Clayton Keller disappeared.
The Utah Hockey Club captain took Michael Kesselring’s point shot to the face early in the second period and ran straight for the locker room.
“I got lucky, it didn’t catch my eye,” Keller said. “When it happened, it happened so fast you don’t really feel much.”
Twenty-five minutes later, the team and Delta Center crowd collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Keller — albeit, bloody, bruised and with 12 new stitches — was back on the ice for the final 4:40 of the middle frame.
“They do a great job of trying to get it done as quick as possible and getting us back out there,” Keller said. “I can see right now. I don’t know about tomorrow. Just kind of feels like something is pushing. But I’m good.”
It took Keller just a few shifts to help pull Utah ahead in the eventual 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets Monday at Delta Center.
The 26-year-old forward picked up the puck by the red line, carried it into the offensive zone and dropped it to Nick Schmaltz who found Olli Määttä open up top. With Keller screening in front, Määttä blasted it past Jets’ goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for the 1-0 advantage at 16:00 and his first goal with Utah.
“That’s a hockey player, huh?” head coach André Tourigny said. “He came back and in his first shift, no hesitation, takes the puck out on entry, went right to the net and got rewarded. Coming back without hesitation, without a doubt in his head, that was great.”
The play marked Keller’s eighth point in the past four games and 34th assist of the season — most on the Club roster.
“It does a lot for the bench knowing that he’s willing to do that and come back and go right back to the net-front the next shift and get rewarded,” forward Josh Doan said. “It’s one of those things where it’s part of the game but you hate to see it happen. To see him bounce back, that was huge for us.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club right wing Josh Doan (91) in NHL action between the Utah Hockey Club and the San Jose Sharks, at the Delta Center, on Friday, Jan 10, 2025.
Logan Cooley widened the gap with 17.9 seconds remaining in the period and extended his goal streak to four games, which is a new career high.
The 20-year-old streaked up the right side and wired the puck bar-down for the 2-0 boost. The center has seven points in the last five matchups and a total 42 on the season. He is three away from breaking his career record of 44 points through 82 games.
Utah wasted little time to extend its lead in the third period. A strong forecheck from Josh Doan helped the forward chip the puck to Barrett Hayton who was crashing the Jets’ net. Hayton got the puck between the hash marks and wristed it in to make it 3-0 at 4:53.
“I think that’s one of the most important parts of my game is being hard on the forecheck and forcing turnovers and making plays like that,” Doan said. “That’s something you have to take pride in.”
Hayton and Doan set up the next goal, too, but it was Matias Maccelli who buried it this time. The second line executed a pretty tic-tac-toe play off the rush which found Maccelli open in the slot to one-time the puck home for the 4-0 scoreline at 8:04. It was Maccelli’s ninth goal of the season as well as Doan’s second point and Hayton’s third point of the night.
“Both plays were really set up by Hayton and working hard,” Doan said.
Winnipeg countered with a two-goal push. Nino Niederreiter and Dylan DeMelo scored within three minutes of each other to put the Jets within two by the 11:48 mark. Utah refused to collapse, though, and none other than Keller potted the empty-net goal at 17:55 to bring the game to its final 5-2 standing.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club forward Barrett Hayton (27) as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Los Angeles Kings, NHL pre-season hockey in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
“Even when [Winnipeg] had a push in the rest of the game, never felt the boat was rocking,” Tourigny said. “We had great leadership, we had great presence. Proud of the way we weathered the storm and stayed with it.”
The Jets, who lead the Central Division by five points and sit second in the NHL rankings, came into Delta Center winning three of their last four games. Utah did not let the numbers get in its head and put forth a high-paced, even-keeled effort which earned it two more points in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Club will face Winnipeg again on Friday.
“They’re such a great team, they’re so tough to create,” Keller said. “I think we did a good job tonight of taking what was there and not forcing it. I think that’s something earlier in the year that we wouldn’t have done.”
