Sharks Visit Utah Mammoth With Celebrini Carrying an 8-11-2 Team
San Jose takes a three-game skid into Salt Lake City, where a banged-up Utah squad is also struggling to string wins together.
The San Jose Sharks (8-11-2) travel to Delta Center to face the Utah Mammoth (10-8-1) in the first game of the season series. San Jose sits 11th in the Western Conference. Utah has the better record, but its recent form looks a lot like the Sharks'.
Two teams trending the wrong way
Think of this as a matchup between two systems with elevated error rates. The Sharks have lost four of their last five, and the three most recent were all on the road:
- L at LA 7-2
- L at MIN 4-1
- L at DAL 4-3
Their only win in that stretch was a 3-2 shootout victory over the Islanders. They also lost a shootout to Pittsburgh, so two of the last five came down to the wire. The last two games, though, were 7-2 and 4-1 defeats, and that gap in goals is the part to worry about.
Utah is 1-4 over its last five: a 6-3 loss at Philadelphia, a 3-2 win at Toronto, a 5-4 overtime loss at Montreal, a 4-2 loss at Ottawa and a 5-3 loss at Vegas. The Mammoth have allowed at least 4 goals in four of those five games. If San Jose can create offense, there may be room to work with.
Celebrini is the whole dashboard
Macklin Celebrini leads San Jose in goals (8), assists (15) and points (23). He is first on the team in all three categories, which is a single point of failure from a roster-design standpoint. Utah's top scorer, Clayton Keller, has 25 points (20 assists), and Logan Cooley leads the Mammoth with 11 goals.
Cooley is listed as out with an upper-body injury, which is a real subtraction. Nick Schmaltz is day-to-day with a lower-body issue. Utah also has Nate Schmidt, Dylan Guenther and John Marino on injured reserve.
San Jose is dealing with its own list: Igor Chernyshov, Quentin Musty and goalie Kyle Keyser are all on injured reserve with upper-body injuries.
The road problem
San Jose is 4-6-1 away from home. Utah is 4-2-0 at home. That's a small sample, but it points in the same direction as the rest of the data. The Sharks have given up 4 or more goals in three of their last five.
How to watch
When: Saturday, Nov. 14, 9:00 p.m. ET Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City Broadcast: ESPN+, NBC Sports BA, Utah 16, Mammoth+
Our take
Treat this as a hypothesis, not a forecast. Utah has the home edge and the better record, but it is missing its goals leader and has been leaky on defense. San Jose's road results have been poor, and its offense runs through one player. I lean toward Utah in a close one, but with both teams this inconsistent, one game won't tell us much. Take the Mammoth, 4-3.