John Marino believes ‘there’s still a lot left' in Utah Hockey Club

Winnipeg • John Marino spent four months watching Utah Hockey Club from the outside.

Now back from injury, the defenseman has quickly embedded himself into the team systems and mindset. One thing has been clear for Marino through six games played with The Club.

“You can see guys want to win here and we’re able to compete against any team,” he said.

Friday’s 5-2 loss against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre was another game in which Utah held its own and challenged the opponent but did not have enough to gather two points.

They were close, though, tying things 2-2 at the beginning of the third period before giving up three goals against.

The loss closed out a four-game stretch in which Utah played all Central Division teams. The Club got six points out of the week, beating the Jets at Delta Center on Monday before earning wins against the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild.

Despite Friday’s sour ending, Marino sees the will from his new teammates. He’s been a big part of it, too. The 26-year-old led all defensemen with 22:56 of ice time in Winnipeg and assisted on Barrett Hayton’s tying goal.

“It’s a young group of guys who have played together for a little bit here. They have a bunch of chemistry out there too and it’s pretty easy to fit in with them,” Marino said. “There’s still a ton of confidence in that room — what we’re able to do and how we’ve been playing lately. ... I think everyone knows how good we can be and there’s still a lot left.”

Marino’s assist came 1:19 into the third period. Clayton Keller wired the puck to him as they entered the zone. Marino brought it down low before hitting Hayton in the high slot where he wristed it by Jets’ netminder Connor Hellebuyck for the 2-2 equalizer. It was Hayton’s 12th goal of the season and fourth in three games.

“He’s been huge coming back. It’s impressive seeing what he’s done. It’s crazy being out for that long and coming into this prime time of the season — it’s fast hockey, it’s competitive hockey,” Hayton said of Marino. “He’s a skilled, smart player and makes a lot of great plays.”

Cole Perfetti regained the Jets’ advantage at 5:51 with his second goal of the game — and what turned into a hat trick by the end of the night. The forward was stationed on the left doorstep of Connor Ingram’s net and knocked in the loose puck that popped out from an initial point shot.

Nikolaj Ehlers extended the gap to 4-2 at 12:16 with a back-handed goal off a breakaway after Utah turned it over at the offensive blue line. Perfetti’s empty-net tally at 18:15 sealed the 5-2 win for the Jets.

“I think when they scored their third goal, it was tough for us to generate and sustain offense,” Utah head coach André Tourigny said. “I think we worked hard, we did the right thing, we just maybe ran out of gas or played against a really good team that’s really good at defending.”

Utah had its legs in the first 40 minutes — which included a power-play goal from Nick Schmaltz.

After Perfetti scored on the power play in the first period for a 1-0 lead, Utah struck on its own man advantage to open the middle frame.

Schmaltz planted himself in front and tipped Michael Kesselring’s shot in for the 1-1 scoreline at 1:13. The play marked Schmaltz’s 10th goal of the season and fourth point in the last three games. The forward also extended his point streak to eight games.

“He’s a leader, he’s a top player and he’s a big-minute player. Schmaltz can do a lot of stuff on the ice,” Tourigny said. “The team as a whole, we’re playing hard, with more pace. I think we’re playing in our strength more. I like the mindset.”

Kesselring has run the point on the first power play unit for the past four games in Mikhail Sergachev’s absence; the defenseman is day to day with an upper-body injury. With the assist on Schmaltz’s goal, Kesselring has a goal and an assist on the power play since his promotion.

The Jets then capitalized on a miscue from Ingram. The Utah goaltender went out of the crease to retrieve a dumped-in puck but it instead bounced out to the left circle where David Gustafsson blasted it into the open net. Winnipeg earned the 2-1 lead at 8:48 and took it into the final stanza where things started to unravel and resulted in a loss for Utah.

“I think we’re all pretty pissed off about losing that game,” Hayton said. “That was a big one for us as a group. Looking back it was a four-game stretch against these teams we’re competing with. Those first three were great games, but right now it’s tough to look at it that way.”