The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday at SAP Center at San Jose after Ben Kindel scored the only goal in the tiebreaker.
Pittsburgh grabbed the opening lead at 8:57 of the first period when Samuel Girard beat Yaroslav Askarov with a slap shot off assists from Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. After a scoreless second period, Kindel doubled the Penguins advantage to 2-0 at 3:28 of the third period by scoring a power-play wrist shot assisted by Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson.
The Sharks mounted a third-period push to force extra time. Macklin Celebrini put San Jose on the board with a wrist shot at 11:32 following setup work from Michael Kesselring and Will Smith. Mason Marchment tied the game 2-2 at 15:49 with another wrist shot, assisted by Celebrini and Sam Dickinson. In the shootout, Kindel converted in the first round while Sergei Murashov stopped Celebrini, Ivar Stenberg, and Smith to secure the win.
Murashov stopped 34 of 36 shots across regulation and overtime before turning aside all three attempts in the shootout. Askarov made 33 saves on 35 shots in the loss. Pittsburgh scored on one of its three power-play chances, while the Penguins penalty kill turned away all five San Jose opportunities.
The victory moved Pittsburgh to a 7-10-2 record on the season and gave them a 1-0-0 mark against San Jose. The Sharks dropped to 8-11-2 after taking the shootout loss.
Both teams return to the ice on Saturday, November 14. The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Ottawa Senators, while the San Jose Sharks visit the Utah Mammoth.
