SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Here in the Silicon Valley, where high-tech is the hometown staple, the San Jose Sharks have gone old school.

It is a simple formula. No computer chips or fiber optics needed.

You take a big, proven playmaker -- say, Joe Thornton -- and provide him with a smooth scorer. Dany Heatley was available.

Scrape away the angst that built up during Heatley's messy divorce with the Ottawa Senators, wind the two players up and sit back and enjoy the result.

"They're probably as good a tandem as there is in the league -- Thornton with his playmaking ability, and Heatley is probably one of the best pure shooters in the league," Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton said yesterday after an afternoon practice at Sharks Ice.

The Penguins will get an up-close look at the first-year linemates when they play the Sharks tonight and try to avoid losing two games in a row for the first time this season. They fell at Los Angeles, 5-2, Thursday. San Jose is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss at Detroit the same night that ended their six-game winning streak.

As the months dragged on after Heatley asked the Senators to trade him and he withdrew from public and even his Ottawa teammates, Edmonton kept surfacing as a potential new home for the disgruntled left winger.

The Sharks, though, swung the deal on the day training camps opened, getting Heatley and a fifth-round draft pick in exchange for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second-round draft pick.

When things were good in Ottawa, Heatley was part of a high-octane line with Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. It's still early, but things might be even better with the Sharks.

Thornton has 594 career assists in 853 games. With Heatley on his flank he is on a perfect assist-per-game pace, with 17 in 17 games, along with four goals for 21 points. Heatley has 270 goals in 524 NHL games, including 10 in 17 games this season, along with eight assists. They are joined by right winger Ryane Clowe, who has a goal and seven points.

Thornton is not the team's leading scorer. That title goes to center Patrick Marleau, who has 11 goals, 22 points. Those two and Heatley each have more points than Penguins leading scorer Sidney Crosby, who has been sitting on 16 points for three games.

Thornton and Heatley have provided the wow factor as San Jose has glided to the top of the Pacific Division with 24 points. The Penguins also have 24 points and lead the Atlantic Division, but Colorado took the NHL's overall lead last night with 26 points after beating Chicago, 4-3, in a shootout.

"Dany's a great player," Penguins defenseman Jay McKee said. "They found good chemistry right away. The change of scenery for Dany was probably a great thing."

Thornton and Heatley will provide a challenge for the Penguins' defense.

"You have to be smart with players like that," McKee said. "You have to watch getting in a shot lane with Joe because Joe's a great passer."

That leaves the other threat.

"When it's Heatley, if he has the puck or is getting the puck, you try to make sure he's not in prime areas and be in his face and get your stick on the puck as quickly as you can," Eaton said.

Even before the Sharks united Thornton and Heatley, they built a reputation for being difficult to beat at home. They are 4-0-1 at HP Pavilion this season.

The seldom-visiting Penguins are 0-7-1 in San Jose dating to 1997 -- when Crosby was 10.

"They're a top team in the league, and we like to consider ourselves right up there in the mix," said Crosby, who captained the Penguins to the Stanley Cup last season. "I've only been here a couple times. They've always been real good at home.

"Hopefully, we can break that."

Both teams are without key players, including San Jose defenseman Rob Blake (upper body) and Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar (wrist) and center Evgeni Malkin (shoulder).

The Penguins' usual one-two punch comes from centers Crosby and Malkin.

San Jose's duo to watch is usually on the ice at the same time, and they are both healthy and playing.

"They've shown they can be really dangerous," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said of Thornton and Heatley. "It can happen in the first minute, it can happen at any time with the skill that they have. That's a tough thing to deal with."

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.