Penguins score 10, defeat Sharks in Karlsson's return to San Jose

SAN JOSE -- Erik Karlsson had two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who handed the San Jose Sharks their 11th straight loss with a 10-2 win at SAP Center on Saturday.

Karlsson, who played the previous five seasons with the Sharks, was playing his first game in San Jose since he was acquired by Pittsburgh on Aug. 6. The defenseman had 243 points (52 goals, 191 assists) in 293 games with the Sharks, including 101 last season, when he won the Norris Trophy for the third time (also 2012, 2015).

"It means something a little extra as a player when you come back and play your former team. There’s always something special about it," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

Reilly Smith and Jake Guentzel each had two goals and two assists, Bryan Rust had a goal and three assists, and Evgeni Malkin scored twice for the Penguins (4-6-0), who had lost two straight. Tristan Jarry made 24 saves, and Sidney Crosby had an assist in his 1,200th NHL game.

"We’re trying to put a game on the ice that gives us a chance to win every night," Sullivan said. "I've said on a number of occasions here in the last little while, we felt like we’ve put stretches of games together where we think we've played well and we haven't got rewarded for it. Tonight, we did."

Anthony Duclair and Jacob MacDonald each had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Hertl had two assists for the Sharks (0-10-1), who are off to the second-worst start in NHL history (the 1943-44 New York Rangers started 0-14 with one tie).

"We've got to look in the mirror," Sharks center Mikael Granlund said. "This is the truth, this is where we are right now. So let's get back to it and try to be better."

Mackenzie Blackwood allowed six goals on 18 shots before being replaced by Magnus Chrona, who allowed four goals on 17 shots in his NHL debut.

"We're all trying to make a difference individually and we're getting away from the game plan in doing so," Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. "That happened a couple of times again tonight, myself included. We just step away from the game plan and it hurts us. We're all trying to make a difference, we're trying to turn this around, but it's too much at times."

Smith gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 1:30 of the first period, scoring through traffice off a cross-ice pass from Karlsson on a power play.

Smith then made it 2-0 with a wrist shot at 12:55.

Guetzel pushed it to 3-0 at 3:21 of the second period before Vinnie Hinostroza made it 4-0 at 4:26.

"I liked our first period, and then all of a sudden we became a different team," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "That's what happened in the game. They kept playing the same way. We give up the third goal and we're a fragile group."

Duclair cut it to 4-1 at 8:34 with a slap shot on a power play, but Malkin extended the lead to 5-1 at 9:12.

Kris Letang made it 6-1 at 9:27. He finished a backhand into an open net after Crosby dropped him the puck on a partial breakaway.

"We're losing way too many battles and it's way too easy for the opposing team coming in here," Duclair said. "I think our battle level is just nonexistent sometimes, and it's costing us."

Matt Nieto made it 7-1 at 11:53 when he scored on a rebound on a 3-on-1. The former Sharks forward signed a two-year contract with the Penguins as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Rust scored 49 seconds into the third period with a backhand to make it 8-1.

MacDonald made it 8-2 at 9:20 with a power-play goal.

Malkin scored his own power-play goal to make it 9-2 at 11:02 before Guentzel scored at 12:10 for the 10-2 final.

"Felt good to get a win," Rust said. "I don't think we like where we are [in the standings] this early in the season. We don't like our record, don’t like some of the results. So we knew that we had to come out here tonight, try and get the win."