Pens outgunned in shootout, 2-1

Jeremy Roenick scored the game-winner as the Sharks dominated the shootout.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — On a day that belonged to the goaltender until then, the San Jose Sharks needed to be perfect during their shootout against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jeremy Roenick made certain they were.

Roenick scored the game-winner as all three San Jose skaters were successful in the shootout and Jonathan Cheechoo had the Sharks’ only goal in regulation, leading them to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday.

Penguins goalie Ty Conklin made 36 saves in regulation and overtime, but couldn’t stop Roenick, Cheechoo or Joe Pavelski on wrist shots during the shootout. Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov allowed Eric Christensen and Jarkko Ruutu to score in the shootout, but stopped Kris Letang.

Roenick is 3-for-3 on shootout attempts this season, but Cheechoo had been 0-for-3.

“By themselves they’re not necessarily bad goals, but you need to get a save out of one of them,” Conklin said.

The Penguins got four points out of a difficult stretch of three games in four days against the contending Canadiens, Senators and Sharks, but squandered a chance for a much better weekend by wasting a three-goal lead and losing 4-3 in overtime to Ottawa Saturday.

“It was a big test for us to play those teams,” coach Michel Therrien said. “I was afraid of this game [Sunday] because of many reasons, and we managed to get one point but we couldn’t get two.”

Evgeni Malkin, who began the day as the NHL’s leading scorer with 82 points, went scoreless for the second successive day as Pittsburgh dropped to 9-4-4 without Sidney Crosby, who hasn’t played since injuring his ankle Jan. 18.

Malkin played a strong game against Ottawa despite not scoring, and Sharks coach Ron Wilson kept rotating defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Christian Ehrhoff and Douglas Murray against him.

“Just get in his face and wear him down,” Wilson said of the Sharks’ strategy. “They seemed to go against our top line a lot, Evgeni Malkin against Joe Thornton. That didn’t scare me at all because we always have a good puck-possession game down low, so that partly negates Malkin. He can do a lot of damage.”

Malkin was held to three shots, and Wilson felt Malkin wore down while playing a second demanding game in as many days.