Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) scores the only goal in the shootout against the Utah Hockey Club’s goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Dec 10, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–After climbing back from behind in the third period to take the lead, Utah surrendered the tying goal with 44 seconds remaining and fell to Minnesota 5-4, failing to score in the franchise’s first shootout.

The Utah Hockey Club swept their two-game road trip over the past several days, first defeating the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Saturday in a game featuring Utah’s first Gordie Howe hat trick by defenseman Michael Kesselring in his 100th NHL game and in which head coach André Tourigny recorded his 100th career coaching victory, followed by a 4-2 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Sunday. It was also the first time Utah has recorded back-to-back victories since winning their first three games of the season, giving them a 8-6-2 record on the road.

Utah entered Tuesday night’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild with a 4-5-2 home record and hoping to break even with a win over their division rival. Kevin Stenlund got Utah off on the right foot with his 4th goal of the season at 13:46 of the first period, assisted by Michael Carcone. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka turned away 17 shots in a very lopsided opening frame.

With a little more than five minutes remaining in the second period, Minnesota forward Marat Khusnutdinov evened things up for the Wild with an unassisted goal. Teammate Kirill Kaprizov made it 2-1 just 36 seconds later, netting his 18th goal of the season, assisted by Marcus Johansson. Kaprizov trails only Sam Reinhart of Florida and Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton by one in the NHL goal scoring race.

Early in the third period, Utah caught a break as Matt Boldy went to the penalty box for tripping against Clayton Keller. On the ensuing power play, Keller cashed it in for his 8th goal of the season to tie things up, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev.

The momentum vanished less than a minute later when Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson scored his fourth goal of the season unassisted, silencing the crowd which had been so exuberant mere seconds earlier.

Midway through the third, Utah caught yet another break as Marco Rossi went to the sin bin for tripping against Dylan Guenther. With time running out on the power play, Clayton Keller drilled a nearly identical shot past Minnesota netminder Filip Gustavsson for his second of the night and ninth on the season, assisted again by Sergachev and Guenther, making things even at 3-3.

At 11:45 of the period, Utah defenseman Juuso Välimäki gave Utah its first lead since the opening period with just his second goal of the season, assisted by Lawson Crouse. The home team locked down its defense the rest of the way until the Wild pulled Gustavsson for an extra attacker in the closing minutes. With just 44 seconds remaining in regulation, Minnesota’s Marco Rossi from Feldkirch, Austria, stunned the Utah faithful with his 10th goal of the season to send the game to overtime.

Neither side was able to claim victory in extra frame, sending the game to Utah’s first-ever shootout where Matt Boldy was able to get past Karel Vejmelka while Filip Gustavsson shut the door on Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller, and Nick Bjugstad to steal the win for the Wild and a first-place tie with the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division. Utah drops to 4-5-3 at home with it’s fifth straight home loss.

Utah HC head coach André Tourigny addressed the media after the game. “It was a tough game. They’re a good team. For us, it’s our third game in four nights and with the long travel…we’re not as urgent as we normally are. So having that pushback late in the game, even if the guys were tired, I think that was huge. Unfortunately, we could not close the deal, that will go in the baggage and we won’t forget it. Sometimes we show our age a little bit. We’re a young team and we got emotional, especially when you’re tired. It’s bittersweet that we got a big point again against the number-one team in our division. Having said that, I would have loved to have two points, especially when you have a lead late in the game. But there are a lot of positives.”

Talking about Clayton Keller’s two power-play goals, Tourigny continued, “I thought those two were really clutch at key moments. I like the way he competes. I think his game is really taking off, and the way he competes, the way he works from the inside, both sides of the puck. He’s doing a good job.”

Utah captain Clayton Keller talked about the power play goals and the shootout loss. “I think the boys played hard tonight. It was nice to get a couple on the power play. Hopefully, build some momentum there. I thought we got better as the game went on. It was a little sloppy early. I’m proud of the guys for the way we fought back. We got the lead there, just gotta have better coverage…But we’ll learn from it and be ready to go next game. … There’s going to be games throughout the year where you’re a little sloppy with your execution; a couple mistakes here and there. But I’m proud of the way we fought. The power play stepped up, which we hadn’t recently. That’s a good step in the right direction. I think we have a lot of confidence right now. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Tuesday night marked the third straight one-game homestand for the Utah Hockey Club. Utah hits the road once again for games against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday and the San Jose Sharks on Saturday before returning to Salt Lake City for yet another one-game appearance against the Vancouver Canucks at 8:00pm MST on Wednesday, December 18.