Hertl scores twice, Sharks shut out Penguins

PITTSBURGH --Martin Jones made 26 saves, and Tomas Hertl scored two goals for the San Jose Sharks in a 4-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

The shutout was Jones' second of the season and 21st in the NHL. He allowed six goals on 20 shots in his previous start, a 6-5 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday.
"It was a really solid game, start to finish, for us," Jones said. "So a couple big goals on the power play. The penalty kill was really, really good for us. In the third, we were really solid defensively. So that was huge."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Penguins highlights]
Brent Burns had a goal and two assists, Evander Kane scored, and Kevin Labanc had two assists for the Sharks (36-17-8), who scored four goals on special teams and are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games. San Jose is one point behind the Calgary Flames for first place in the Western Conference.

Casey DeSmith made 29 saves for the Penguins (32-22-7), who had won four of their previous five games and lead the Carolina Hurricanes by one point for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"It's hard to win," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "You're going to have nights where it's going to go your way. You're going to have nights, like tonight, where it doesn't go your way. The most important thing is that we respond the right way to those situations."

Hertl put San Jose ahead 1-0 at 1:44 of the first period on a power play, collecting a rebound off a slap shot from Burns and scoring on a wrist shot from below the left circle.
Kane made it 2-0 on a shorthanded breakaway at 10:01. After Burns poked the puck away from Phil Kessel, Kane skated into the Penguins zone and scored on a shot that went off DeSmith's stick and under his right arm.

It was Pittsburgh's NHL-leading 13th shorthanded goal allowed this season.
"To me, [shorthanded goals] don't really feel different," DeSmith said. "I was pretty happy with the play I made on it. I was kind of all over it and it just ramped up my stick and under my arm, and then off my knob and in, or something crazy. ... Obviously, I want to have those for the power-play guys and not give up those shorthanded goals in a game like that when we need the save."
Hertl scored his second power-play goal of the first period to extend the lead to 3-0 at 13:19. Joe Pavelski passed to Labanc, who quickly sent a pass off Penguins forward Matt Cullen to Hertl above the crease.
"[The Penguins] are a really tough team," said Hertl, who has scored nine goals in his past 10 games. "I'm just happy that we won. We just started a road trip, and it was a huge game for us. We need this game before we have the three tough games coming up."
Burns made it 4-0 with a one-timer on a 5-on-3 with 3:09 remaining in the third period.

They said it

"It was a good road win for us. It was a tough building against a tough team. We haven't had a lot of success in here. So we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game and we wanted to get this critical road trip, for us, off on the right foot." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"We gave up one in the first minute there and they scored another couple quick ones. We were down pretty early, but we still had some chances to get back in it through the second and the third. Unfortunately, we didn't get that first one to get us going and get us back in it." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

Need to know

San Jose outscored Pittsburgh 9-2 in its two games this season (both wins). ... Hertl has scored five goals in two games against the Penguins this season. ... Sharks forward Micheal Haley played 8:28 as fourth-line center after being claimed off waivers from the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. He played three seasons with San Jose from 2014-17. ... Burns has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in his past 11 games. ... Cullen played his 1,495th NHL game, tying Phil Housley for the third most games played by a U.S.-born player. Chris Chelios (1,651) and Mike Modano (1,499) are the only players who have played in more. ... Sullivan removed Patric Hornqvist and Kessel from the top unit on Pittsburgh's second power play, replacing them with forward Jake Guentzel and defenseman Justin Schultz. He did not say if Guentzel and Schultz would remain there moving forward. ... Crosby's point streak ended at six games.

What's next

Sharks:At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (5 p.m. ET; FS-O, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Penguins:At the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, SN360, SN1, TVAS2)