Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each scored a goal and added an assist, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-0 win over the host San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.
Anthony Mantha also scored for the Penguins, who have won back-to-back games and improved to 4-2-0 to start the season.
Tristan Jarry made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season and improved to 2-1-0 in three games this season.
Alex Nedeljkovic, who spent parts of two seasons in the Penguins’ crease, stopped 24 shots and dropped to 0-2-1 with the loss.
San Jose remains the only team without a win this season.
Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead at 7:02 of the third period as Mantha snapped a Justin Brazeau pass high blocker side past Nedeljkovic for his second of the season.
Malkin added an empty-netter with 22 seconds remaining in the third period.
With his goal and assist, the 39-year-old has two goals and seven assists through the first six games of the season. The two-point night also moved Malkin (1,355 points) past Brendan Shanahan for No. 28 on the NHL’s all-time points list.
Crosby opened the scoring at 7:35 of the middle frame as the Penguins captain deflected a Kris Letang point shot past Nedeljkovic for his third of the season. The goal extends Crosby’s point streak to three games (two goals, two assists).
For Letang, it was career assist No. 598. The Penguins defenseman has assisted on 125 of Crosby’s goals over their 20 seasons playing together.
Letang nearly got the Penguins on the board five minutes into the second period as his blast from the point got past Nedeljkovic but rang off the crossbar.
Pittsburgh outshot San Jose 18-11 in a scoreless first period.
Saturday was the first of two meetings between the clubs. San Jose next visits Pittsburgh on Dec. 13.
–Field Level Media
