Penguins outlast Sharks in overtime

The Penguins wanted to see staunch improvements in their defensive play on Saturday.

And sure enough, they did.

Battling the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., they saw a drop in the total amount of shots allowed from their previous game.

Two nights after yielding a season-worst 45 shots against, the Penguins found a way to reduce that number.

By four.

Despite allowing 41 shots to the Sharks — their second-worst total of the 2021-22 campaign — the Penguins were able to escape with a 2-1 overtime victory while being outplayed for most of the contest.

Forward Jake Guentzel scored his 19th goal of the season in overtime to give the Penguins the improbable victory.

“I just don’t think collectively we’re playing as a five-man unit,” Guentzel said to media in San Jose. “I don’t think we were in sync very much. When we’re at our best, we’re playing as a group of five, we’re getting up in the rush and defending hard. For us, we’ve got to get back to playing that way. …

“We know we have better.”

It would be difficult to ask their goaltender to be much better.

Journeyman Louis Domingue, who made his Penguins debut and appeared in his first NHL game since May 18, was stout as he made 40 saves and earned his first NHL victory since Jan. 12, 2020.

“He was terrific,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He made a lot of timely saves for us. He kept us in the game. That first 40 minutes, I don’t think we were at our best. We got outplayed. Louis made some big saves for us.”

The Sharks thoroughly outplayed the Penguins during the first two periods. While the game was tied 1-1 after two frames, the Penguins were outshot, 28-12.

In some ways, it felt like an extension of the Penguins’ ugly 6-2 road loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

“We definitely didn’t like the way (the game against the Kings) went,” Guentzel said. “We definitely wanted to respond a little better than that. It happens. It’s a long season. They’re going to happen in these 82-game seasons.”

The Sharks struck first 7:01 into regulation. From the center point of the offensive zone, Sharks forward Timo Meier spun backward and backhanded a bank pass off the right half wall. Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson spun forward and whacked a one-timer pass to the left of the crease, where forward Rudolfs Balcers tapped the puck past Domingue’s glove on the near side for his third goal of the season. Karlsson and Meier had assists.

A strong individual effort by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang tied the game 1-1 at 10:56 of the first period. After winning a puck battle against Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro in the neutral zone, Guentzel fed a pass to the left wing for Letang streaking into the offensive zone. Facing minimal resistance, Letang scooted in on net and lifted a subtle backhander past goaltender Adin Hill’s blocker for his second goal. Guentzel and forward Teddy Blueger collected assists.

The Penguins got into penalty trouble beginning late in the second period when Guentzel was assessed a double-minor penalty at the 18:50 mark.

After holding off the Sharks to close the second, they faced 2:50 of penalty kill time to open the third on fresh ice. They met that daunting task by actually outshooting the Sharks, 2-1, during that span.

Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson didn’t help matters when he took a pair of minor penalties in the third period. First, he was sent to the penalty box for interference at the 9:58 mark then he earned a return trip to the terrarium of iniquity at 14:36 for cross checking.

During those final two power-play chances, the Sharks could only muster five shots thanks to the efforts of penalty-killing forwards Teddy Blueger, Brian Boyle, Brock McGinn and Jeff Carter as well as defensemen Brian Dumoulin, John Marino, Chad Ruhwedel and Letang.

“Disrupting their breakouts was something that we wanted to do,” Domingue said. “You saw our team work up ice and get in their kitchen a little bit. That took some time off the clock. After that, we just battled. We battled and executed what we wanted to do. We were good. We blocked shots. We were hungry on rebounds. Another key of the game was to own both net-fronts. We did a good job on the (penalty kill) of doing that for sure.”

Guentzel and Crosby did a pretty good job in overtime on the winning score.

Controlling play behind his own net, Letang allowed his team make a line change then snapped a stretch pass to the far blue line for Crosby. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Crosby cut across the slot, gained a step on Sharks defenseman Brent Burns and centered a pass to the top of the crease. Guentzel established position on Timo Meier and tapped in an easy forehand shot to give his team a win that it needed more than it earned.

“Obviously just a great play by Sid to find me,” Guentzel said. “I just tried to stay around the net. It’s pretty easy after that when he makes that kind of play.”

The Penguins will conclude their six-game road trip with contest against the Vegas Golden Knights — in first place of the Pacific Division — on Monday.

They realize they’ll need to play better than they did against the unremarkable Sharks, even in victory.

“We’re spending a little bit too much time in our own end,” Crosby said. “We’re not drawing a lot of penalties. We’re not creating a lot that way. Our power play has got to be a lot better. I wouldn’t say it’s one specific thing. It’s just the urgency and us finding ways to create pressure consistently hasn’t been there.”

Notes: This was the Penguins’ first-ever regular season overtime win against the Sharks. In the postseason, they beat San Jose in overtime in Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final on a Conor Sheary goal. … McGinn returned to the lineup after missing three games while in the NHL’s protocols for covid-19. Primarily deployed on the third line, McGinn logged 16:46 of ice time on 24 shifts and recorded three shots on four attempts. … Letang (614 points) surprassed former forward Ron Francis (613) for sixth place on the franchise’s career scoring list. … Domingue became the first right-catching goaltender to play in a game for the Penguins since Tomas Vokoun during the 2013 postseason. … Domingue also became the first player in franchise history to wear No. 70 in a regular season or postseason game. … The Penguins’ scratches were forward Kasper Bjorkqvist and defenseman Mark Friedman.