Macklin Celebrini injured as Utah HC knocks off Sharks in California

I’m not sure if the team name is still up for debate, but I’m going to toss the “Utah Lifeguards” into the ring because they spotted the Sharks in the water and got to safety on Tuesday night.

It was a 3-1 win for the Utah Hockey Club over the San Jose Sharks, lifting Utah HC to 4-1-0 in the preseason. Kailer Yamamoto was the hero, scoring the two difference-making goals.

Utah Hockey for dummies

An awful theme has haunted the NHL this preseason: star players getting injured. That theme continued in Tuesday’s game as Sharks center Macklin Celebrini left the game with a lower-body injury.

It was a fluke play with no fault to anyone. After Connor Ingram rejected a partial breakaway, Celebrini caught an edge with his toe and tumbled hard into the corner boards. It’s not clear whether he was seriously hurt or just removed from the game for precautionary reasons, but you hate to see it either way.

Celebrini, the 2024 first-overall pick, was far from the only star player to get 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. 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, in addition to others, fell to injuries before that.

According to Pierre LeBrun, an NHL insider for TSN, the idea of reducing the number of games in the preseason arose in Tuesday’s board of governors meeting. It would come with two additional regular season games. Teams do not want to lose players in games that don’t have any impact on the standings.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

As I’ve talked about too much already, Kailer Yamamoto is battling for his metaphorical life, and he’s doing a darn good job at it.

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

“When you’re playing with two skilled players like that, get to the back door and they’ll find you,” Yamamoto said of his second goal, a beautiful passing play that ended with a back-door 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 that this means the coaching staff trusts him so much that they want him on the top line. There is some truth to that, but the second way of interpreting it is also true: He’s in a temporary spot that’s undoubtedly going to be filled again when Schmaltz returns to the lineup.

No matter the situation, though, scoring two of your team’s three goals can not hurt your chances at cracking the lineup.

Utah Hockey for nerds

Day after day, Josh Doan is proving that he belongs in the NHL. He didn’t impact the scoresheet this time around, but his play away from the puck was just as impressive as his recent offensive feats.

The world’s biggest bakery couldn’t have created as many turnovers as Doan did in San Jose. I know it’s just the preseason, but that may have been the most dominant forecheck I’ve ever seen.

As much as you fans and we media love high-flying offense, coaches want to see their guys making smart decisions without the puck. That’s what Doan is doing, which adds to the list of reasons why he might make the team right out of camp.

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

What’s next?

Utah HC returns to Salt Lake City on Tuesday night, practices at the Olympic Oval on Wednesday morning and then jumps back on the plane to get back to California Wednesday evening. They play the Anaheim Ducks at 8 p.m. 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 .