Sidney Crosby Is Held Pointless, but the Penguins Edge the Sharks 3-2 in a Shootout as Macklin Celebrini Leads the Comeback
Crosby took seven shots without a point in 20:18. Celebrini scored one goal and set up the tying one — and San Jose still lost the shootout 1-0.
SAN JOSE — The two most-searched hockey names in America this morning played the same game Wednesday night, and the box score split them cleanly. Sidney Crosby — the No. 2 trending search in the country — was held without a point, while Macklin Celebrini, the No. 4 search, scored a goal and set up the tying one. Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins still won, 3-2, in a shootout at the SAP Center.
Pittsburgh built the lead its stars usually protect: Samuel Girard opened the scoring at 8:57 of the first period from Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, and after a scoreless second Ben Kindel doubled it on the power play at 3:28 of the third, from Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson. San Jose's comeback belonged to Celebrini — his goal at 11:32 cut it to 2-1, and his assist set up Mason Marchment's tying goal at 15:49. Neither team scored in overtime, and Pittsburgh took the shootout 1-0.
Crosby's night, in the box score, was volume without reward: seven shots, no points, a minus-1 rating in 20:18 of ice time. The goaltenders matched each other almost save for save — Sergei Murashov stopped 34 of 36 shots for Pittsburgh and Yaroslav Askarov stopped 33 of 35 for San Jose, with the Sharks outshooting the Penguins 36-35.
The win lifts Pittsburgh to 6-10-2; San Jose falls to 8-11-1 with a point for the overtime loss. For the search charts, the morning belongs to the names. For the standings, it belongs to the Penguins — who won a game their captain did not score in, on the road, in the last event of the night.
