The San Jose Sharks Magnus Chrona (30) puts the stop on a shot by the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thu Mar 14, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 6-3 by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Noel Acciari, Jeff Carter, Evgeni Malkin, John Ludvig, Rickard Rackell and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 29 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Klim Kostin scored for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona made 25 saves in the loss.

The Sharks had to play with only five defensemen when Jacob MacDonald could not play due to sudden illness. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that this may have been a factor in a disappointing third period:

“I thought we were a little slow reacting defensively tonight but I just loved their compete, I thought we really battled hard. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to defend a little bit better around our net in the those instances in the third period. But maybe it was fatigue, you’ve got five D and they’re playing a ton of minutes so it’s a tough ask.”

Noel Acciari gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 10:28 of the first period. Acciari tipped a shot from Erik Karlsson in the middle of the blue line. Assists went to Karlsson and Drew O’Connor.

Fabian Zetterlund scored to tie the game at 14:31. Zetterlund caught a rebound from Calen Addison’s shot to score his 17^th of the season. Assists went to Addison and Henry Thrun.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 19:01. Vlasic took a shot from below the goal line that bounced off of Jarry and Marcus Petterson before going into the net. Assists went to Klim Kostin and Mikael Granlund.

A goal from Jeff Carter tied the game back up at 4:11 of the second period. Carter skated into an open space in front of the net as Emil Bemstrom made a pass from the other side.

Evgeni Malkin scored at 11:34 to give the Penguins their second lead of the game. He picked up a rebound at the corner of the net and poked it behind Chrona. Assists went to Drew O’Connor and Lars Eller.

At 16:10 of the second period, Alexander Barabanov deflected a Granlund shot into the net but he did so with a high stick so it was called back.

Klim Kostin scored for the Sharks to tie the game 3-3 at 18:42. Mikael Granlund gathered up a rebound from a Vlasic shot, then found Kostin through traffic with a pass. That was Kostin’s first goal as a Shark.

Midway through second period, Mikael Granlund got tangled up with Bryan Rust along the boards. He went down with his right leg and ankle folding in an unnatural position. He had to be helped from the ice but did return before the end of the period.

John Ludvig scored from the blue line to give the Penguins their third lead at 2:38 of the third period. Assists went to Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Reilly Smith.

Rickard Rackell made it 5-3 at 4:38, deflecting a shot by Joseph from the blue line. Assists went to Joseph and Ludvig.

Bryan Rust made it 6-3 with an empty net goal at 18:04. Assists went to Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby.

The Penguins had just four shots on goal in the third period.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 4:00 PM PT in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.