SAN JOSE — Clayton Keller scored with 43.8 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Utah Hockey Club to a spirited 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks Saturday night at SAP Center.
With Cody Ceci serving a high stick penalty, Keller took a pass from Mikhail Sergachev and beat Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek for his 10th goal of the season.
Vanecek gave the Sharks a chance Saturday, making 36 saves, but San Jose lost for the fourth time in five games and began its three-game homestand on a sour note.
The two teams combined for 26 penalty minutes, but the Sharks perhaps felt there should have been more calls, including one on Kevin Stenlund hitting Macklin Celebrini from behind midway through the game.
The Sharks traded goals in the third period.
After Fabian Zetterlund’s power-play goal at 5:00, Utah tied it up 4:49 later on an even-strength goal from Michael Carcone, who scored after Stenlund found him wide open from the Sharks net.
The first game of the Sharks’ home game was an all-night affair.
The Sharks took a 2-1 lead on a goal from Granlund at 14:11 of the second period. But four minutes later they committed what was then their fourth penalty of the match, with Nico Sturm being sent off for hooking at 18:40.
Just 12 seconds later, Nick Schmaltz took a pass from Logan Cooley and beat Vanecek in close to score his fifth goal of the season.
The Sharks gave up a goal to Dylan Guenther at 7:27 of the first period, but got it back with 5:02 left before intermission.
Wennberg, coming off a shift in which he took advantage of a Grade A chance, took a pass from Barclay Goodrow and fired a shot that beat Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka for his eighth goal of the season and the 99th of his NHL career.
Guenther’s goal was his 13th of the season, as he created space, took a pass from Logan Cooley and fired a shot past Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek.
Utah had scored 38 goals in its last 10 games before Saturday, going 6-2-2 along the way.
“Elite skill level in this roster, so they can make you pay,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said before the game. “Obviously they have the Guenthers and (Clayton) Kellers, the skills, so we have to be extremely physical tonight in the defensive zone. We must remove time and space.
The Sharks were coming off a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday when they were outscored 16-2 in the third period, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“If you look at that game against St. Louis, and especially the third period, we just gave up way too much time and space and movement,” Warsofsky said. “(The Blues) started their (defenders), and we’re going to see that tonight with (defender Mikhail) Sergachev.
“The most important thing tonight is that we defended. We have to commit to it, we have to continue to get the puck out, and when we do those two things we have a lot of success, and we’re going to continue to stress that and continue to preach that and be more consistent with that.
