Penguins get elusive win in San Jose

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[December 03, 2015]  SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Sharks wore throwback jerseys, but it was the Pittsburgh Penguins who reverted to days gone by to finally win Tuesday at SAP Center.

The Penguins got two goals from right winger Phil Kessel and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 of 34 shots to win in San Jose, 5-1, for the first time since October of 1997. Pittsburgh had gone 13 games in San Jose since without a victory.

Not only that, but Pittsburgh put a season-high five goal on the board in the process. Not a bad way to start a four-game road trip.

"They're dangerous at home as everybody knows," Penguins coach Mike Johnston said "It's a tough building to win in. It's been a long time."

Pittsburgh left winger David Perron cinched Tuesday's contest with a power-play strike at 8:42 of the third period. He scored his fourth goal of the season in front off a pass from right winger Chris Kunitz 1:50 into a too-many-men penalty on San Jose.

Kessel added his second of the night and ninth of the season at 15:54 into an empty net. San Jose coach Peter DeBoer opted to lift goalie Martin Jones in favor of an extra skater just 30 seconds earlier at 15:24

"I was hoping they would pull the goalie again and we'd get six," Perron said.

The Sharks lost two of their last three at home after dropping four of five on the previous homestand. San Jose is only 4-7 at home as opposed to 10-3 on the road.

"We've proven we can win on the road," Sharks defenseman Paul Martin said. "To string some wins together with that same kind of consistency is our goal, but we just haven't done that yet."

Pittsburgh scored twice in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. And like their goal in the first, both came from behind the San Jose goal line.

Center Matt Cullen took advantage of a broken play deep in the San Jose end to skate behind the left post and deflect a shot off Jones' left skate at 4:40 for his second goal of the season.

Then, at 6:35, Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin scored his team-leading 12th goal on a wrap-around. Malkin first beat Martin while skating wide in the left circle, and took advantage of Jones, who came out in an attempt to poke check. That left the net vacated for Malkin to skate behind and tuck the puck in the opposite side.

"Right from the first goal, we had a couple goals-against you wouldn't probably see in a month," DeBoer said.

The Sharks finally broke through at 15:35 on the power play. Right winger Joe Pavelski took two Penguins with him as he skated hard through the right circle. The San Jose captain made a quick pass through the crease to left winger Patrick Marleau, who one-timed his 10th goal past Fleury.

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The hosts thought they had narrowed the deficit to a single goal 17 seconds later when center Tomas Hertl punched home a loose puck in the slot, but right winger Tommy Wingels was called for interfering with Fleury upon video review at 15:52.

"That's a critical turning point right there," DeBoer said. "We just got rolling. It could have been 3-2 at that point. I'm not sure how that decision was reached from my standpoint."

The Penguins scored the only goal of a first period that feature the teams trading quality chance after quality chance in front of each other's net.

The Pittsburgh goal was a soft one. Kessel scored from behind the goal line when his centering feed caromed off the skate of Martin and again off the right skate Jones before landing in the net.

"That was puck luck for sure. It hit off a guy twice," Kessel said. "That was puck luck there."

"You earn your puck luck," Wingels said. "At times you're going to get good bounces, and at times you're not. We've gotten our fair share of good bounces this year. We'll look to create some more going forward."

NOTES: Penguins C Sidney Crosby reunited with RW Chris Kunitz, who was promoted from the third line to join Pittsburgh's captain and LW Pascal Dupuis. LW Patric Hornqvist dropped to join C Nick Bonino and RW Beau Bennett on a third line. ... San Jose D Justin Braun was activated off injured reserve where he missed two games with an infected left elbow. ... D David Warsofsky subbed for D Adam Clendening and paired with D Ian Cole. Warsofsky made his debut for Pittsburgh after having compiled 10 NHL games with Boston over the last two seasons. ... Pittsburgh's four-game trip continues on Saturday at Los Angeles. ... The Sharks travel to Anaheim on Friday before returning home for a game Saturday vs. Tampa Bay. ... D Matt Tennyson was the lone healthy scratch as C Ben Smith (concussion) remains sidelined without a timetable for his return. ... RW Daniel Sprong did not dress for the Penguins along with Clendening.

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