SAN JOSE – Despite trailing for the first 50 minutes of the game and playing for the second consecutive night, the Utah Mammoth fought back from a two goal deficit to force overtime and earn a hard fought point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks.

JJ Peterka scored both of the Mammoth goals late in the third period to get the game into the extra period where San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini scored the game-winner on the power-play to thwart the furious Mammoth rally and complete his third career NHL hat trick.

“Proud of the guys for their effort, their comeback,” head coach André Tourigny explained postgame. “It was on the back-to-back, needed to have the push, proud of them for that. Not happy because I feel it’s a game we didn’t start on time and we need to find a way to win games and especially those games. There’s a mixed feeling there, there’s a part I’m proud of their effort, their resilience. There’s a part, we need to find a way.”

The Mammoth have played the most road games in the NHL up to this point and head back to Salt Lake City on a four-game point streak having picked up five of eight possible points over that stretch.

“If you look across the league, it’s a one-goal game every time,” Tourigny shared. “It’s a one-shot game. For us, it’s three games in a row in overtime. It is what it is. You need to have the urgency all the time, and you need to have the resilience which we have, and we showed it again tonight. We found a way, but we need to close the deal.”

Peterka showed his skill and speed in the third period on a new line with Lawson Crouse and Logan Cooley. The forward’s first goal of the night was halfway through the final frame. After Cooley and Crouse battled for the puck, Crouse quickly sent it up ice. Peterka drove into the zone and scored his seventh of the season.

In the final three minutes of regulation, Peterka tied the game, 2-2, with his second goal of the night. The forward used his speed once again as he entered the zone. His shot bounced through San Jose’s netminder Yaroslav Askarov and across the goal line. Four of Peterka’s eight goals this season have come in the last four games.

“I think exposing them with speed was the key,” Peterka explained. “Good plays before (the goals) and just trying to (score).”

“He played a solid third period, two big goals,” Tourigny said. “He was clutch, no doubt about it.”

Through regulation, Utah’s penalty kill was strong once again. While shorthanded, the Mammoth held the Sharks to only three shots through four power play opportunities in the first 60 minutes to keep the Mammoth in the game.

Utah has killed off 21 straight penalties in regulation and have the best PK% in the NHL since Oct. 27.