The Sharks snapped a 6-game losing streak with
a gutsy 201 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center in a rare Monday
night game. Macklin Celebrini scored the game winning goal in the 3rd period
after Pittsburgh erased a 1-0 Sharks lead earlier in the frame. Yaroslav
Askarov made 32 saves to earn his 4th win of the season.
Pittsburgh
was playing in the 6th game of a 7-game road trip that ends in Utah on
Wednesday night. The Penguins entered play with a 2-3-0 record on the trip but
had lost two straight before Monday night's game.
Like the Sharks, the
Penguins have had issues generating much offense of late. Pittsburgh has only
generated a single goal in their last 3 games. San Jose has allowed an average
of 5.66 goals per game during their losing streak, so having a struggling
offense like Pittsburgh come to town was just what the doctor ordered.
Both teams traded penalties in the opening period but neither power play unit
could do anything with their chance. The Pens held the 10-9 advantage in shots
and carried 1:48 of power play time to start the 2nd period after Jake Walman
was called for holding late in the period.
The Sharks did a good job
against the NHL's 6th ranked power play to diffuse both penalties that were
called in that 1st frame.
Mikael Granlund finally cracked the scoring
standoff with his 15th tally of the season at 7:41 if the 2nd period. The
centerman gathered a Will Smith feed from the right side after Penguins
defenseman Ryan Shea whiffed on a clearing attempt. The Sharks forward hit
Granlund as he skated toward the bottom of the left circle before lifting a
just under Penguin goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic's glove hand.
San Jose
would out-shoot the Penguins 13-6 in the period, but more importantly held the
1-0 lead heading to the 2nd intermission.
The Penguins needed the first 24 seconds of the 3rd
period to tie the game. Sidney Crosby evened things up off a put back chance
from outside the right post. Bryan Rust and Matt Grzelcyk carried the puck up
ice 3-on-2 before the puck squirted out to Crosby who flipped it toward the
crease. The puck hit Askarov in the right pad before deflecting into the net.
San Jose answered 3 minutes later when Macklin Celebrini punched home
his 16th of the season from the slot after Tyler Toffoli fed him the puck from
the bottom of the right circle.
Bryan Rust was called for goaltender
interference at 9:15, but the Penguins almost turned the tables on San Jose
when Drew O'Connor raced up ice on a short-handed breakaway chance after
Timothy Liljegren coughed up the puck at the Penguins blueline. Liljegren then
helped Pittsburgh to a penalty shot as he tried to breakup O'Connor's breakaway
chance with a hook from behind.
Askarov came up big on the penalty
shot, getting his right pad on O'Connor's attempt to preserve the slim 1-goal
lead.
Michael Bunting appeared to score an equalizer with 5:14 to
play, but the Sharks challenged the play that Askarov was interfered with. The
Sharks got the challenge win and the Sharks retained their lead.
Rust
was called for cross checking with 2:37 remaining in regulation, but Jake
Walman was then called for interference 33 seconds later. The Penguins pulled
Nedeljkovic after Walman's penalty was called.
The Pens threw
everything they had at Askarov in the final 2 minutes, out-shooting San Jose
17-6 in the period.
The Sharks netminder stood tall and the Sharks
were winners for the first time in 7 games.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks announced their Quarter Century Team: 1st Team - Patrick Marleau,
Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic & Evgeni
Nabokov. 2nd Team - Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Owen Nolan, Dan Boyle, Erik
Karlsson and Martin Jones.
* Joe Thornton and wife Tabea hosted Erik
Karlsson for dinner on Sunday night. Karlsson had the opportunity to meet the
Thornton's roommate Macklin Celebrini.
* Will Smith's assist on Mikael
Granlund's 2nd period goal extended the rookie's point scoring streak to 5
games. Smith joined Macklin Celebrini who had a 5-game streak from November
25th through December 3rd.
* Former Sharks head coach David Quinn made
his return to SAP Center as an assistant to Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan.
* SAP Center played host to the Sharks fathers who are in town for the
annual Dad's trip which will be held in Seattle on Thursday.