Observations from the Penguins’ 5-0 loss to the Sharks:

First things first, there was no update on Penguins forward Dominik Simon. He left the game at 11:59 of the third after he got tangled up with Sharks defenseman Radim Simek and fell awkwardly.

Simon to the dressing room after a battle with Simek. #SJSharks | #LetsGoPens | #PitvsSJS pic.twitter.com/MWBh1KASx0

— Teal Town USA - A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TealTownUSA) March 1, 2020

The angle wasn’t ideal, but it almost looked as if Simek left elbow caught Simon’s head.

As for the game, the Penguins are caught up in something ugly right now with a six-game losing streak, their longest in nearly a decade.

The Penguins actually looked like they were making progress over their previous three games dating back to their 5-3 road loss to the Capitals on Sunday, where a mistake or two was the difference. Even in their 2-1 road loss to the Kings on Wednesday, forward Sidney Crosby hit a post which could have tied the game. Then in Friday’s 3-2 road loss to the Ducks, forward Bryan Rust was simply robbed on a toe save by Ducks goaltender John Gibson.

They beaten by proverbial puck luck more than anything in those games.

Then on Saturday, they simply got beat. Badly.

There were few junctures in this game where they looked like a threat to a Sharks team bound for an early offseason.

What was worse was how they were simply outskated most of the game. Even at other low points in the season, the Penguins were rarely the slower team. On Saturday, they looked like they were skating in cement.

“This one’s different,” coach Mike Sullivan said when asked by reporters in San Jose to compare this game to the other games in California. “We just weren’t very good tonight. It’s my responsibility to get this team playing to its capabilities. We know we’re a good team when we play the game the right way and we got away from it tonight. I believe in the group of players that we have. We’re a much better team than we’ve shown and we’ve got to find a way to work together to make that happen.”

What happened

The Sharks struck first 18:48 into regulation. After Penguins forward Sidney Crosby tried to center a pass at the offensive blue line to forward Jason Zucker but missed the mark, Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic one-touched it up ice to Sharks forward Evander Kane. As Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson aborted an attempted change at the bench, Kane surged past him and Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz, attacked the net and lifted a wrister past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker for his 22nd goal of the season. Vlasic had the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Some slick passing led to San Jose’s second goal at 11:12 of the second period. Just as a power-play opportunity expired, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro controlled a puck at center point and knuckled a pass to the high slot for Sharks forward Marcus Sorensen. Turning to his left, Sorensen distributed the puck to the right circle for forward Timo Meier who lifted a wrister past kneeling Penguins defenseman Juuso Riikola and Jarry’s glove hand on the near side for his 21st goal. Assists went to Sorensen and Ferraro.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Sharks poured it on at 14:15 of the second. After Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson missed a one-timer from the right circle and hit the end boards, creating an outlet for the Sharks, Sorensen pushed the puck up the right wing into the offensive zone. Fending off Schultz, Sorensen fed a pass to trailing Sharks forward Joel Kellman who gripped and ripped a wrister through Jarry’s five hole for his third goal. Sorensen netted the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The hole got deeper for the Penguins at 6:14 of the third period. Kane outworked Pettersson for a puck behind the Penguins net and banked it off the right boards for Ferraro at the right point. Surveying the zone for a moment, Ferraro gripped and ripped a wrister towards the net. Sharks forward Logan Couture had position on Schultz and redirected he puck through Jarry’s five hole for his 16th goal. Ferraro and Kane collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

At 16:01 of the third, it got uglier. Meier gained the offensive zone on the right wing and left a drop pass for Sharks forward Joe Thornton. From low in the right circle, Thornton lifted a backhanded pass attempt that hit off of Johnson’s left skate and deflected through Jarry’s five hole. It was Thornton’s fifth goal. Meier and defenseman Tim Heed netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Sharks had a 32-30 edge in shots.

• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led the game with five shots.

• Forward Dylan Gambrell, Kane, Kellman, Sorensen, Thornton, defenseman Brent Burns and Vlasic each led the Sharks with three shots.

• Burns led the game with 29:33 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 25:27 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• The Penguins had a 35-27 advantage in faceoffs (56 percent).

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was 16 for 22 (73 percent).

• Sharks forward Antti Suomela was 8 for 10 (80 percent).

• Schultz led the game with four blocked shots.

• Burns, Ferraro and Simek each led the Sharks with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins’ last six-game losing streak occurred between Dec. 29, 2011 through Jan. 11, 2012. Following that rough stretch, they reeled off an eight-game winning streak.

• Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 30 saves in the shutout. The Sharks’ last shutout of the Penguins occurred just over a year ago when Jones made 26 saves in a 4-0 win at PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 19, 2019.

• The Penguins fell to 4-4-0 all-time in Leap Day games. The Sharks are no 4-1-0 on Leap Day.

• Heed appeared in his 100th career game.

Randomly speaking

• After getting a goal against Anaheim, the Penguins’ power play got back on the struggle bus against the Sharks going 0 for 4, including a four-on-three sequence which lasted 45 seconds.

• Penguins defenseman Juuso Riikola returned to the lineup after being scratched in favor of defenseman Zach Trotman on Friday.

• New Penguins forward Patrick Marleau moved up to the second line on the left wing of center Evgeni Malkin to open the game.

• We’re not sure we would have ever identified him as the most vital component of the line, but Zach Aston-Reese’s absence is really felt on the trio with Brandon Tanev and Teddy Blueger.

• There was a pretty ugly incident at 8:01 of the third period when Sharks defenseman Jacob Middleton left the game after falling backwards on his left leg after Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist shoved him in a net-front battle:

Middleton to the dressing room after this.

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! #SJSharks | #LetsGoPens | #PitvsSJS pic.twitter.com/E9pAcZoXpw

— Teal Town USA - A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TealTownUSA) March 1, 2020

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan spoke about the team’s confidence:

“It’s not at an all-time high. … These guys care. And when it doesn’t go the right way out there, it can sometimes look worse than it actually is. The nice thing about confidence is I think you can get it back as quickly as you lose it. It starts on one shift then you’ve got to build on it. We’ve just got to make sure we pick ourselves up and make sure we go back to work when we go back home and have the right attitude for the next opportunity that we get.”

• Malkin on the team’s confidence:

“We have confidence for sure. We have good players here. We need to play (for) each other. We need to help each other. The next game is huge. We get back to home. We need to forget this road trip. Back to home, our building. Shoot puck more, go to (the net). We try to play (too) easy, try to give (an) extra pass. … Now, we need to play simple. We need to help each other. We have to block a shot. Now, the playoffs start for us. Every game is huge for us.”

• Crosby doesn’t think it’s too complicated to get out of this funk:

“There’s always key times at the game you look at, whether is power play or penalty kill. Just big plays we need to come up with. That’s usually the difference between winning and losing and we haven’t done enough of that consistently, getting those plays. That’s a big difference in hockey games.”

• Malkin is optimistic:

“We have not played great the last seven, eight games. But we have time. It’s like (17) games left. It’s a good time to change and fix our problems.”

• The Sharks had a plan against the Penguins. Couture explained:

“We wanted to come out hard. We knew they played last night. They’re a team that’s going through a tough time right now. We know how it feels to be going through a tough time like that. When you get jumped on early, it really takes the wind out of you, out of your sails. That was our goal and I thought we did a very good job. We started on time, we placed the puck in good spots and forced them to defend with their skilled players. They don’t like doing that. So that was a big difference tonight.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.

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