Utah Hockey Club defeats San Jose Sharks 3-1 in preseason game – Desert News

I’m not sure if the team name is still up for debate, but I’m going to throw in the “Utah Lifeguards” for seeing the Sharks in the water and getting to safety on Tuesday night.

It was a 3-1 victory for the Utah Hockey Club over the San Jose Sharks, moving Utah HC to 4-1-0 in the preseason. Kailer Yamamoto was the hero and scored the two goals that made the difference.

Utah hockey for dummies

A terrible theme is haunting the NHL this season: star players are getting injured. That theme continued into Tuesday’s game when Sharks center Macklin Celebrini left the game with a lower-body injury.

It was a fluke that was no one’s fault. After Connor Ingram denied a partial breakaway, Celebrini hit an edge with his toe and tumbled hard into the corner boards. It’s not clear if he was seriously injured or simply removed from the game as a precaution, but either way, you hate to see it.

Celebrini, the 2024 first overall pick, was far from the only star player injured on Tuesday. The Ottawa Senators lost arguably their three best players – Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot – in their game against the Montreal Canadiens. As if that wasn’t enough, Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers also left his game with an injury.

Oh, and that’s just one day’s worth of injuries. Star players such as William Nylander, Drew Doughty and Patrik Laine were injured among others.

According to Pierre LeBrun, an NHL insider for TSN, the idea to reduce the number of preseason games came up during Tuesday’s board of directors meeting. It would involve two additional regular season games. Teams don’t want to lose players in games that have no impact on the standings.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

As I’ve discussed too much, Kailer Yamamoto is fighting for his metaphorical life, and he’s doing a damn good job.

His work finally paid off statistically on Tuesday when he scored two goals, including the match winner. In true hockey player fashion, he mentioned his linemates during his post-game interview on the broadcast.

“When you play with such experienced players, go to the back door and they will find you,” Yamamoto said of his second goal, a beautiful passing move that ended with a backdoor tap-in.

Yamamoto filled in for Nick Schmaltz on Utah HC’s top line on Tuesday. There are two ways to interpret that.

The first way is to assume this means the coaching staff trusts him so much that they want him in the top lane. There’s some truth to that, but the second way to interpret it is also true: He’s in a temporary spot that will undoubtedly be filled again when Schmaltz returns to the lineup.

No matter the situation, scoring two of your team’s three goals won’t hurt your chances of cracking the lineup.

Utah hockey for nerds

Day after day, Josh Doan proves he belongs in the NHL. This time he had no impact on the scoresheet, but his play without the puck was just as impressive as his recent offensive performances.

The largest bakery in the world could not have generated as much revenue as Doan in San Jose. I know it’s only preseason, but that was perhaps the most dominant preseason match I’ve ever seen.

As much as you fans and we media love high-flying offense, coaches like to see their guys make smart decisions without the puck. That’s what Doan does, adding to the list of reasons why he could make the team right out of camp.

“I think it’s always healthy to have competition like that,” Doan told me of Utah’s forward battle in the bottom six positions after practice on Monday. “It means you have a good team if there are a lot of guys competing for a spot. It is one of those things that as an organization you have to be happy to fight that battle. It’s better to fight that battle than the other way around and try to find guys for the spots.

What’s next?

Utah HC returns to Salt Lake City on Tuesday evening, practices at the Olympic Oval on Wednesday morning and then hops back on a plane to return to California on Wednesday evening. They play the Anaheim Ducks at 8:00 PM MDT.

The game will be streamed on Utah HC+, but will not be shown on cable TV. For a full game preview, see our recent preview article.