Utah Hockey Club’s 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights felt like a microcosm of the team’s season.
There were shades of excellence but also of youth and immaturity. Consistency has been an aspiration for Utah — from shift to shift, period to period and game to game. Friday’s performance at Delta Center showed it is still a work in progress. Utah has not strung together consecutive wins since the first week of the season.
Utah had a first period that showcased some of its best hockey of the year in terms of cohesion and attention to detail. Its sticks were active, gaps were tight and offensive instincts were heightened. What’s more, Utah went 85.7% from the face-off dot and led 16-9 in shots on goal by the end of the 20 minutes.
The team could not replicate that same dominance for the remainder of the night.
“It’s frustrating when you had a great start to the game, [then a] couple mistakes in the second,” Utah captain Clayton Keller said. “This one hurts. We were right there. Everyone was feeling good and we just made a couple mistakes and it cost us.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club center Kevin Stenlund (82) and Vegas Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) vie for the puck during the third period of the game at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.
A strong forecheck from the second line led to Utah’s first goal. Dylan Guenther kept the puck in the zone at the blueline and dumped it down to Matias Maccelli who found Logan Cooley left open in the high slot. With no hesitation, Cooley one-timed it home for the 1-0 lead at 11:16 of the opening frame.
It felt like a goal that had been brewing for the 20-year-old who has had a recognizable jump in the past few games. Coming into his sophomore season Cooley talked about wanting to round out his play, and the center has stuck to that as a feisty competitor in all three zones.
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev scored his second goal in as many games to put Utah up 2-0 at 6:59 of the middle stanza. With Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin in the box for roughing, Utah capitalized on its power play for the first time since Oct. 30 against the Calgary Flames. Sergachev carried the puck to the inside hash marks before lasering it in for his 12th point of the season.
“After we scored that goal, I think we didn’t play good enough. We could’ve given our team, if not a goal, momentum maybe. We didn’t do that,” Sergachev said.
The Golden Knights potted a power-play tally of their own at 13:37 off a back-handed shot from Tomas Hertl to make it 2-1.
Utah had the opportunity to extend its lead at the beginning of the third period as it had 1:04 remaining on a power play, but it did not. The team was put on the man advantage once again at 4:18 and couldn’t convert.
“We could not get the big goal,” head coach André Tourigny said. “The killer goal would have probably changed everything. But we could not separate ourselves.”
That has often been an issue for Utah. While Tourigny pointed out — but did not blame — the lapses from some of his younger players on Friday, the team needs its top, veteran guys to strike in these situations.
Utah has not proven to have one specific clutch player it can turn to.
Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse led the team in scoring last season with 33, 23 and 22 goals, respectively.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club take a timeout during the third period of the game at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.
“It’s the best league in the world, it’s hard to win. I’m learning, our team is learning,” Keller said.
While Keller has been producing somewhat consistently, Crouse has not scored since Oct. 24 and has a total of four points through 17 games. Schmaltz is still looking for his first goal of the year and has one point in his last five games.
Vegas found the 2-2 equalizer when Maveric Lamoureux was called for hooking. Hertl buried his second of the night at 8:23 with a snapshot from just above the crease. William Karlsson then scored twice — once off a tip-in shot and once into an empty net — to secure the 4-2 win for the Golden Knights.
“They were good, but it was on us. We let it slip a little bit, kind of lost our focus and gave up two. That should never happen,” Sergachev said of the penalty kill.
“I feel like we kind of respect teams too much. We give them ice and give them the puck to play with. Instead, we should be the ones playing with the puck. It’s a matter of finding the right balance.”
Utah inched its way closer to playing a complete 60 minutes, but is still searching for the in-game regularity that breeds winning teams.
