SAN JOSE, Calif. _ It's impossible to stop Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins when you can't get out of your own way.
The Sharks looked as out of sync as they ever have under coach Pete DeBoer on Saturday night, allowing one deflating goal after another in a putrid 5-0 home loss to the Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
Crosby scored goals on two remarkable individual efforts, with the second _ just 13 seconds into the second period _ enough to chase Sharks goalie Martin Jones, who allowed three goals on seven shots.
But Jones was hardly the biggest culprit as the Sharks lost their third straight game before they begin a six-game road trip Tuesday in Washington against the Capitals.
The Sharks couldn't bury any of the handful of quality scoring chances they had in the early going to keep pace with the Penguins, who scored two more goals on backup goalie Aaron Dell to close out the second period with a 5-0 lead.
Penguins goalie Matt Murray made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season, as the Sharks lost by more than four goals for the first time in 93 regular-season games under DeBoer.
Crosby came into the game with eight points in five games, and his two goals Saturday gave him an NHL-best eight for the season. It also sucked the life out of what had been a vibrant sellout crowd at SAP Center.
With 1:32 to go in the first period, Crosby's shot from point-blank range was stopped by Jones. The rebound went behind the net, where Crosby banked it in off Jones' skate and in for a 2-0 Penguins lead.
The Sharks put 10 straight shots on goal in just over a seven minute span before Crosby's goal that killed any possible momentum.
Just 13 seconds into the second period, Marc-Edouard Vlasic went back to chase down the puck as it slid toward Jones. But Crosby was right behind him, and as Vlasic tried to knock the puck toward the boards, Crosby got his stick in the way and the rebound went right past Jones for a 3-0 Penguins lead.
The Sharks went 0-for-4 with the power play in the first two periods, collecting seven shots on goal in the process.
The Sharks were hoping some changes to their forward lines could jumpstart an offense that scored just three even strength goals in their last two games before Saturday.
Tomas Hertl was moved back to the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, reuniting a trio that was together for the first six games of season and the second half of the 2015-16 campaign.
The third line had Patrick Marleau playing center between Mikkel Boedker and Melker Karlsson, a trio that had combined for just four goals in the last seven games.
"We're just moving things around, trying to find something that'll give us a bit of a spark," DeBoer said Saturday morning. "It's not even how we're playing, it's just finishing. Just shuffling the deck."
Matt Nieto, who turned 24 on Saturday, was back in the Sharks' lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last five games. He was on the fourth line with Chris Tierney at center and Micheal Haley on the other wing. Tommy Wingels was a scratch.
Prior to Saturday, the Penguins had earned points in their last five games (4-0-1) since Crosby returned from a concussion. In those games, Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 19-12.
The Penguins' lineup was similar to the one they had in the Stanley Cup Final in June. Defenseman Kris Letang was in his third game back after he suffered an upper body injury Oct. 18.
Chris Kunitz gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead just 4:22 into the first, taking a pass from Evgeni Malkin at the blue line and beating Jones on the glove hand side with a perfectly placed wrist shot to the top corner.
The Sharks settled down and had a handful of quality scoring chances. Roughly three minutes after Kunitz's goal, Hertl hit the post on a wrist shot from between the circles. Later, Melker Karlsson redirected a shot from Brenden Dillon right on goal that was saved by Penguins goalie Matt Murray.
