There has been a lot of talk about Lawson Crouse.
The Utah Hockey Club forward silenced the noise Thursday in his team’s 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome with two goals, including the game-winner in the third period.
Crouse had gone 14 games — since Nov. 29 — without scoring and had two points in the last 10 games ahead of Utah’s matchup with the Flames.
But the associate captain broke through the slump in the opening frame and looked more like the 20-plus goal-scorer that the team relied on last season.
“It’s huge. He’s been the same since day one. Such a great teammate, great guy to be around no matter if he’s scoring or he’s not scoring,” Clayton Keller said. “Great to see him get rewarded there. He plays hard every single night, does the little things. That’s huge for us moving forward.”
On top of his offensive production, Crouse finished with three shots, one block and three hits through 12:22 of ice time.
Crouse’s first of the contest came at 8:51 of the first period after Liam O’Brien went in hard on the forecheck, won a wall battle and kept the puck in the offensive zone. Ian Cole picked up the loose rubber along the boards and dished it across to Crouse who one-timed it in from the right circle.
“It felt good, obviously,” Crouse said. “It feels better to get a win. That’s a big win, we needed that. Something to build off going into Dallas.”
O’Brien filled in on the third line’s left wing on Thursday. Matias Maccelli was sidelined with an illness that has been going through Utah’s locker room and kept Keller out on Tuesday.
It took an unintentional stomach bug to change the personnel on the third line but it nonetheless worked. O’Brien, as he is known to do, brought physicality, energy and desperation to the trio. Crouse’s first tally does not happen without the initial hustle play from O’Brien — and it set him up for a productive night.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club left wing Lawson Crouse (67) brings the puck down the ice during the third period of the game at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.
“They played with pace, they had no hesitation in their game, they were skating, they were hard on the forecheck,” head coach André Tourigny said of the third line. “Big man came up with two big goals. Happy for him.”
While Utah earned a 2-1 advantage early in the second period with a power-play goal from Logan Cooley after Blake Coleman scored on Calgary’s man advantage in the first, the Flames potted two tallies to pull ahead.
Connor Zary deflected a shot past Karel Vejmelka at 7:26 for the 2-2 equalizer and Brayden Pachal followed it up with a snapshot from the right side gifted to him by a Utah turnover in its own zone. Pachal’s goal gave the Flames a 3-2 lift going into the final frame.
“We knew we all had better. We knew we needed to play better and we were ready to go when the puck dropped,” Crouse said of the third period. “I think all season we have done a good job of not quitting. Tonight is another example of that. We have a lot of character in our locker room. No quit and go right to the end of the game. Tonight that paid off for us.”
Instead of waiting for Calgary to set the tone, The Club exploded for a three-goal period to secure the 5-3 win. It started with Keller’s 14th of the season 37 seconds into the stanza. The captain tipped in Olli Määttä’s blast from the point to make it 3-3 and reenergize his group.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Newly acquired Utah Hockey Club defenseman Olli Maatta (2) warms up with the team for the first time before their NHL game against the Calgary Flames at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024.
Määttä logged his second assist of the period on Crouse’s second goal of the night — and sixth of the year — which turned out to be the game-winner. Määttä wired the puck to Nick Bjugstad at the offensive blueline where he dropped it to Crouse in front to wrist home and regain the lead at 2:35.
“A guy like Crouse, the good thing about him is, like he did tonight, he can score goals and shoot pucks. But as well he’s physical, he brings speed, he’s good defensively, he kills penalties,” Tourigny said. “He does a lot of good stuff other than shooting. But obviously, when you have a guy that can produce and have all those tools, it’s pretty cool.”
Kevin Stenlund capped it off with an empty-net goal at 19:00 to bring the game to its final 5-3 scoreline, marking his seventh goal of the season.
Utah will close its four-game road trip Saturday against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center for another divisional matchup.
