WASHINGTON - Late at night, the Washington Capitals must be tortured by dreams of themselves stabbing at giant glaciers in front of the opposing team's goal.

That's how frustrating scoring has become for the Capitals, who slipped below .500 last night despite pounding nearly 50 shots at the San Jose Sharks. Instead of winning, the Capitals had to swallow yet another loss, 3-2, dropping to 8-9-2.

San Jose, a team that has struggled more than Washington, found a way to better its sub-.500 record to 7-9-1-2. The Caps are averaging 2.1 goals a game but have managed just four goals in their past four games.

And this time it was San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov who played like a wall, making 46 saves and belying his 4-6-1 record, 2.87 goals-against average and .895 save percentage.

"It's a struggle right now," said Capitals coach Bruce Cassidy. "Even Jags [Jaromir Jagr] is probably shaking his head. I think everyone thought that shot was in. But, collectively as a group, we have to play through it."

With about 20 seconds left Jagr, who was on a tear in the closing minutes, sent a shot to the net that appeared to hit both posts before flying harmlessly away.

The Caps' power play, which was supposed to be one of their strengths this season, continued to try desperately to break out of a 7-for-61 slump, but instead, sunk deeper in the mire, going 1-for-9. After Washington was unable to score on 63 seconds of a five-on-three advantage in the second period, Teemu Selanne faked out Caps defenseman Jean-Francois Fortin. Selanne then sprinted behind the Capitals' net and swept the puck around the post, just out of the reach of Washington goalie Olie Kolzig for a 1-0 lead at 12:45.

Patrick Marleau made it 2-0 on a power-play goal, set up by Jagr getting called for a double-minor high-sticking penalty.

And it could have really gotten ugly at that point as Caps defenseman Brendan Witt was called for cross checking with 54 seconds left on the Jagr penalty, had Kolzig not closed the door on a series of well-played shots.

"I thought we played great tonight," Kolzig said. "We were dominating, 18 shots in the first period, 49-50 shots through the game. It's a matter of being patient. A couple seeing-eye pucks got past me, but we're doing our best. I thought Jags had it [the tying goal]. I was jumping up and down on the bench. But that's the way it's going for us right now. But it's going to change. We just have to stick to our game plan and keep battling."

The Capitals finally scored during their second five-on-three opportunity when Robert Lang passed to Michael Nylander at 2:35 of the third to close the gap to 2-1 and Mike Grier scored with 7:20 left to make it 3-2.

But by the time Grier scored, Sharks right wing Owen Nolan already had what turned out to be the game-winner at 9:04 on a power play.

San Jose 0 2 1 - 3

Washington 0 0 2 - 2