The Sharks will look to clean up defensive mistakes when they return to San Jose to play the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night in the opener of a four-game homestand.
San Jose wrapped up a three-game trip with a 1-2-0 record after a 4-1 loss to Seattle on Saturday.
“There were probably four chances there that were Grade-A, that are not good ones that you want to give up,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said following the Kraken game. “That’s not a recipe to win, so we’ll have to look at that and clean it up.”
Part of the clean-up could include veteran defenseman John Klingberg being a healthy scratch on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old, who has appeared in 13 games with the Sharks this season, has two goals and three assists to go with a minus-5 rating while averaging just over 21 minutes of ice time.
Klingberg, a quarterback on the Sharks’ power play when healthy this season, didn’t skate on either unit during special-teams drills on Monday.
“I can be better. I think it comes down to playing with the puck — being better on the breakouts,” said Klingberg, who was a minus-3 in Seattle. “I think my game is better in the (offensive) zone than in the (defensive) zone. I think if I can be a bit better on the breakouts, a little cleaner, we’re going to play more with the puck.”
San Jose is 4-3-3 on home ice this season and will look to avoid a third straight loss overall as it faces the Mammoth for the second of three meetings this season. Utah doubled up San Jose 6-3 on Oct. 17.
The Mammoth head to San Jose looking for “a little more execution” after squandering a 2-1 lead with five seconds remaining in regulation and losing 3-2 in overtime to the host Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
“It’s just frustrating the way it happened at the end,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “We lose one battle. I don’t think we gave up much before that chance, and the puck is in the back of our net.”
Logan Cooley scored his team-leading eighth road goal of the season, and Dylan Guenther also tallied for Utah, which is 2-5-2 in its last nine games.
With the assists on Cooley’s goal, Mikhail Sergachev (four assists) and Nick Schmaltz (two goals, two assists) each have four points in four games.
“We didn’t have our ‘A’ execution,” Tourigny said. “I think we had a lot of possession, a lot of opportunity where we didn’t connect, and we didn’t execute. I think we progressed during the game, but we needed a little more execution.”
Vitek Vanecek, the likely starter at goalie in San Jose, is 2-3-0 with an .875 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average in five starts this season.
Tuesday is the second contest of a brief two-game road trip for the Mammoth, who head home for four games over a seven-day stretch.
–Field Level Media
