Ben Kindel scored the lone goal in a shootout as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins edged the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Kindel, who also tallied in regulation, beat Yaroslav Askarov five-hole in the first round of the tiebreaker.
Samuel Girard had the other goal for the Penguins, who won for just the second time in seven games (2-4-1) and improved to 3-7-1 on the road this season.
Sergei Murashov made 34 saves in regulation and overtime, then wasn’t beaten in three shootout attempts during his first career appearance against the Sharks.
Macklin Celebrini scored and added an assist while Mason Marchment also tallied for the Sharks, who have lost six of seven (1-5-1) and dropped to 4-5-1 on home ice.
Askarov stopped 33 shots in regulation and overtime.
Trailing 2-0 in the third period, San Jose scored twice 4:07 apart to force overtime.
Celebrini got the Sharks on the board at 11:32, snapping a shot under Murashov’s glove. The Sharks captain, 20, became the 14th player in NHL history with 200 career points before turning 21.
Then at 15:49, Marchment tapped in a cross-ice feed from Celebrini for his fifth of the season and 100th of his career.
Kindel gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead on a power play at 3:28 of the third period, putting home the rebound off Erik Karlsson’s point shot.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring at 8:57 of the opening frame as Girard’s point shot got past a screened Askarov.
Evgeni Malkin had the primary assist on the goal, his 149th helper on a game-opening goal, tying him with Hall of Famer Henrik Sedin for the fourth most by a player born outside North America.
With the secondary assist, Kris Letang now has 816 career points, moving him one behind Victor Hedman for eighth most by a defenseman with a single NHL franchise.
Wednesday was the first of two meetings this season between the Penguins and Sharks, with the teams due to meet in Pittsburgh on Dec. 6. The clubs split a pair of games each of the past two seasons.
–Field Level Media
