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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sidney Crosby is off to the fastest start to a season during his illustrious career as he helped the Penguins continue their dominance over San Jose with a 5-0 victory Saturday night at SAP Center. "Sid has been unbelievable," Pittsburgh's Carl Hagelin said. "He's the best player in the world and he's playing hard, winning battles and getting the puck. He wants to compete every shift."
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Crosby scored two more goals, and by handing the Sharks their second straight loss on home ice and third in a row overall, the Penguins swept the two-game season series four months after needed six games to capture the Stanley Cup over San Jose.
"I feel good and I think I got good bounces," Crosby said. "When you're going like this, you just try to keep it going."
"Lose 5-0, it's not bounces or anything, you're just not good enough," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "It's tough, it's not any fun. We have to be a lot better than we were tonight."
Crosby surprisingly leads the NHL with eight goals after having missed the first six games of the season with a concussion. Hagelin chipped in three assists, including on each of the Pittsburgh captain's two tallies.
"The word that keeps coming to mind is 'inspiring.' He's an inspiring player. He plays the game the right way," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's an elite player and he plays hard at both ends of the rink. His work ethic is second to none."
Goalie Matt Murray made 32 saves in his second appearance of the season to record his second career shutout.
The Sharks suffered their most lopsided loss without the benefit of scoring a goal since Dec. 18, 2008 (6-0 at Detroit).
"We weren't strong enough, didn't battle hard enough to a man," Sharks center Logan Couture said. "This team has another level to give. Obviously it's a letdown. We're all disappointed in here. There's a bit of a buzz in the building. Too bad we let our fans down tonight."
Pittsburgh turned the game into a rout with a three-goal second period.
Crosby scored his second of the night 13 seconds into the period by batting an attempted clear by Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic past goalie Martin Jones, who was replaced by rookie Aaron Dell.
"The third goal was deflating for sure. But, in this league, you've got to find a way and our response to that wasn't what any of us wanted," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "That's probably the troubling part tonight."
Center Eric Fehr made it 4-0 at 2:33 when he one-timed a Matt Cullen feed from below the goal line over the left shoulder of Dell, who was making only his second appearance of the year and first since Oct. 18.
San Jose continued to misfire on the power play with a chance to get back into the game. The Sharks poured eight shots on goal in their first three power plays before disaster struck on their fourth man advantage.
With Pittsburgh guilty of too many men at 16:04, center Nick Bonino tapped a cross-ice feed from defenseman Trevor Daley past Dell for the Penguins' first short-handed goal of the season and a 5-0 lead at 16:28.
"Power plays have to strike when it has a chance to keep games closer, and we haven't done that enough," Pavelski said. "We feel like we're right there, at the same time it feels like there's a long way to go."
Nevermind San Jose doubled Pittsburgh's shot total (12-6) during the opening period, the Penguins scored the only two goals of the period while frustrating the Sharks at almost every turn.
Left winger Chris Kunitz gave the visitors a 1-0 lead 4:22 after the opening faceoff by picking the far top corner over the glove of Jones for his first of the season.
And Pittsburgh snapped a 9:32 drought without a shot when Crosby scored his seventh goal in six games by going to the backhand behind the goal line to bank a shot off the right skate of Jones and over the goal line at 18:28.
NOTES: San Jose coach Peter DeBoer shuffled his forward lines following a 3-2 loss on Thursday at home to Calgary. The key change was moving Tomas Hertl to left wing alongside C Joe Thornton and RW Joe Pavelski while Patrick Marleau slipped between LW Mikkel Boedker and RW Melker Karlsson on a third line. ... The Sharks head to Washington on Tuesday to begin a season-high six-game road trip. ... The Penguins, who capped a four-game trip Saturday, hosts Edmonton on Tuesday to open a three-game homestand. ... RW Tommy Wingels and D Dylan DeMelo were San Jose's healthy scratches while D David Warsofsky, LW Tom Sestito and RW Tom Kuhnhackl did not dress for Pittsburgh.
