San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Brent Burns scored twice during San Jose's four-goal third period as the Sharks extended their home dominance over Pittsburgh with a 5-3 win.
Joe Pavelski assisted on three San Jose goals and Antti Niemi stopped 19 Pittsburgh shots.
Rookie Olli Maatta had two goals for the Penguins, who are winless in their last 11 trips to San Jose (0-9-1 with a tie) since a 5-2 victory on Oct. 22, 1997.
Pittsburgh backup Jeff Zatkoff was tested often by the Sharks and finished with 42 saves on 46 shots.
However, Zatkoff fanned with the glove on Joe Thornton's tiebreaking goal. Thornton let a rather innocuous looking wrister go from just inside the blue line at the left point that eluded the netminder with 5:39 remaining.
Burns added an empty-netter in the waning seconds.
"We got physical and that just totally turned the game," Thornton said.
The Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Maatta and Chris Kunitz scored 1:12 apart in the first period.
San Jose got on the board late in the second period courtsey of Justin Braun's shot finding its way past a screened Zatkoff, but Pittsburgh had a chance to increase its lead on a four-minute power play early in the third period.
Instead, the Sharks pulled even as Patrick Marleau stickhandled around Evgeni Malkin and beat Zatkoff with a backhander for a short-handed goal at the 5:18 mark.
Maatta, however, scored 21 seconds later with the Penguins still on the man advantage.
Burns then tied things up at 6:52. Pavelski grabbed a loose puck in the right corner after board work by Thornton and dished out front to Burns, whose one- timer from the slot found the back of the net.
"We did a good job in the first half of the game and then made it easy for them in the second half of the game," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said.
Game Notes
The Sharks improved to 4-1-1 in a stretch that sees them play 12 consecutive games against Eastern Conference teams ... Pittsburgh dropped to 1-2-0 on its five-game road trip and has lost four of five overall.
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