SHarks drop 2-1 decision in OT to Pens

Posted on by

In San Jose, Louis Domingue made 40 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins clipped the Sharks, 2-1, extra time, on Saturday.

“It was how I visualized it. It was a long time coming,” Domingue said. “Ever since camp, I was prepared for this moment. I saw an opportunity and you either take it or you don’t. I thought tonight I came in focused, and we played until the last whistle.”

Jake Guentzel scored 37 seconds into the extra session for the game-winner.

“I knew we didn’t like the first 40 [minutes] so I think we needed to get some emotion out of the bench and play a little harder and just keep it simple,” Guentzel said. “That’s when we know we’re at our best. We did it in the third, we kept it simple and got on the forecheck and created some turnovers.”

The Penguins improved to 22-10-5.

“Give San Jose credit, they played really hard, but we didn’t play the type of game that we’re capable of in the first 40 minutes,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought the last 20 was a step in the right direction. We certainly played better, and obviously Sid and Jake made a great play in the overtime, but I think that was the difference.”

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead in the first period off a strike from Rudolfs Balcers.

“We did some good things, but the only thing we didn’t do was score,” San Jose head coach Bob Boughner said. “A lot of our guys are snakebit. We had guys in front of the net but we’re not putting them in. We had 41 shots, tried to make it hard on their goalie, just not a lot of puck luck.”

San Jose fell to the Sharks 20-17-2.

“We had a lot of good chances,” San Jose’s Logan Couture said. “I liked our game. If we continue to play this [type of] game, you’re going to win more than you’re going to lose.”

Kris Letang tied the game midway through the opening stanza.

Adin Hill made 25 saves in the loss.

“We have to stay positive,” the Sharks’ Mario Ferraro said. “We played a really good game tonight. There will always be struggles to put the puck in. We’ll obviously study on ways to improve.”