Hertl’s strike helps San Jose extend run
The Sharks conclude a busy part of their schedule Sunday with a visit to Anaheim, marking their sixth game in nine nights. With another outing like the one it produced Saturday, San Jose could finish 5-1 during that stretch.
The Sharks put themselves in position to do so with a clean and efficient 2-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday at SAP Center.
“You just try to put your head down and get through it,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said of the schedule. “Another tough one (Sunday). It’s obviously testing your depth and your energy. But we know there’s a break right around the corner here, so we’ve got to keep plugging away.”
San Jose, which plays only twice in eight days after Sunday’s game, got a tie-breaking power-play goal from Tomas Hertl and 31 saves from goalie Aaron Dell against the Penguins.
“They’re always a real good team, real fast, and I think we handled it real well,” Dell said. “We didn’t give them a whole lot. We battled through and stuck with it.”
On the game-deciding sequence, Pittsburgh defenseman Jamie Oleksiak crosschecked Joonas Donskoi at 1:49 of the third period, and it didn’t take the hosts long to convert.
Joe Pavelski won the resulting offensive-zone draw clean to Brent Burns at the right point. The San Jose defenseman
wristed a drive that was touched by Pavelski and Hertl on to the pads of goalie Casey DeSmith before Hertl jumped on the loose puck and deposited his 13th goal past the Penguins rookie goalie just four seconds into the power play.
Dell will get the call again against the Ducks as starting goalie Martin Jones has been ruled out while nursing a lower-body injury.
“It’s what I’m here for,” said Dell, who improved to 11-3-2. “If they need me for three more games or if they need me for one more I’m just going to take it as it comes.”
The Sharks were especially sharp in the final 2:15 when Pittsburgh pulled its goalie in favor of an extra skater. The Penguins, who won five of their previous six but were playing for the third time in four nights, didn’t manage a shot while skating 6-on-5. San Jose also was 3-for-3 against Pittsburgh’s top-ranked power play.
“They’re a fast team, and they play fast,” DeBoer said. “But I think we did, too. It was a good hockey game, it had a playoff feel to it.”
The Sharks and Penguins went into the final period tied 1-1 with San Jose owning a slight edge on shots (25-24) in a game that was as close as those numbers would suggest.
The first two goals came with the teams skating 5-on-5 in the opening period.
The teams traded failed power plays before the Sharks struck late in the period.
San Jose scored on the rush at 17:44 when Timo Meier scored his 10th of the season. Pavelski threaded a long crossice pass from just inside the Pittsburgh blue line to Meier, who picked the far corner on DeSmith.
And now it’s on to Southern California where the Sharks take their 11-2-3 record against division opponents for one last game before they can take a breath.
“It’s been a lot of hockey,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said. “We’re a veteran team, and I think we realize it. … We’ve got another huge one tomorrow. Tonight doesn’t mean anything unless we perform tomorrow.” Roster move: Goalie Troy Grosenick was recalled from the American Hockey League to back up Dell with Jones sidelined.