Game Recap: Penguins 6, Sharks 3

PITTSBURGH -- John Ludvig had a goal and an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored three third-period goals to end a four-game skid with a 6-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

Ludvig and Rickard Rakell broke a tie with goals 2:00 apart early in the third. Ludvig, who also had an assist, gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead at 2:38 with a wrist shot through traffic from the point, and Rakell tipped in a one-timer from Pierre-Olivier Joseph with his skate to make it 5-3 at 4:38.

Bryan Rust scored an empty-net goal on Pittsburgh's fourth shot of the period for the 6-3 final at 18:04.

Drew O'Connor and Joseph each had two assists for the Penguins (29-27-9), who were outscored 17-2 during the losing streak (0-3-1). Tristan Jarry made 29 saves.

“The reality is we’re still in it,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think that’s the conversation that we’ve had with the group almost daily. We’ve got to control what we can. We’ve got to stay in the race. We’ve just got to keep fighting, control that one game in front of us, and see where it takes us.

“I believe it’s not insurmountable. I believe we have what it takes to continue to push and give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs.”

Klim Kostin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic each had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Granlund had two assists for the Sharks (16-42-7), who have lost 11 of 12 and were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention on Tuesday. Magnus Chrona made 25 saves.

“I thought we were a little slow reacting defensively tonight, but I just loved our compete,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we really battled hard. It's unfortunate we weren't able to defend a little bit better around our net in those instances in the third period. Maybe it was fatigue."

Noel Acciari put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 10:28 of the first period, deflecting a point shot from Erik Karlsson. He had one assist during a 21-game goal drought since last scoring on Dec. 31.

Fabian Zetterlund tied it 1-1 at 14:31 on a rebound from just outside the crease off a shot from Calen Addison. It was Zetterlund’s NHL career-high 17th goal of the season.

Vlasic gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 19:01 when he flicked a sharp angle shot on goal, which rebounded in off the knee of Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. It was his first goal since scoring in three straight games from Jan. 27-31.

“We were a little bit careless with the puck and didn’t pressure as much as we should have,” Rakell said. “We didn’t have the start that we wanted. Hopefully, we can correct that for the next game.”

Jeff Carter tied it 2-2 at 4:11 of the second period, tapping in a backhand pass from Emil Bemstrom, who circled the net before passing cross-crease to Carter.

Evgeni Malkin put the Penguins back in front 3-2 at 11:34, backhanding a rebound from an O’Connor shot in off the inside of Chrona’s pad from behind the goal line.

“It’s obviously been a struggle to score goals the last few,” O’Connor said. “So, to score six, I think, feels pretty good. But just feels good to get back in the win column, I think.”

Kostin tied it 3-3 at 18:42 with a one-timer in the slot off a backhand pass from Granlund. The goal was Kostin’s first in three games since being acquired in a trade from the Detroit Red Wings on March 8.

"There's been a lot of these games where we go to the third period tied, and then they get their goal or two goals, and we're behind,” Granlund said. “There are a lot of things we can grow at. We would like to get the better result.”

The Sharks also entered the third period tied in a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

"I thought our mindset was pretty good from the start of the period,” San Jose defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “Just an unfortunate two goals that they had early that made us have to chase the game."

NOTES: Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who had the secondary assist on Rust’s goal, has five assists during a 10-game goal drought. He leads Pittsburgh with 32 goals in 65 games. ... Karlsson has the most points among all defensemen on a new team this season (45). … The Sharks used 13 forwards and five defensemen with defenseman Jacob MacDonald out because of an undisclosed illness. ... San Jose did not score on two power plays, ending a streak of five straight games with a power-play goal (8-for-16).