PITTSBURGH—Rookie John Ludvig scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an assist Thursday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the visiting San Jose Sharks 6–3 at PPG Paints Arena.
Noel Acciari, Jeff Carter, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust also scored, and Drew O'Connor and Pierre-Olivier Joseph each had two assists for the Penguins, who had gone 0–3–1 in their previous four games. Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 30 saves.
Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Klim Kostin each had a goal and an assist, Fabian Zetterlund also scored, and Mikael Granlund added two assists for the Sharks, who are on a 1–9–2 slide. Rookie San Jose goaltender Magnus Chrona made 25 saves.
Acciari gave the Penguins a 1–0 lead at 10:28 of the first period. From the low slot, he tipped in a shot by former Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson. Less than a minute later, Rust swatted in a loose puck in the crease, but it was ruled no goal because the whistle had blown.
Zetterlund tied it 1–1 with his team-leading 17th goal at 14:31 of the first. With 59 seconds left in the opening period, Vlasic gave the Sharks a 2–1 lead with a fluky goal. He directed the puck to the front of the net from the left corner, and it deflected in off Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson.
Carter tied it 2–2 at 4:11 of the second off a rebound of Emil Bemstrom’s wraparound attempt. Pittsburgh took a 3–2 lead at 11:34 of the second. Malkin, from near the right post, converted a rebound off Chrona’s pads.
With 2:53 left in the second, San Jose’s Alex Barabanov deflected the puck in, but it was ruled no goal because he had struck the puck with a high stick. Kostin got his first goal with the Sharks to tie it 3–3 with 1:18 left in the second on a one-timer from the low slot.
At 2:38 of the third, Ludvig scored on a screened shot from the left point to give Pittsburgh a 4–3 lead. Two minutes later, the Penguins went up 5–3 when Joseph’s shot went in off Rakell’s skate. Rust added an empty-net goal with 1:56 left.
