PITTSBURGH — The gaze of Joe Pavelski was steely and serious after the San Jose Sharks dropped Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final in overtime.

"We believe we've got another level and we're going to have to find it here," Pavelski said.

The Sharks clawed back from a sluggish two periods to even Wednesday's affair in the final minutes of regulation only to fall 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Conor Sheary's overtime winner.

They face a 2-0 hole as the series shifts back to San Jose for Game 3 on Saturday evening.

Again, it was a woeful start that felled the Western Conference champs for much of Game 2.

The highest scoring team throughout these playoffs, San Jose generated next to nothing offensively for much of the first 40 minutes and were stuck defending in their own zone most of the time.

When the Sharks did manage to get the puck into the offensive zone it wasn't for long as the Penguins poked pucks free and used their speed to attack the other way.

"They swarm," Sharks centre Logan Couture said of the Penguins defensive tendency, which designates five players to one area of the ice. "The biggest thing is you've got to move your feet and get out of there and create space and we haven't been doing it. We've been stagnant and standing around and giving them time to check us."

Pavelski pointed to the team's inability to move the puck cleanly out of the defensive zone.

The Sharks had only 11 shots through the two first two periods and went more than 11 minutes at one point in the second without registering even a shot.

If not for Martin Jones, who stopped 22-of-23 shots through 40 minutes and 28 of 30 overall, the Sharks may not have had an opportunity to rally and force overtime.

Much like in Monday's opener, Jones had to be both sharp and lucky to keep his team close. The Sharks netminder made a left pad stop on Matt Cullen from high in the slot in the first frame, adding a right pad save on Phil Kessel to his save total a short while later.

Kessel was the only Penguin to beat Jones in regulation. He and the Penguins took full advantage of a Roman Polak giveaway in front of the Sharks goal, teammate Brenden Dillon unable to control the puck thereafter. Dillon was picked free by the Penguins Carl Hagelin, who found teammate Nick Bonino, his passing attempt effortlessly guided in by Kessel.

Jones was beaten by Sheary through traffic in overtime following a Sidney Crosby faceoff win.

"He gives us a chance each night and it's up to us to find a way to score more goals and stop turning the puck over and making him work so much," Couture said of Jones.

San Jose's vaunted power play, which has a playoff-leading 18 goals, has gotten only three opportunities through the first two games and only one in Game 2, which came up empty. That means that more offence is needed from the group at even strength, according to head coach Pete DeBoer.

The club's usually dangerous top line of Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl is pointless at even strength through the first two games.

Pavelski, who had 37 goals during the regular season and 13 through the first three rounds of the playoffs, had only one shot in Game 2 and has yet to register a point.

"I thought we were better tonight (than Game 1)," DeBoer said. "But we have to find a way to create some more five-on-five offence. They're not taking penalties, so we've got to find a way to do this five-on-five or push them into taking some more penalties."

A shuffling of the lines provided a boost in the final period as the Sharks pushed back to gain momentum for the first time. They outshot the Penguins 9-6 and finally tied the score 1-1 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.

Couture's strong work with the puck behind the goal preceded his pass to Justin Braun at the point, his shot sailing through traffic and pinging off the post to beat Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray.

"It gave us a shot right there," Pavelski said. "We felt we had a little energy off there and it felt like it was going to be our night. It ended up not being. They did their job here. We've got to go and focus on winning one game here."

The Sharks are 7-2 on home ice in the post-season though they struggled at SAP Center during the regular season (18-20-3).

The 2011 Boston Bruins were the last team to go down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup final and still emerge victorious.

DeBoer though refused to get sucked into negative thinking.

"Game 1 was decided in the last two minutes," he said. "Tonight is an overtime game. I think we'll hold off on the funeral. We have a lot of hockey left to play."