Couture has 5 points, Sharks defeat Penguins to end 4-game skid

PITTSBURGH -- Logan Couture had an NHL career-high five points, including scoring the go-ahead goal with 4:25 remaining in the third period, for the San Jose Sharks in a 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG paints Arena on Saturday.

Couture, who finished with two goals and three assists, gave San Jose a 5-4 lead with a wrist shot that trickled through Casey DeSmith after Alexander Barabanov passed back to him on a 2-on-1.
Couture then scored an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining for the 6-4 final.
"It's nice to see the puck going in," Couture said. "Pucks just found the back of the net for us tonight. … We've lost a lot of heartbreakers this year, so it's good to see one go our way."

Barabanov had a goal and two assists, and Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (15-25-11), who had lost four in a row (0-2-2). Kaapo Kahkonen made 37 saves.
Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist, Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and DeSmith made 26 saves for the Penguins (24-16-9), who had their six-game point streak end (3-0-3).
"It's frustrating when we beat ourselves because we don't manage the puck appropriately in the critical areas of the rink," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "When you look at some of the goals they scored tonight, it was a direct result of that."
Michael Eyssimont put San Jose ahead 1-0 at 1:25 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from the slot off a backhand pass from Couture from behind the net.
Malkin tied it 1-1 on a power play at 5:45. After a shot by Crosby was blocked in front, Rickard Rakell collected the puck and passed to Malkin for a tap-in at the right post.
"There are 33 games left, every game is important," Malkin said. "We want to play in the playoffs."

Crosby gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 12:55 with another power-play goal, deflecting a shot from Malkin off the left post before batting it in out of the air.
"We've got to be better," Crosby said. "We've got to find a way to solve it. … Some nights, I think, maybe we're forcing things. Other nights, we make a mental mistake. It's not consistently the same thing. All those add up and end up in the back of our net. So we've got to solve it."
Karlsson tied it 2-2 at 19:53, tapping in a pass from Barabanov, and Noah Gregor put the Sharks back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the second period with a wrist shot off a rebound.
"A lot of back-and-forth," Gregor said. "We did a good job to stay in the game all night and get the lead late there, so it was a great win."
Ryan Poehling tied it 3-3 at 14:54 with a short-handed goal. He scored five-hole with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 for his first goal since Nov. 25 (14 games).
Barabanov responded for San Jose to make it 4-3 at 17:07 before Malkin tied it 4-4 at 10:06 of the third period.
"No one's been kicked in the gut more than us this year," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "To dust ourselves off and come in here and show up the way we did tonight, I couldn't be more proud of our group."

NOTES: San Jose and Pittsburgh were each playing its final game before the All-Star break. ... Crosby has 1,469 points (541 goals, 928 assists) in 1,157 NHL games, passing Stan Mikita (1,467 points in 1,396 games) for 15th in NHL history. ... Karlsson has 50 assists in 51 games this season, the fewest needed by a defenseman to reach the mark since Sergei Zubov (49 games) in 1993-94 with the New York Rangers. … Sharks forward Kevin Labanc was a healthy scratch. … San Jose forward Nico Sturm left after taking a hit from Pittsburgh forward Jason Zucker at 13:06 of the third. There was no update postgame.