The San Jose Sharks will look to refine their defensive game when they return home to host the Utah Mammoth on Monday night.
The Sharks’ Will Smith scored twice and William Eklund also found the back of the net but San Jose fell 4-3 to the host Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
“Effort was good,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. “We competed hard. There are obviously some things in our (defense), some detail stuff. We’re probably giving up five 5-on-5 chances too many. We need to get those down to give ourselves a better chance and keep the puck out of the back of our net.”
With his assist on Smith’s third-period goal, Macklin Celebrini registered his 100th career point, becoming the eighth-youngest player in NHL history to reach the milestone. Celebrini paces the Sharks with 14 goals and 23 assists through 26 games.
His 37 points were second to only the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (44) for the league lead entering Sunday’s action.
Smith opened the scoring with his ninth of the season, but the Sharks then surrendered four unanswered goals. Eklund pulled San Jose to within one with 25 seconds remaining in the second period before a scoreless third.
“We got right back in it,” said Alex Nedeljkovic, who made 20 saves. “We scored on the power play there; that gets us right back in it. Get one before the end of the second; it gave us a lot of life. There were a lot of good vibes here in between periods, and just trying to find a way to get the next one. They just did a good job of playing simple hockey and not giving us much.”
San Jose, which is 8-4-3 on home ice this season, is 5-5-0 in its last 10 games.
Yaroslav Askarov, Monday’s likely starting goaltender, is 9-6-1 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 16 games this season.
The Sharks and Mammoth split the first two meetings this season, with each team winning on home ice.
Utah travels to San Jose as part of a season-high six-game road trip, looking to end a three-game skid.
The Mammoth dropped games on back-to-back nights to open the road trip, losing 4-3 in Dallas on Friday night before being shut out 1-0 in St. Louis on Saturday.
Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for the Mammoth, who are 3-4-3 over their past 10 and are 5-8-2 on the road this season.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted,” said Utah coach Andre Tourigny. “I think we had a slow start, but we got a little better afterward.
“We had too many mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers.”
Mammoth forward Logan Cooley left the loss in St. Louis in the third period with a lower-body injury following a knee-on-knee collision with the Blues’ Alexey Toropchenko. According to reports, Cooley suffered a quad contusion and will undergo an MRI.
Cooley leads Utah with 14 goals and 23 points in 26 games.
Vejmelka is 10-7-2 with a 2.74 GAA and an .889 save percentage in 19 games this season.
–Field Level Media
