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Quick bites: Sharks fall to Utah HC after last minute goal

Posted on by Erika Towne

Yes, the San Jose Sharks lost to the Utah Hockey Club last night. But it’s the kind of loss that you’re looking for from a young hockey club. There was adversity and there was a response. While the response didn’t yield the end result that the Sharks were looking for, it did offer some promising insight into where the Sharks are at as a team.

The Sharks were able to hang with the Utah HC for a majority of the game as you can see by the Corsi differential at 5v5 courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

The ability to keep Utah from taking over is a good takeaway for Sharks fans. It shows that while there are flows in the game, the Sharks are starting to counterattack. And, when the refs aren’t weighing in, all five Sharks will get into a scrum.

Questionable calls

Which leads to the main story of the game, the refereeing. Tara Sloan might have put it best after last night’s game.

Admittedly, as a Sharks fan, there felt like there were two different standards for calls during last night’s game. There were the standards that the Sharks were held to in terms of slashing, hooking and holding and then there were the standards that the Utah HC was held to. It truly was one of those games where you’d like to hold the refs accountable for the calls.

There were two calls that had Sharks fans fuming. This one in the second period, where Kevin Stenlund hit Macklin Celebrini from behind and sent him awkwardly into the boards. As ESPN kindly pointed out, it was also Stenlund who tripped Celebrini in the preseason, which ultimately led to Celebrini missing time in the regular season. This hit, however, seemed more egregious.

Then, there was the reverse hit by Logan Cooley that caught Mikael Granlund up high. It also went uncalled.

In total, the Sharks received eight penalties to Utah’s five. It allowed Utah six power plays (two of the penalties were offsetting) and, of course, the final penalty of the night allowed Utah to score the game-winning goal with less than a minute remaining.

Kovalenko continues to take advantage of opportunities

For the second game in a row, new addition Kovalenko was added to the top line alongside Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli. According to Natural Stat Trick, the line was the best performer of the night, with a 62.50 Corsi for percentage. While it did not generate a goal (Kovalenko and Celebrini got their points on the power play), it did create six shots to the opponents three.

Kovalenko, who was considered a bottom six winger on a more skilled team in the Colorado Avalanche, still appears to have the skill necessary to play on the top line. If he continues to develop, he could be what the Sharks were hoping they were getting in Klim Kostin, a hard-nosed winger that could contribute on offense while being disruptive on the forecheck.

Scoring summary Utah Hockey Club at San Jose Sharks Dec. 14, 2024

First Period
7:27 UHC Dylan Guenther from Logan Cooley and Mikael Sergachev
14:58 SJS Alex Wennberg from Barclay Goodrow and Cody Ceci

Second Period
14:11 SJS Mikael Granlund from Fabian Zetterlund and William Eklund
18:52 UHC Nick Schmaltz from Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller on the power play

Third Period
5:00 SJS Fabian Zetterlund from Nikolai Kovalenko and Macklin Celebrini on the power play
9:49 UHC Michael Carcone from Kevin Stenlund and Alex Kerfoot
19:16 UHC Clayton Keller from Mikael Sergachev and Nick Schmaltz on the power play

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