Thursday, February 21, 2019 07:00 PM (ET)

Jones saves 26 as Sharks blank Penguins

Field Level Media
Aug 17, 2012

Goaltender Martin Jones made 26 saves, Tomas Hertl scored twice and the visiting San Jose Sharks rode their special teams to a 4-0 win Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Hertl's goals came on power plays, and Evander Kane scored short-handed. Brent Burns had a power-play goal and two assists. Kevin Labanc also had two assists.

Jones, who picked up his 29th win, earned his 21st career shutout -- first against the Penguins -- and second this season.

San Jose, which was kicking off a four-game road trip, is 8-1-1 in its past 10 games.

Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 29 saves for Pittsburgh, which had won four of its previous five.

The teams got into a large scrum with 4:36 left in regulation. One of the results was Penguins coach Mike Sullivan being ejected.

The Penguins had several key chances that were thwarted. Among them were a shorthanded breakaway by Matt Cullen when the puck rolled off his stick and a breakaway for Evgeni Malkin coming out of the penalty box, but he was stopped by Jones.

Pittsburgh captain and leading scorer Sidney Crosby had his six-game point streak halted.

After Pittsburgh's Jack Johnson tripped Joonas Donskoi, San Jose capitalized with Hertl's first goal 57 seconds into the first. From a sharp angle, he lifted a rebound of Burns' heavy shot over DeSmith, who was tangled with teammate Kris Letang.

Kane took advantage of a Penguins turnover in the neutral zone for a short-handed breakaway and deposited the puck between DeSmith's pads for a 2-0 lead at 10:01 of the first.

It was the NHL-worst 13th short-handed goal allowed by the Penguins.

With another power play, courtesy of Zach Aston-Reese tripping Kane, the Sharks boosted their lead to 3-0. Hertl notched his second of the game, 28th of the season, at 13:19 of the first when he finished off a low-zone, tic-tac-toe sequence by tapping the puck into a gaping net after DeSmith slid to his right.

Burns made it 4-0 with 3:09 left in regulation with a five-on-three power-play goal.

--Field Level Media

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