Hayton's late goal lifts Utah Hockey Club past Sharks

SALT LAKE CITY -- Barrett Hayton scored with 1:32 remaining in regulation to give the Utah Hockey Club a 2-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Delta Center on Friday.

Hayton got his own rebound in the right corner, skated up to the top of the circle, and scored over the glove of Alexandar Georgiev.

“It's huge,” Hayton said of the win. “I think we've been in a lot of one-goal games where we just haven't been able to get that last one or capitalize or just execute on a couple scoring plays. So, yeah, it's a huge runoff to see this big (seven-game) homestand for us. We've got to take advantage of it.”

Nick Schmaltz also scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for Utah (18-16-7), which had lost two straight (0-1-1) and seven of its past eight (1-5-2).

“The guys stayed with it and played really well defensively,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We want to win, we want to get in the [playoff race], we want to get climbing in the standings and all those things, and that comes with a ton of pressure internally and externally. And for all those reasons, I think that's a good learning experience.”

Fabian Zetterlund scored, and Georgiev made 24 saves for the Sharks (13-25-6), who have lost two straight and 10 of their past 12 (2-9-1).

“It wasn't good enough tonight,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Puck play was awful. It just wasn't enough.”

Zetterlund scored 58 seconds into the first period to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. He buried a rebound in the slot after Vejmelka kicked out a backdoor pass from Mikael Granlund.

“We weren't really good with the puck,” Granlund said. “[We] didn't really get anything going offensively all night. They defended well, but we've got to be better with the puck. We've got to win some battles.”

Schmaltz tied it 1-1 at 5:57 of the second period. He took a pass along the left boards and skated up and across the offensive zone before beating Georgiev short side under his glove from the right circle.

Clayton Keller appeared to score for Utah at 3:22 of the third period, but San Jose challenged the play for the goaltender interference, and the call was reversed after a video review.

“You've got to build momentum at the end of the day, and this is a massive homestand to do that,” Hayton said. “We start with [one win] and we build on it. [We have] a big match again tomorrow (against the New York Islanders). We've got to get ready for it.”

NOTES: Sharks forward Klim Kostin left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. There was no update. ... Defenseman Nick DeSimone had the secondary assist on Schmaltz's goal. He was making his debut with Utah after being claimed off waivers from the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.