Pittsburgh Penguins

Hertl's goal leads Sharks past Penguins 2-1

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith (1) reaches for the puck under defenseman Matt Hunwick (22) and San Jose Sharks center Chris Tierney (50) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Tomas Hertl scored a tiebreaking, power-play goal early in the third period and Aaron Dell made 31 saves to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

Timo Meier also scored and Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns added two assists each to help the Sharks win for the fourth time in five games. Dell did the rest to improve to 8-0-1 in his last nine starts.

Conor Sheary scored the lone goal for the Penguins, who had won five of their previous six games.

Casey DeSmith made 34 saves, including robbing Kevin Labanc on a breakaway in the third to keep Pittsburgh within a goal.

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In a rematch of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals won by Pittsburgh, the game was played with good pace and both teams had chances. But it took until a power play early in the third for the Sharks to finally take the lead.

Just four seconds after Jamie Oleksiak was sent to the box for cross-checking, San Jose capitalized by scoring a power-play goal in its 10th consecutive home game.

Pavelski won the faceoff from Riley Sheahan back to Burns at the point. Burns then took a shot that was deflected to Pavelski and saved by DeSmith. But Hertl was left alone in front and knocked in the rebound for his 13th goal of the season.

The Penguins started fast and got the first goal when Dominik Simon played the puck behind the net to Sheary, who scored. Sidney Crosby got the secondary assist, extending his point streak to a season-high seven straight games.

But the Sharks took over shortly after that and got 11 straight shots on goal, tying the game when Meier scored his 10th of the season off a cross-ice pass from Pavelski.

 

Associated Press

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