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Right winger Tommy Wingels scored the deciding shootout goal in the
eighth round after teammates killed his late penalty, and the hosts
edged Pittsburgh 2-1 on a night when the Penguins flashed their
skill in front of 17,336 at SAP Center.
"That point could make a heck of a difference," Sharks coach Todd
McLellan said. "We can't afford to give any away. We've done that
too often and too much."
The Penguins were looking to cap a sweep of the three California
teams to finish a four-game road trip, but they had to settle for
one point on their last stop instead of two.
"In a shootout, anything can happen," Pittsburgh captain Sidney
Crosby said. "We played a pretty good game, and we deserved better."
The Sharks, desperate for points to try to climb back into the
playoff race, won for the third time in four games. Wingels made
that possible by slipping a backhand shot past Pittsburgh goalie
Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped all but right winger Melker Karlsson
among San Jose's first seven shooters.
"When you're sitting on the bench, you think of what you're going to
do if your number is called," Wingels said. "I wanted to get a good
fake in and go backhand. I think he would be covering the 5-hole
after Melker's good move. Fortunately, it went in."
Fortunately, too, for Wingels the game even reached the shootout
stage. He tossed a puck over the glass at 19:33 of the third period
to give Pittsburgh's talented power play one last chance to win
late. Instead, the Sharks killed off the penalty, which turned into
a four-on-three advantage once the power play carried over into
overtime.
"That's an unfortunate penalty there, but the guys did a heck of a
job," Wingels said. "They have quite the four players that go out
there on the four-on-three. The PK (penalty killing) hasn't been
great of late, but the PK won us a game tonight."
Sharks goalie Antti Niemi had a lot to say about winning this one,
too. He stopped 39 of 40 shots during the first 65 minutes, then
permitted only a Kris Letang goal in the shootout while thwarting
the other seven Pittsburgh shooters.
"I thought Nemo was terrific, maybe his best game of the season,"
McLellan said. "First saves, second saves, those are some very
gifted players.
Shut out through 40 minutes, the Penguins finally got on the board
before the midway portion of the final period.
Crosby scored his first career goal against San Jose at 7:22 to tie
it, 1-1. The veteran center built speed as he hit the San Jose line,
gained half a step on a backchecking Karlsson, then unleashed a
backhand shot that found a hole under Niemi's right blocker at the
far post.
"The third period was outstanding," Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston
said.
The Sharks scored the only goal in the opening period despite the
Penguins being in control.
Newcomer Ben Smith stripped Letang behind the Pittsburgh net, where
center Chris Tierney fed in front to left winger Matt Nieto. Nieto
tipped his seventh goal of the season past Fleury with 56.1 seconds
remaining in the period.
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The goal came less than four seconds after San Jose's second power
play just expired. The fact Pittsburgh that took two minors in the
period was all that stymied the visitors' momentum. The Pens outshot
the hosts 15-6 in the period.
"It was nice to get that goal late in the first and come to the
intermission with some momentum and confidence going into the
second," Nieto said.
The second period was scoreless, but the 20-minute period was not
without end-to-end action.
The Sharks bailed out defenseman Justin Braun for two neutral-zone
turnovers, one to center Evgeni Malkin that resulted in a stopped
shot to cap a two-on-one break, the second to Crosby, who lost the
puck before making a play.
The Penguins, with 24 shots through two periods, failed to convert
on two middle-period power plays. Despite managing two shots on each
advantage, that extended Pittsburgh's struggles on the power play to
an eventual 0-for-12 on the trip.
"We came out strong," said Pittsburgh defenseman Derrick Pouliot,
who drew iron with a shot in the final 10 seconds of overtime. "We
didn't quit. We really stuck with it throughout the entire game. We
got that goal in the third and almost won."
Fleury made 29 saves in regulation and overtime.
NOTES: Pittsburgh C Sidney Crosby was held scoreless and was a
minus-5 during his previous visit to San Jose, a 5-3 win by the
Sharks on March 7, 2014. Another Penguins captain, the retired Mario
Lemieux, feasted on San Jose during his career. Lemieux scored 49
points (17 goals, 32 assists) during 14 career games against the
Sharks. ... San Jose continues a four-game homestand Thursday when
the Nashville Predators visit. ... Pittsburgh returns home to face
the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. ... The Penguins were without D
Christian Ehrhoff (concussion), C Pascal Dupuis (blood clots) and D
Olli Maatta (upper body). ... The Sharks continue to miss D Matt
Irwin (upper body), RW Mike Brown (leg) and RW Raffi Torres (knee).
... RW Craig Adams was Pittsburgh's lone healthy scratch. ... D
Taylor Fedun did not dress for San Jose.
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