By Taylor Lupetti (@tayclupetti ):
The San Jose Sharks (25-14-6) took on the Pittsburgh Penguins (25-21-3) on home ice with backup goaltender Aaron Dell who lead San Jose to a 2-1 victory with 31 saves.
Pittsburgh scored in the first three minutes of the first period when left-wing forward Conor Sheary shot the puck past Dell on a pass from behind by his teammate, center Dominik Simon.
The goal was the first and only goal the Penguins would tally at the SAP Center Saturday night.
Bringing the Sharks back into the game and evening the score was right-wing forward Timo Meier who scored with three minutes remaining in the first period, sending the two squads knotted up into the first intermission.
The second period remained scoreless as Dell made 16 saves and Pittsburgh rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 11 of his 34 on the night.
Almost two minutes into the third period, center Tomas Hertl took advantage of the Sharks’ power play and scored four seconds into Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak’s cross-checking penalty.
The match up gave Dell his 11th win of the season putting him at (11-3-2) not too far behind San Jose’s No.1 goalie, Martin Jones (14-11-4) who was out with a lower-body injury.
Winding up their California road trip, the Penguins are heading back to Pittsburgh ending their time on the West Coast 1-2-0.
San Jose is taking a trip down to the Duck Pond tomorrow for a matchup against the fifth-place Ducks at 6 p.m. at the Honda Center.
