The Sharks wrapped up their 4-game road trip with a frustrating 4-3 loss in the shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins. San Jose got off to a slow start, allowing the Penguins to grab a 3-0 lead. San Jose fought back to first get the game to overtime and then to the shootout before dropping the game in the 5th round of the skills competition.

It was yet another lesson for a team that seems to be nothing but full time students. A lack of urgency allowed the Penguins to grab a healthy lead. They would battle back, but then lose the game in the skills competition.

Bryan Rust took all of 61 seconds to put the Penguins up 1-0. The forward collected a feed from Michael Bunting as he sat behind the Sharks goal. Sharks defenseman took a precarious path to the Penguins forward, using the longer path which allowed Rust to circle to the front of the net in the opposite direction before backhanding a shot past Vitek Vanecek.

Jesse Puljujarvi made it a 2-0 Penguins lead 6:34 in. IT was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Dan O'connor fired a shot on net from the right wing boards but the shot kicked off Vanecek, deflecting to the off wing where Puljujarvi was skating in. He simply had to get a stick blade on the puck to push it into a wide open net.

Vanecek sustained some malady in the opening period which ended the netminder's evening. Mackenzie Blackwood replaced Vanecek to start the 2nd period and was near perfect. Only a Sydney Crosby goal would stain Blackwood's stat line.

Crosby stepped into a shot from the right point 4:19 into the 2nd period to bag his 599th career goal to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead.

Vasily Ponomarev tossed a puck over the glass to setup one of 4 power plays for the Sharks. Tyler Toffoli cashed in on the man-advantage after Will Smith bounced a shot off goaltender Alex Nedeljkovicrom teh high slot. Toffoli was lurking around the right post and was able to gain the rebound and flip a shot home for his 7th of the season.

The Sharks had the tall task of overcoming a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period, but they did just that.

Mikael Granlund cut the lead to a single goal at 6:56 of the final frame. William Eklund sent a puck up ice by bouncing off the left wing boards to Fabian Zetterlund. With former Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson draped all over him, Zetterlund put on the breaks and pushed a puck across the ice to Granlund on the right win. Anthony Beauvillier got a stick on the pass as he dove to the ice, but it skipped on to Granlund who swept home the feed past Nedeljkovic for his 8th of the season.

Toffoli tied the game with 8:20 left in regulation after Ty Dellandrea fed him the puck from the left wing boards after the Sharks had gained the Penguins zone. Toffoli gather the pass just inside the left circle near the slot and lifted a shot past Nedeljkovic to knot the game at 3-3.

The two teams traded several chances in the overtime, although Pittsburgh out-shot San Jose 6-1 in the extra period. Blackwood was silky smooth in the period to help his team to the skills competition.

Things started well for San Jose in the shootout when Granlund scored in the first round. Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith would miss their chances, which pushed the shootout to a 4th round after Crosby converted his chance. Beauvillier scored on a nifty backhand lifter to the right side, but Eklund matched him. Evgeni Malkin scored in the 5th round, but Alexander Wennberg missed on his chance to end things.

Game Notes:

* Nico Sturm was an injury scratch after suffering an undisclosed injury in New York on Thursday night.

* Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was also a scratch after coming down with an illness on Friday.

* Defenseman Jake Walman returned to the lineup after missing the last 5 games with an undisclosed upper body injury.

* No word on Vitek Vanecek's condition, but it would seem that if the Sharks needed to bring someone up from the farm system, Yaroslav Askarov would be the likely candidate. Askarov is the heir apparent in net for San Jose and he's been performing well in the AHL for the Barracuda.

* San Jose earned 4 out of 8 point on the trip, which gives them 14 for the season. That's a point better than both Chicago and Nashville, but the Blackhawks have 2 games in hand on San Jose.