NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 14: Dylan Guenther #11 of Utah Hockey Club skates against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on October 14, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Canada – Appearing in his 100th career NHL game, Utah Hockey Club leading scorer Dylan Guenther lit the lamp to give his team a 1-0 second-period lead over Montreal.
Utah Hockey Club (8-10-3, 19 pts) is in the Great White North to face the Canadiens de Montréal at Bell Center on Tuesday, November 26.
Dylan Guenther snipe puts Utah up 1-0 🎯#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/6CoATriHTX
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 27, 2024
In front of the Canadiens net, a frenetic sequence saw the puck bounce from Clayton Keller, who found Nick Schmaltz along the boards. Schmaltz located Guenther cross-ice, and the third-year winger one-timed a blast past Sam Montembeault to take the lead.
Montreal evened the game at one less than two minutes later.
Despite an impressive effort during the first and third periods, the Utah Hockey Club experienced yet another dooming stretch that buried any chances of winning the second half of their back-to-back. Following three consecutive goals from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Utah failed to emerge from another two-goal deficit and lost 3-2 on Sunday night.
After a strong first period and an early 1-0 lead, the Utah Hockey Club allowed three goals in five minutes, putting them at a two-goal deficit, and they were yet again unable to crawl out.
During those five minutes, it was an additional poor stretch of hockey where everything that could go wrong went wrong. They committed unnecessary stick penalties, put themselves at a disadvantage, had several key defensive breakdowns, made a bad change, and completely came apart.
“It’s a big issue. You get on the road and repeat the same mistake, the same guys, a stick penalty…that’s tough. Our game management, our game in the game, cost us today. From bad change to getting in penalty trouble,” Head coach Andre Tourigny said.
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