PITTSBURGH -- A lot of people wondered whether Nick Bonino would even be in the Penguins' lineup for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
He's been slowed since he blocked a shot late in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final four nights earlier, and didn't practice Saturday or Sunday.
Bonino not only started Game 1, he ended it.
His goal at 17:27 of the third period gave the Penguins their margin of victory in a 3-2 decision against San Jose.
Bonino scored from the inner edge of the left circle after getting a feed from defenseman Kris Letang, who was behind the Sharks' goal line.
Game 2 will be at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday at Consol Energy Center.
Whether the Penguins will have right winger Bryan Rust for that game wasn't immediately clear.
He took a high hit from San Jose's Patrick Marleau early in the third period and went to the dressing room.
Rust returned a few minutes later, but after skating one shift, left the game again.
After a relatively even start to Game 1, the Penguins dominated the final three-quarters of the opening period.
Their 15-4 advantage in shots was a reasonable reflection of how the period played out, and San Jose might have been lucky to get to the intermission with only a two-goal deficit.
The Penguins consistently overwhelmed the Sharks with their speed and accounted for nearly all of the quality scoring chances during those 20 minutes.
San Jose prevented them from scoring on the only power play for the first, after Dainius Zubrus was sent off for high-sticking, but the Penguins went in front not long after he returned.
Rust gave them a 1-0 lead at 12:46, when he chopped a Justin Schultz rebound past Sharks goalie Martin Jones for his sixth of the playoffs and fourth in two-plus games.
Chris Kunitz got the other assist.
Just 62 seconds later, Conor Sheary made it 2-0 when he beat Jones high on the blocker side from just inside the right dot for his third of the spring -- and first since Round 1.
The Sharks cut the Penguins' advantage to 2-1 in the second period with a power-play goal at 3:02, when a Tomas Hertl shot from between the goal line and the bottom of the right circle deflected off Maatta and went between goaltender Matt Murray's legs.
San Jose pulled even at 18:12 as Marleau collected a Brent Burns rebound near the right post, then carried it around the net and tucked it inside the left post.
Sports on 05/31/2016