The San Jose Sharks are looking to secure back-to-back wins when they start a three-game homestand against the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday.
Rookie Macklin Celebrini scored two goals and added an assist to help the Sharks defeat St. Louis 4-3 on Thursday. This win ended a three-game losing streak and wrapped up their six-game road trip with a 3-3-0 record. Jake Walman and Tyler Toffoli also scored in the win.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev and forward Nikolai Kovalenko, who was traded from the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, made their debuts with the Sharks on Thursday and had an immediate impact. Georgiev stopped 17 shots, and Kovalenko recorded three assists.
Georgiev said, “I’m pretty happy with the effort. I need to track the goals on video, but I felt like I was in the right places a lot. … I tried to enjoy it a lot and just keep battling to the end here and got the job done.
I’m super happy for (Kovalenko). He’s such a skilled player. I’m glad he’s getting the opportunity and got the most out of it today, for sure. It’s going to be fun playing with him again here.”
Saturday’s game will be the second of three meetings between the Sharks and Utah HC. The first game, on October 28, saw the Sharks win 5-4 in overtime. Alex Wennberg scored the game-winner, while Fabian Zetterlund scored twice and Mikael Granlund added a goal and two assists.
Granlund leads the Sharks with 21 assists and 31 points in 30 games. Toffoli has 12 goals, the most on the team, in 32 games. Celebrini, the first overall pick in this year’s draft, has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in 20 games.
Georgiev is 9-7-0 with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage in 19 games this season. He has not yet played against Utah.
Utah is also coming off a win, defeating the host Avalanche 4-1 on Thursday. Dylan Guenther scored two goals and added an assist, while Vladislav Kolyachonok and Kevin Stenlund also scored for Utah. The team has won three of its last four games.
Utah coach Andre Tourigny said, “I think we played really solid defensively. We were in the lanes, we had good sticks, we protected our slot really well, and we had great goaltending. Got the goals we needed, and we played solid without the puck.”
Guenther, who leads Utah with 12 goals and 28 points in 29 games, has points in four straight games, with two goals and five assists. Clayton Keller, the Utah captain, has nine goals and 26 points in 29 games. His three-game point streak was snapped in the win over the Avalanche.
Goaltender Karel Vejmelka is 5-7-2 this season with a 2.36 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 16 games. In his five career games against the Sharks, Vejmelka has a 2-3-0 record with a .916 save percentage and a 2.86 GAA.
The Sharks and Utah will play their final game of the season series on January 10 in Salt Lake City.
