SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The eyes of the hockey world fell upon the SAP Center for a much-anticipated rematch of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final and, possibly, a preview of the 2018 Final.
If Tuesday night was any indication, the Penguins should hope not.
The Sharks became the third team to beat them since the Christmas break and the second in a row in this third game of a season-long, five-game road trip. But the Sharks are the first to do so emphatically.
Really, the 5-2 final score doesn't even begin to do justice to the carnage and neither does the 60-40 advantage in Corsi For percentage. Perhaps more tellingly, the Penguins gave up a dozen high-danger chances to San Jose giving up just four. That, folks, is not a recipe for success. Three of those chances ended up behind Matt Murray, who saw his career-best nine-game winning streak come to an end.
"They were on their game tonight, you have to give them some credit," said Murray, who stopped 24 of 28 shots to suffer his first loss in regulation at San Jose. "I thought they outplayed us all game, especially the net front. That's such a key part of their game and they were just harder than us tonight."
You'll note that last part about the Penguins' performance. Yep, the part about the "net front" and not being "harder." That was the biggest takeaway in what was supposed to be a measuring stick game. In that area of the ice, the hashmarks and below, the Penguins didn't measure up.
That is what made Tuesday's loss so maddening. Long before Erik Karlsson came West, the Sharks have been a team that works the puck high to low and gets bodies in front of the net for rebounds and tips. Mike Sullivan said it had even been a point of emphasis for his team before the game.
Apparently, that message got lost somewhere in translation.
Example A was the Sharks' first goal by Marcus Sorensen at the 12:00 minute mark of the first period, less than two minutes after Kris Letang gave the Penguins the early lead with a highlight reel goal for the ages:
That's Riley Sheahan failing to get a clear and Sorensen capitalizing by getting a piece of Karlsson's wrist shot. You'll notice that Sorensen is all alone with Olli Maatta and Jack Johnson getting caught flat-footed.
Example B was the Sharks' second goal by Tomas Hertl, the first of his three on Tuesday, just 2:05 later on successive shots:
It's a great finish to be sure, but that above was Evgeni Malkin getting bounced in the corner and then Johnson getting walked by Hertl, who beat Murray high to the blocker side. You'll also notice that Evander Kane manhandled Marcus Pettersson on the forecheck and then again to get position in front of the net to set up a screen.
"We didn't play hard enough all over the ice and in front of our net," Pettersson was telling me. "We stood around and watched them make some passes and everything. We didn't play hard."
No argument here.
However, the game was still within reach with the Penguins trailing 3-1 to start the third. Hertl effectively put an end to that though just 2:06 into the period. Example C:
After Malkin lost a face-off to Joonas Donskoi, the Sharks worked the puck over to Justin Braun at the top of the right circle, where he fired a half-slapper on goal. Murray, in his only real mistake of the game, kicked the rebound out in front to Hertl, who banged it home after Pettersson failed to pick him up
It was a particularly rough night -- a rare one -- for the 177-pound, 22-year-old Pettersson, who had his struggles in the bigger Western Conference while with the Ducks.
If it's any consolation for the Penguins, their loss to the Sharks is hardly unique. It was the Sharks' seventh straight win and there's a reason why they are considered the best team going in the NHL today. They have averaged 4.57 goals per game over their current run and probably could have had seven or eight on Tuesday.
But it does underscore the fact that the Penguins' defense corps -- which should soon welcome back Justin Schultz -- isn't the biggest or most physical regardless of who's in the lineup. But they still have to defend better than they did here.
"We didn't make it hard on them," Matt Cullen was telling me. "We didn't play together well. We didn't attack on the forecheck and spend time in their end. (The Sharks) probably walk away feeling that was a pretty easy game and that's not how we play in order to be successful. We know that and there's no reason for that."
With two more games remaining before the bye week, the Penguins will likely need to win Friday night's game against the Coyotes to salvage this Western trip because it won't get any easier Saturday night in Las Vegas. While the Sharks have the NHL's second-best home record (38 points), Marc Andre Fleury and the Golden Knights have the sixth (33 points).
Sullivan said he isn't overly concerned about his team's two-game slide, their first since Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, but Cullen said the Penguins need to nip it in the bud with the red-hot Islanders and Blue Jackets now moving past them in the Metropolitan Division race.
"It's easy to go either way in this game," the sage, 42-year-old was saying. "We didn't have enough tonight and didn't have enough last game (vs. the Kings) to deserve to win. We know that. We don't have a reason why but we're going to find it and get back to our game."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. TOMAS HERTL
Sharks center
Notched his second career hat trick and first since Oct. 8, 2013, against the Rangers.
2. BRANDEN DILLON
Sharks defenseman
While Karlsson and Brent Burns got all the pre-game buzz, it was Karlsson's defense partner who had two assists.
3. JOE THORNTON
Sharks center
On the night that San Jose paid tribute to Jumbo Joe's 1,000th game with the Sharks, he scored his 10th of the season at 3:39 of the second to the delight of the 17,292 on hand. It's the 18th time the future Hall of Famer has scored 10-plus in a season.
THE INJURIES
• Schultz, defenseman, has been out since Oct. 13 with a fractured leg, but is close to returning. He skated in a red non-contact jersey as Tuesday's skate was winding down. He will need to participate in a full team practice before being cleared.
• Patric Hornqvist, right winger, is out indefinitely with a concussion. He didn’t accompany the team on the trip.
• Zach Aston-Reese, right winger, is out indefinitely with a broken left hand, but he did skate Tuesday morning in sweats to keep up his cardio.
THE GOOD
Man, you'd really have to dig to find many positives from this one but Derick Brassard's late third-period goal, which made it 4-2, is at least something to cling to.
With trade rumors sure to pick up between now and the end of next month, Brassard did himself a favor by scoring his eighth of the season after hitting the crossbar earlier in the period.
With Murray at the bench to give the Penguins a sixth skater, Brassard fired a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Martin Jones, who stopped 22 of 24 shots:
It was Brassard's only shot of the game. He has two or fewer shots in 17 of the last 18 games.
"I thought he had his moments," Sullivan said. "Hopefully, it'll be a boost of confidence for him."
Think we've heard that line before about No. 19 from the coach. It was Brassard's first goal since Jan. 6 and fourth since Dec. 27.
THE BAD
Just when you thought Malkin had turned his game around since the start of 2019 by picking up a point in six straight games, he took a step back Tuesday.
Malkin was not only shutout -- after having nine points (five goals) in his last four games against the Sharks -- he was just as bad as the ice at the SAP Center, which seemed to be giving him fits.
In addition to getting blown up by Hertl on San Jose's first goal, Malkin fell down a few times and seemed out of sorts with the puck.
During the Penguins' first power play, one of just two chances with the man-advantage, he simply lost the puck in his skates and then threw a pass that Karlsson intercepted and cleared down the ice:
The NHL's fifth-ranked power play went 0-for-2 and mustered just two shots. It had been 2-for-7 through the first two games of the trip.
THE PLAY
Letang's masterpiece. That's so good, it's worthy of my Drive to the Net.
THE CALL
In case of emergency, you break the glass.
After Thornton's goal put the Penguins down 3-1, that's what Sullivan did by mixing and matching his second and third lines. That meant reuniting Malkin and Kessel on the second line with Sheahan and the third line then had Brassard between Tanner Pearson and Dominik Simon.
Though Brassard did score late (with an extra attacker), the moves didn't provide the necessary spark.
"Obviously, it was one of those games," Kessel said. "We have to move on and refocus for the next game."
THE OTHER SIDE
From the rafters of the SAP Center hangs a banner declaring the Sharks as the 2015-16 Western Conference champions. It's still a sore subject in these parts, as those Sharks were favorites to win that series and were supposed to bring the first Stanley Cup to Northern California.
That didn't happen, of course, in part to the Penguins' speed game and transition.
Well, the Sharks -- like a lot of the NHL -- are catching up. These Sharks are even more physical with the addition of Evander Kane and are faster with the addition of Karlsson. That was fairly evident during Tuesday night's one-sided showdown against the Penguins.
By winning their eighth in a row, they are now 14-2-2 in the past 18 games.
"We're a confident group," said Kane, who had three assists. "We feel if we show up to play and play our best game we have a good chance to win every night. We're confident in that. This is how you continue to climb in the standings. You put wins together consecutively. We need to continue to do that because it's real tight right now."
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are off Wednesday. They will practice Thursday afternoon (4:15 p.m. ET) in Glendale, Ariz., in preparation for their game with the Coyotes the following night.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.