There are comebacks in sports, then there was the Sharks comeback over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday afternoon. Trailing 5-1 with 14:35 left to play in regulation, San Jose staged one of the greatest comebacks in team history. The Sharks would score 4 goals in the 3rd period to get the game to overtime before John Klingberg scored in overtime to propel the Sharks to an epic 6-5 win to end their 5-game road trip.

Klingberg scored the second of his 2 goals 2:57 into the extra period on a give and go play with Macklin Celebrini. It was an unreal finish. Epic doesn't describe it. Nobody saw 5 unanswered goals in a 15 minute span coming, especially the Penguins.

The play started when Klingberg put a stutter move on Crosby as he straddled the Penguins blueline. He feathered the puck to Celebrini on his right before heading to the left post. Celebrini made an perfect pass through the slot back to Klingberg, splitting Kris Letang and Bryan Rust. The much maligned Sharks defenseman swept Celebrini's pass home to stun the 17,059 who remained.

Most of the Penguins crowd was long gone by the time Klingberg sank his dagger in the Penguins. With lousy weather in the Steel City and a 4-goal lead in the 3rd period had many of the paid spectators heading home early. They missed history as it was the first time San Jose erased a lead of that size in the 3rd period in a regular season game.

The Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7 in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Things looked like they were headed in the right direction for San Jose. They drew a Connor Clifton hooking penalty on a nice scoring chance at 6:19. San Jose would not score on the power play, but they would convert less than 2 minutes later when Tyler Toffoli potted the 1st of his 2 goals on the afternoon.

The Sharks assistant captain gathered a Sam Dickinson pass while floating across the blueline from left to right. He snapped what looked like a routine wrist shot from the blueline, but Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs cheated to cover the right side of the net. The shot caught the top of the left post for Toffoli's 8th goal of the season.

Things went south for the Sharks for the next 40 minutes of game clock. Sidney Crosby converted the 1st of 3 Pittsburgh power play goals 2:14 after Toffoli's goal to even up the game at 1-1. Penalties continued to hurt the Sharks throughout the afternoon.

Macklin Celebrini aided Crosby's goal by tripping Ville Koivunen. The 3rd ranked power play in the NHL fattened up their position. Anthony Mantha fired a shot on net from the outside of the right circle, bouncing it off Yaroslav Askarov's leg pad, but right to Crosby who punched home the rebound. The two teams emerged from their respective locker rooms to start the 2nd period, but only one team was focused on the start of play. Rookie Rutger McGroarty scored his 2nd career NHL goal just 19 seconds into the period. McGroarty gathered a pass in the neutral zone before circling back into the Sharks zone, then snapping a shot from the top of the left circle beating Askarov similarly to the Toffoli goal a period earlier.

Kevin Hayes made it a 3-1 game at 9:42 after Noel Acciari worked the puck to the slot and moved the puck to an unguarded Hayes just outside the left post.

Dmitry Orlov was sent off for high sticking Crosby at 18:19, which stung even more when Bryan Rust converted on the ensuing power play with 6.6 seconds left in the period. Alex Wennberg broke his stick earlier on the play which allowed Crosby to move the puck to the left side where Rust unloaded on a one-time chance to beat Askarov.

San Jose was out-shot 20-6 in the period and things seem to go from bad to worse as the gae shifted into the 3rd period.

Things got chippy early in the 3rd period when Parker Wotherspoon leveled Will Smith with a check near the side boards that would send Smith immediately to the locker room. Celebrini took immediate exception and went after the Penguins defenseman but drew a double minor for roughing.

Pittsburgh converted on the power play for the 3rd time when Mantha scored at 5:25 . The big forward hacked at a rebound from the doorstep that fluttered over Askarov for his 10th goal of the season.

The Penguins 4-goal lead with 14:35 remaining in regulation looked like was curtains for the Sharks, but they had other plans.

Connor Dewar was sent off for hooking Klingberg at 5:39 and then former Shark defenseman Erik Karlsson was called for playing with a broken stick 75 seconds later to give the Sharks a brief 5-on-3 power play.

Klingberg converted with 6 seconds before Dewar's penalty expired. The Sharks defenseman collected a feed from Toffoli then hovered to a spot between the circles and snapped a shot under the crossbar to make it s 5-2 game.

William Eklund cut the Penguins lead to 2 goals when he converted at 14:19. The Sharks forward crashed the front of the net after Silovs made a stop Alex Wennberg with a circus save. The puck bounced off of a pair of bodies at the top of the crease before Eklund's hack attempt chipped the puck over Silov's legs and into the net.

Sharks head coach pulled Askarov with 3:45 to play still down by a pair of goals. Celebrini scored his 16th of the season with 2:27 to play to cut the lead to a single goal. That came moments after Rust clanked a wide open shot off the right post with the Sharks net empty.

Collin Graf worked the puck behind the back of the Penguins net and fed it to Toffoli along the left wing boards. Toffoli tee'd up the puck for Celebrini was above the left circle. Celebrini's 90 mile an hour shot caught the top right corner of the net to force Penguins head coach Dan use to call a timeout.

That proved moot as Toffoli tied the game 1:38 to play. Celebrini pumped a shot on net from the right dot, bouncing the puck off Silove. Wennberg tried to gather it, but it clipped his stick and slipped between his skates in the slot. Toffoli was Johnny on the spot to punch it home and improbably tie the game.

Game Notes:

* Philipp Kurashev was injured 8 minutes into the 2nd period when he lost an edge on a scoring chance in front of the net. The Sharks forward fell awkwardly into the end boards. Kurasev did not return to the game.

* Will Smith suffered what appeared to be a right arm or shoulder injury on the hit by Parker Wotherspoon. Smith did not return to the game. The Sharks were mum on the injury. Smith is considered day-to-day and will be re-evaluated when the Sharks return home.

* Macklin Celebrini had a goal and 2 assists to give him 47 points on the season. He trails Nathan MacKinnon by 6 points (53 points) and Connor McDavis by 4 points (51 points).

* Yaroslav Askarov returned to the lineup after missing the last 3 games after battling the flu. The Penguins didn't have any issues getting up close and personal with the Sharks goaltender. They made repeated contact with Askarov throughout the game.

* Per Darin Stephens, the Sharks overcoming the 4-goal deficit with 12:27 to play was the 5th latest comeback in NHL history.

* Tyler Toffoli finished with 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists), and Alex Wennberg added 3 assists.