It may be safe to say that Sharks head coach
Ryan Warsofsky is not a big fan of referees Chris Rooney and Riley Brace.
Returning home for the first time in more than 2 weeks the Sharks were looking
to leverage a little home cooking. Rooney and Brace extended more hospitality
to the visiting Utah Hockey Club in a game that could be best described as
lopsided in the officiating department. Utah took full advantage, scoring a
pair of power play goals, including the game winner with 44 seconds left after
defenseman Cody Ceci was called for high sticking. The Sharks would fall 4-3
after grabbing a 3rd period lead.
Warsofsky was clearly agitated after
the final horn sounded. The Sharks bench boss let Rooney have it as they skated
off the ice. His verbal outburst was boiling over all night. He tempered his
emotions in his post game comments, but his outburst on the bench was a clear
indication of his displeasure.
Utah took liberties with several Sharks
players, including rookie Macklin Celebrini. The incidents that mattered
included a handful of plays that could have been catastrophic.
Dylan
Guenther staked Utah to the 1-0 lead at 7:27 with a shot from the high slot
that clipped Alexander Wennberg's skate or leg. The interference by Wennberg's
extremity changed the trajectory of the shot on goaltender Vitek Vanecek,
giving Guenther his 13th goal of the season.
Alexander Wennberg
brought the sharks even with a shot from the left side at 14:58, beating Karel
Vejmelka for his 8th of the season. Wennberg lifted a shot that Vejmelka got a
piece of, but the puck clipped the top of the goaltender's glove and into the
net.
Utah just missed out on a second goal in the period as a shot
from Mikhail Sergachev beat Vanecek, but the goal crossed the goal line a tenth
of a second too late.
The 2nd period was pocked with a pair of Sharks
penalties that stymied the flow of the game for San Jose. Celebrini was
incensed for a non-call after Kevin Stenlund hit him from behind, sending the
Sharks rookie headfirst into the end boards. Referee Chris Rooney didn't think
the play warranted a Utah penalty to the dismay of the Sharks bench.
Mikael Granlund put the Sharks up 2-1 at the 14:11 mark after Fabian Zetterlund
bounced a shot off Vejmelka from the slot. The Sharks centerman was skating in
the left corner when Zetterlund's rebound kicked out to him. The Finnish
forward whipped a shot from a tight angle, beating Vejmelka for his 11th goal
of the season.
The Sharks drew a power play opportunity after Nick
Bjugstad hauled down Celebrini with an arm wrapped around his throat, but the
Sharks would do nothing with the man advantage. Utah countered late in the
period after Nico Sturm was sent off for hooking.
Mick Schmaltz
converted on the ensuing power play with a shot just 12 seconds into the
penalty.
A tripping call on Olli Maatta 3:35 into the 3rd
period setup the Sharks with their 3rd power play chance of the night. Fabian
Zetterlund stuffed home a shot from just outside the left post after Nikolai
Kovalenko set him up with a pass across the top of the crease from the off
wing.
Utah went kicked their game into high gear following the
Zetterlund goal, out shooting San Jose 11-2 through the first 10 minutes of the
period. One of those shots came via Michael Carcone who jammed home a shot past
Vanecek after the Sharks were scrambling to defend a wild push by the visitors.
Things boiled over with 6 minutes remaining in the game after Logan
Cooley caught Mikael Granlund with an elbow on a rush. When Fabian Zetterlund
was cross checked against the glass the emotions bubbled over and a full line
scrum broke out on the ice. That resulted in a 4-on-4 situation that would play
a big part in the outcome of the contest.
Utah was gifted a power play
with 58 seconds left after Cody Ceci's stick was lifted, but he was called for
high sticking Clayton Keller. Utah's captain played up the situation by
dressing up the play.
Regardless, Utah was skating with a 4-on-3
advantage in the last minute of the game. Keller finished the Sharks with a
power play goal with 44 ticks left. It was an unjust finish to a game that was
influenced by suspect behavior by players and officials all night.
Game Notes: * Will Smith made his return to the lineup after a
brief stint on the injured reserve. Klim Kostin was placed on the injured
reserve after suffering an upper body injury in St Louis on Thursday.
* Barclay Goodrow skated in his 600th NHL game. 296 of those games have come
with San Jose.
* The contest fell 222 tickets shy of a sellout. The
have only a pair of sellouts at SAP Center this season. Perhaps its an
indicator that the team is drawing some interest after averaging about 60% of
capacity the past two seasons.
* Kevin Stenlund likely won't win any
popularity contests in San Jose any time soon. In addition to his hit from
behind on Macklin Celebrini, Stenlund was the player that tripped Celebrini in
the final preseason game last October that sent Celebrini into the end boards,
where the Sharks rookie injured his hip and would miss 12 games early in the
season.
* Things don't get any easier for the Sharks, as their next
four games come against Western Conference teams that are all currently sitting
in playoff spots, including the Winnipeg Jets who have the best record in the
NHL.
