The Hat Trick: Utah Hockey Club Puts On A Show In OT Victory Over LA Kings

Sep 23, 2024 , 10:42 PM | Updated: Sep 25, 2024, 10:09 am
Comments

COLE BAGLEY


Utah Hockey Club Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – Despite a slow start and some early nerves, the Utah Hockey Club put on a thrilling show for their fans full of fights, goals, and an OT winner as they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in their first ever preseason home game.

Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s first preseason home victory.

The Utah Hockey Club’s Defense Needs Work but that is Expected

When you add several new faces to your defensive unit and give several young prospects solid minutes in the first preseason game, mistakes are bound to happen and that’s just fine.

Even though the defensive lines eventually cleaned things up for the most part against the Kings, it was a bit rough early on and there were moments that demonstrated this defense needs more time to develop.

Upon first glance, Mikhail Sergachev was solid, Sean Durzi was very good, Ian Cole was physical and overall, they were fine. But some of the miscues created odd-man rushes, two-on-one situations and forced the goaltenders to make some tremendous saves.

With time, and as this roster takes more of an NHL shape, they should be clicking on October 8.

You Mess with Utah, You Get the Tuna

It’s simply not a hockey game without a drop of the gloves and as you’d expect, Liam O’Brien was the first to fight in his initial appearance at the Delta Center.

After some scrappy play and tensions rising later in the period, O’Brien dropped the gloves, and the crowd absolutely loved it.

Not a particularly long fight, but O’Brien got the crowd on their feet and gave them a taste of what the NHL is truly like on a nightly basis.

Travis Barron then decided to avenge his goaltender after Connor Ingram was taken out by LA’s Jack Studnicka. This was a much better and longer fight as both players landed solid blows and were eventually separated by the referees.

While there weren’t any more fights after the first period, there were a few more scuffles and Utah made it clear they will be a physical team that doesn’t back down this season.

The Power Play Sparked Life into the Utah Hockey Club

After a poor start and a lot of apparent nerves in the first period, the Utah Hockey Club finally settled into their game after a few power play opportunities brought new life to the team.

Early on, the passing was poor, puck possession was non-existent, and there were a lot of unnecessary errors as the team failed to get into a groove. It also didn’t help that the Kings were hitting the forecheck incredibly hard, had really active sticks that broke up Utah passes and forced a plethora of turnovers.

However, during the first power play, Utah’s energy was suddenly ignited thanks to a unit led by Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev. Finally, the offensive zone opened up, there was instantly a lot more movement and Utah took advantage twice.

While some early chances didn’t quite find the back of the net, Lawson Crouse finally lit the lamp after some impressive puck movement and passing. Utah simply worked the zone, made some nice cross-ice passes and created space right in front of the net for Crouse to just tap it in.

“They were solid,” Coach Andre Tourigny said. “They did good on the power play, but even 5-on-5…It’s preseason. There’s a lot of rust, there’s a lot of puck decisions that were not perfect. Our battle level in the first period was not probably what we wanted. But it’s preseason. All in all, the reason why you play the preseason (games) is to get that rust off and get your timing. I think there’s more physicality than any training you can do during the summer. From the start of camp, if you look at the five days and the progression of the team to where we stand right now, it’s good.”

“Scoring the first goal, you could tell they were wanting to cheer for something and a couple goals in the first, a couple fights got them really into it. They stayed into it and it’s a good feeling,” Crouse said.

Just moments later, Utah was awarded yet another penalty and did the same thing as they put the Kings through the blender, fired it on net and Alexander Kerfoot was there to clean it up for the second goal of the night.

Notably, while the first power play line got things going, it was the second unit of Crouse, Kerfoot and Matias Maccelli that really sparked the team’s efforts.

“We did our homework,” Crouse said. “Obviously our power play coach does an incredible job of doing a pre-scout. You get a feel for where the open ice is going to be and it’s just about taking advantage, being on the same page as a unit, and we did that.”

Stay tuned on that group as Crouse and Maccelli will likely be a staple of the second or third line once the regular season begins.

RELATED STORIES

Utah Hockey Club Schedule

The Utah Hockey Club will continue their preseason against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena. The game can be viewed on SEG+.  Click here for the full schedule.

Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

Take us with you, wherever you go.

Download the new & improved KSL Sports app from Utah’s sports leader. You can stream live radio, video and stay up to date on all of your favorite teams.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION