Penguins 5, Sharks 1: Chris Kunitz scored twice and captain Sidney Crosby notched three assists in his 500th career game as host Pittsburgh netted four second-period goals en route to its fifth straight victory.

Pascal Dupuis, rookie Jayson Megna and defenseman Kris Letang also tallied and Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 44 shots for the Penguins, who improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

Rookie Tomas Hertl scored his team-leading 14th goal and captain Joe Thornton notched an assist to extend his point streak to seven games. Antti Niemi made 23 saves through two periods before Alex Stalock (two saves) finished the third for the Sharks, who saw their six-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 14-2-1 with one tie in their last 18 meetings with Pittsburgh.

The Penguins opened the scoring 27 ticks into the second period as Dupuis deflected defenseman Brooks Orpik's point shot past Niemi for his fourth goal. Megna doubled the advantage just over two minutes later after taking advantage of San Jose blue-liner Jason Demers' turnover in the neutral zone before converting a 3-on-1 rush by beating Niemi over the blocker.

Crosby secured his second assist at 5:27 of the session as his shot from the slot was denied, but Kunitz cleaned up the rebound by kicking the puck to his stick before backhanding it home.

Kunitz netted his fifth goal in six games just over two minutes later, this time with a power-play goal - marking the fifth consecutive game that Pittsburgh has tallied with the man advantage. With San Jose's John McCarthy serving a tripping penalty, Kunitz gave the Penguins a 4-0 edge after finishing off James Neal's drive to the net.

Hertl put the Sharks on the scoreboard midway through the second as his shot caromed off Neal and between Fleury's pads.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Pittsburgh C Evgeni Malkin, who is riding a season-high nine-game point streak, exited the team's morning skate with a lower-body injury and sat out the contest. ... Crosby notched multiple-point performances in his 100th, 200th, 300th and 400th career games as well. ... Penguins RW Chuck Kobasew returned to the ice following a 17-game absence with a lower-body injury. ... San Jose fell to 8-2-2 against Eastern Conference opponents and 13-1-1 with RW Brent Burns in the lineup.