In Glendale, Jan Jenik hit a double on Wednesday night to help the Arizona Coyotes end a six-game slide with a 5-2 win over the visiting San Jose Sharks. 
“A callup is probably the best thing that could happen to me right now,” Jenik said. “I’m always trying to try my best and prove to coaches that I deserve it.”
Karel Vejmelka made 40 saves in the Arizona win.
“There was a lot of emotion out there,” Jenik said. “You’re glad we were able to come out of it with a win, but we lost our best player.”
The Coyotes improved to 21-41-5.
Brent Burns and Scott Reedy were the Sharks strikers.
“We had plenty of chances,” San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. “We hit three or four posts, but give them credit, their goalie played well. That’s sometimes what you get when you don’t capitalize early in the game. They pounced on our mistakes.”
The Sharks dropped to 29-29-8.
Arizona’s Clayton Keller was injured late in the game, he went into the boards legs first, and was stretchered off the ice.
“We know it will be long-term, but he will recover,” coach Andre Tourigny said. “We’re all sad not just with him getting hurt but being in pain like that. … He’s the heart and soul of our team.”
Keller acknowledged the fans as he was taken from the ice.
“It was tough to watch, obviously everyone in the building felt that,” Arizona’s Barrett Hayton said. “It definitely took a lot of fortitude, a lot of strength to refocus. Everyone was thinking of ‘Kells.'”
Hayton and Nick Ritchie also scored for the Coyotes.
“We had chances; I think we hit three posts, maybe more,” the Sharks’ Logan Couture said. “We’ve got to score more goals; we’re in the bottom five in the League. We’ve got to find a way to put it in the back of the net.”
Nick Schmaltz added an empty-net goal for the Coyotes for the 5-2 final.
James Reimer made 19 saves in the San Jose loss.
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