons second win in its last 19 games overall against San Jose. Braden Holtby made 34 saves in his first start since March 6 in place of the banged-up Jaroslav Halak. Patrick Marleau and James Sheppard scored for the Sharks, who missed a chance to clinch their 10th straight playoff berth. Antti Niemi made 23 saves. Evgeny Kuznetsov put the Capitals ahead in the shootout when he scored in the opening round. But Marleau tied it in the third round before Backstrom beat Niemi for the winner. The Capitals had lost five straight shootouts while San Jose had won seven in a row in the tiebreaker. The Sharks appeared poised to clinch the playoffs when Sheppard blocked a shot by Jason Chimera early in the third period and then scored on a breakaway against Holtby to put San Jose up 2-1. But the Capitals got the equalizer when they got a fortunate bounce with 7:30 remaining. Dustin Penner took the puck from Scott Hannan behind the net and fed Brown, whose shot deflected off defenceman Dan Boyle and past Niemi for his first career goal. The Sharks lost two of three on this homestand, beating Anaheim in a showdown for first place in between losses to Washington and Florida — two Eastern Conference teams out of playoff position. San Jose is three points ahead of the Ducks in the Pacific Division although Anaheim has two games in hand. The game was more crucial to Washingtons playoff hopes. The Capitals have earned points in five straight games to tie Detroit for eighth place in the East with 79 points. The Red Wings have two games in hand. The Capitals jumped on top with help from a lucky bounce and a strong forecheck. Jason Chimera got the puck away from Logan Couture along the boards to set up Fehr for a shot that was blocked. Justin Braun tried to clear the puck out of danger, but it hit teammate Matt Nieto in the leg and bounced into the net for a goal credited to Fehr. Nieto helped the Sharks tie it in the closing seconds of the period when he put a wraparound attempt on net following a turnover by Mike Green. Holtby made the save on the initial shot, but Marleau knocked in the rebound following a scramble for 30th goal with 5.6 seconds remaining. NOTES: Marleau has seven career 30-goal seasons. ... The Capitals have as many wins (two) in the Cow Palace, where the Sharks played their first two seasons, as they have at the Shark Tank, which opened in 1993-94. ... This game finishes a stretch where the Sharks played 13 of 14 games against the Eastern Conference. They wont play the East again this season unless they make the Stanley Cup finals. Cheap Luke Appling Jersey . Pierre last November, only to watch St. Pierre leave the UFC octagon with his welterweight title belt and a split-decision victory. Cheap Nellie Fox Jersey . With the results, North America claimed 2.5 of the three available points, opening up a 17.5-12.5 lead in the overall standings. A total of 60 points are available, meaning the first team to 30.5 points will win the Continental Cup. http://www.cheapwhitesoxjerseys.com/ . After Mondays comments by Coach Claude Noel that its work first and skill second, and that more “A” games are needed, the Jets responded with a 47-shot effort. If not for terrific goaltending by Braden Holtby the Jets would have had two points in regulation. Cheap Ron Santo Jersey . The 24-year-old Raley was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA for Chicago in his first two career starts after being called up from Iowa on Aug. 7. He was optioned to Iowa on Monday after losing 3-0 to Cincinnati in Chicago on Sunday. Cheap White Sox Jerseys .4 seconds left and dribbled up court, weaving through Pitts defence. ATLANTA -- Paul Goldschmidt doesnt often stand and stare at his homers. This time he had to look, just to make sure his drive stayed fair. He liked what he saw. Wade Miley earned his first win since early May, Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Atlanta 3-1 on Sunday to end the Braves nine-game winning streak. Goldschmidt ripped an inside pitch from Alex Wood toward the left-field seats in the third inning. He said he immediately figured it had home run distance. He was just hoping the ball would stay fair, and it hit the foul pole for his 16th homer. "I wasnt sure," Goldschmidt said. "I knew it probably had the distance but it started fair and was going, so that was one of the few times I was watching to see what was going to happen. I saw it hit the pole and come down. I was pretty happy." Miley (4-6) allowed one run on five hits and one walk in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out eight. The left-hander was 0-3 in his previous nine starts and had not won since beating the White Sox on May 10. The win snapped his streak of five straight no-decisions. Miley shrugged when asked if he was relieved to finally get his fourth win. "You really cant control that," he said. "Youve just got to go out and try to give your team a chance to win. Thats the plan. You dont go out to try to get wins, you just try to get quality innings and get your offence on the field and we were able to do that and able to score enough runs today." Wood (6-7) allowed two runs on only three hits and three walks in seven innings. B.J. Upton was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts to end his career-best 11-game hitting streak for NL East-leading Atlanta. The loss kept the Braves from sweeping their third straight series. "We had a great run, had a great homestand," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. Before the game, the Diamondbacks traded right-hander Brandon McCarthy and cash to the Yankees forr left-hander Vidal Nuno.dddddddddddd Pinch-hitter Nick Evans run-scoring double off Luis Avilan in the ninth pushed Arizonas lead to two. Evans drove in Martin Prado, who singled off Anthony Varvaro and stole second base. Addison Reed gave up a leadoff single to Tommy La Stella in the ninth before striking out Christian Bethancourt. Reed wrapped up his 20th save when Ryan Doumit hit into a double play. Arizona right-hander Brad Ziegler gave up a leadoff single to Andrelton Simmons in the eighth. With one out, Ziegler walked Justin Upton, and the runners advanced on Jason Heywards groundout. Ziegler struck out Chris Johnson to end the inning. Walks hurt both starting pitchers. Wood issued a walk to Miley to open the third inning before Goldschmidts two-out homer gave the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. Goldschmidt, who had an infield single in the first, had two of Arizonas three hits off Wood. "Thats baseball for you," Wood said. "You go into the game telling yourself that theres one guy you dont want to let beat you and then he ends up beating you." Miley walked Justin Upton to open the fourth. He scored from second on Johnsons single up the middle. Miley didnt allow another hit until Bethancourt singled with two outs in the seventh. Evan Marshall got the final out of the inning after walking pinch-hitter Dan Uggla. NOTES: Braves C Evan Gattis, on the 15-day DL with a bulging thoracic disk, said an epidural early in the week helped "a little bit" but his back remains "just a little tight right now." He said he began stretching exercises on Saturday. ... The Braves open a four-game series at the Mets on Monday night with LHP Mike Minor facing RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka. Arizona RHP Chase Anderson will start when the Diamondbacks open a home series against Miami. ... Atlantas previous loss was June 26 at Houston. ' ' '