Utah Hockey Club center Clayton Keller (9) moves the puck against San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun (3) in the first period at the Delta Center on Fri Jan 10, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Mary Walsh
The San Jose Sharks fell 2-1 to the Utah Hockey Club on Friday. Nick Schaltz and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah and Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves in the loss.
Although the game was close, it was disappointing for the Sharks. “It wasn’t good enough tonight. Puck play was awful. It just wasn’t enough,” said Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky. Mikael Granlund said: “We weren’t really good with the puck. Didn’t really get anything going on offensively all night so… they defended well but we got to be better with the puck, we got to win some battles and sustain some o-zone time.”
Perhaps the only bright spot was that Sharks goalie Georgiev played well. Granlund said, of the goaltender: “He was great tonight. He gave us a chance to win this game and we were in it. So, too bad we couldn’t get it done.”
The first goal of the game came just 58 seconds in. Mikael Granlund took a shot from the face off circle. Vejmelka stopped that but Fabian Zetterlund jumped on the rebound and put it in the net. Assists went to Granlund and Cody Ceci.
Utah outshot the Sharks 10-8 in the first period. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period.
Nick Schmaltz tied the game at 5:57 of the second period. He skated with the puck most of the way around the Sharks’ zone before taking his shot from inside the faceoff circle. Assists went to Clayton Keller and Nick DeSimone.
The Sharks only had three shots on goal in the second period while Utah had six. Utah took the single penalty called in the second period. The Sharks got their first shot of the third period at the nine minute mark, by which time Utah had two shots.
At 3:22 of the third period, Keller put the puck in the net but the goal was called back after Warsofsky challenged it for goaltender interference. Schmaltz skated into the blue paint and bumped Georgiev from behind.
Barrett Hayton scored the tie-breaking game winner with just 32 seconds left in regulation. He took a snap shot while skating across the top of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Nick Bjugstad and Olli Maatta.
With just five seconds left in the game, William Eklund took a high stick to the face and earned the Sharks a four minute power play. That was the only penalty called in the third. By the end of the period, The Sharks had eight shots on goal and Utah had nine.
The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the visiting Minnesota Wild.
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