 officially pulled back into a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz had first-period goals for Pittsburgh, which had won just one of its previous seven before coming from behind to beat Arizona 3-2 Saturday. Ben Smith and Logan Couture had second-period goals for San Jose, which wrapped up a seven-game, 12-day road trip with a 3-3-1 record. Perron missed Saturday's game because of an illness, and Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston indicated after the morning skate Sunday that he would not play that evening. Perron did, but was likely left feeling sick after missing the net while wide open in the low left-wing circle as time expired in regulation. Ultimately, the Penguins got their two points anyway, despite playing with only five defensemen. Christian Ehrhoff (upper-body) and Kris Letang (concussion) are out, and the team's salary cap situation doesn't allow for any reinforcements to be called up. Letang was released from the hospital Sunday after taking a hit from Arizona's Shane Doan on Saturday. The Sharks were without defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who left a win in Philadelphia on Saturday with a lower-body injury. San Jose managed five shots on goal in overtime, but could not beat Fleury. The Penguins' No. 2-ranked NHL penalty kill generally prevented prime scoring chances over a nearly four-minute span to close out play. The Penguins scored twice in a 56-second span starting with Hornqvist's tally 7:08 into the game. Daniel Winnik - promoted to skating alongside Crosby on the top line last week - worked to gain possession behind the net and threw the puck out in front of the slot. On his backhand, Hornqvist flipped it into the net behind Stalock. Taylor Fedun - recalled earlier in the day - took a hooking minor 33 seconds later. Pittsburgh needed just 23 seconds of power-play time to score their third power-play goal - and fifth goal overall - over a span of 22 minutes of game action dating to a third-period rally Saturday against the Coyotes. Kunitz made it 2-0 when he finished a crisp passing sequence from Derrick Pouliot and Crosby for his first goal since Feb. 25 and his second in his past 27 games. Crosby, who has a modest three-game point streak, held on to the NHL's scoring lead with 79 points. Smith scored for the second time in 13 games with the Sharks when he deftly deflected Justin Braun's shot from the point past Fleury at 6:44 of the second. Couture tied it with 4:22 to play in the second, beating Fluery with a wrist shot to the short side while skating open down the left side of the slot at the end of a nice transition play into the Pittsburgh zone by the San Jose power play. NOTES: NBC Sports Network analyst Brian Engblom took a puck to the face during the final 2 minutes of the second period. Engblom, who was positioned between the benches at ice level, was stitched up and returned for the third period. ... Linesman Steve Barton left a game in Pittsburgh early for the second consecutive day, causing it to be finished with only one linesman. A day after being cut by an errant stick to the face, Barton left Sunday's game during the first period. ... Stalock started consecutive San Jose games for the first time in more than three months. After the morning skate Sunday, Sharks coach Todd McLellan said No. 1 goalie Antti Niemi was ill.
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Time: 07:30 P.M. EST Venue: Consol Energy Center
Just after welcoming two of their leading scorers back, the tough-luck Pittsburgh Penguins suffered another big loss - this time on the defensive side - as they hobble toward the postseason. With Kris Letang likely to be sidelined, the host Penguins seek their first back-to-back victories in over three weeks Sunday night when they try to deny the San Jose Sharks a third straight win. Pittsburgh (41-23-11) totaled just nine goals over a 1-5-1 stretch that started March 14 when leading goal-scorer Evgeni Malkin (28 goals) went down with a lower-body injury versus Boston. Patric Hornqvist, third on the team in goals (23) and fourth in points (45), missed five of those contests while dealing with an undisclosed injury. The Penguins have gone 8-2-1 since Feb. 21 and 33-13-6 overall with both in the lineup. Malkin made an immediate impact with two assists Saturday when both players returned in a 3-2 victory over Arizona to open a three-game homestand. Sidney Crosby's power-play goal in the third period proved to be the difference, giving him 20 points over his last 14 games and a league-leading 78 overall. Pittsburgh moved into a tie with the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The club, though, is now expected to be without one of its defensive stars while attempting to win consecutive games for the first time since March 6-7. Letang, who ranks among defensemen leaders with 54 points, left for the hospital after taking a hit and smacking his head on the boards in the second period. The veteran has a history of concussions and suffered a stroke last year.'' Kris Letang is a premier player in the league and he's had a phenomenal season for us," said coach Mike Johnston, who is already missing defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. "I saw Kris lying on the ice and when I saw him come off, it didn't look good.'' The Sharks (37-30-8) are having their own issues defensively after Marc-Edouard Vlasic went down with a lower-body injury and Scott Hannan was bloodied in the face in Saturday's 3-2 shootout win at Philadelphia. Vlasic and defenseman Mirco Mueller, who hurt his left hand and wrist Thursday, have been ruled out as San Jose looks to close out a seven-game trip with its first three-game winning streak since Jan. 21-31. The Sharks, however, are likely to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2002-03 with eight points to make up in seven games. San Jose had allowed 23 goals over its previous six contests before limiting the Flyers to 18 shots. Alex Stalock finished with 16 saves, though he's expected to give way to Antti Niemi in the second of back-to-back games. Niemi has gone 4-1-0 with a 2.65 goals-against average in six career starts versus Pittsburgh dating to his time with Chicago. He had 39 saves in a 2-1 shootout home win March 9 in the only meeting this season. Marc-Andre Fleury ended up with 29 saves in that contest and Johnston will start him in the rematch. Fleury is 2-3-1 with a 3.50 GAA in his past six starts, but he's stopped 73 of 75 shots in his last two versus San Jose. He'll try to slow Sharks' leading scorer Joe Pavelski, who has scored four times on the road swing. San Jose has dominated this series by going 16-2-1 with one tie over the past 20 meetings.
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