San Jose Sharks lose to Arizona Coyotes; Clayton Keller hurt

The San Jose Sharks didn’t have much luck in their final visit to Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The Sharks hit the post three times in Wednesday’s game with the Arizona Coyotes, including one off the stick of Logan Couture in the third period.

And on the Coyotes’ go-ahead goal, Phil Kessel batted a pass from Anton Stralman back to Jan Jenik, who was left alone in front of the net and beat Sharks goalie James Reimer at the 7:11 mark of the third period.

Jenik’s goal, his second of the game, proved to be the winner and wasn’t the only time a Coyotes player was left alone in front as the Sharks lost 5-2 on Wednesday.

Scott Reedy and Brent Burns both scored and Reimer finished with 19 saves in the Sharks’ loss, their second in the last five games and their first in three meetings with the Coyotes this season. Tomas Hertl also hit the post twice.

Nick Ritchie, Barrett Hayton, and Nick Schmaltz also scored for the Coyotes, who were outshot by the Sharks 42-24. Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka had 40 saves.

“Vejmelka was their best player. We had multiple chances,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “The story of the game was that they pounced on our mistakes and capitalized on them, and we couldn’t.”

The Sharks finish their two-game road trip Thursday night in Colorado against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche.

With the game tied 2-2 and just over five minutes into the third period, Couture was gifted a breakaway after an errant pass from Clayton Keller, but his shot from the slot ran hard off the post.

The Sharks had been more scoring goals of late, but Wednesday’s marked the 35th time this season they’ve been held to two goals or fewer. They are 6-24-5 in those games.

The Sharks are averaging just 1.72 goals per game during 5-on-5 play, second-worst in the NHL, ahead of only Montreal (1,716).

“Some big saves by their goaltender, but we’ve got to score. Got to find a way to score more goals,” Couture said. “We’re in the bottom five in the league at goal-scoring, so we’ve got to find a way to put in the back of the net.”

A scary moment took place with 5:15 left in the third period, as Coyotes winger Clayton Keller violently fell – legs first – into the end boards in the Sharks’ zone as he was being pursued by Sharks defenseman Nicolas Meloche. Keller, the Coyotes’ leading scorer with 63 points in 66 games, had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Coyotes coach André Tourigny after the game said the Keller injury was taken to a hospital and that he will be long-term, “but he will recover.”

“I think we are all sad to see him not just get hurt, but being in pain like that, we all feel for him,” Tourigny said. “I think the game is completely irrelevant right now, and our thoughts and prayers are with him right now.”

The arena was silent as Keller remained on the ice for several minutes.

“You’re just kind of watching. All of your thoughts are on him at that moment,” Couture said. “You want to give him his space and respect that, but once that ends you have to regroup, and we didn’t.”

Wednesday marked the San Jose Sharks’ last trip to Gila River Arena in Glendale, as the Coyotes announced plans last month to play their home games for the next three seasons at a still unfinished 5,000-seat arena on the campus of Arizona State in Tempe.

With their lease at Gila River Arena set to expire at the end of this season, and no desire on the part of Glendale City Council to extend it, the Coyotes in February said they would be playing at ASU for three years while they develop a $1.7 billion arena and entertainment complex on a 40-acre site in Tempe. The city council in Tempe still has to vote on the proposal.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming here,” Boughner said. “I have some family in the area so I get to see them when I come to Arizona most times so that for me is the thing I’ll take away from after the games, being able to go out and see some familiar faces.”

The Sharks and Coyotes were tied 1-1 after the first period.

A Ryan Merkley shot from the blue line on a Sharks power play bounced off both John Leonard and Reedy before it got past Vejmelka for a 1-0 San Jose lead at the 12:15 mark of the opening period. The goal was Reedy’s second of his NHL career, with the first coming Feb. 27 at home against Seattle.

The Coyotes tied it at the 15:46 mark, as Schmaltz found Ritchie, who was left alone in front of the Sharks net, and tapped it past Reimer for his 10th goal of the season.