Colorado Avalanche Artturi Lehkonen (62) gets the puck past Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karl Vejmelka (70) in third period action at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Dec 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah would have liked to put their 2024 home record behind them after going 1-3-2 in December the pain continues as Utah took a three goal loss to Colorado 4-1 on Friday night at the Delta Center.

The Utah Hockey Club wrapped up their 2024 home schedule on Friday night against the visiting Colorado Avalanche. It was the third and final matchup of the season between the division rivals, with the two teams splitting their previous encounters.

The first period wound up scoreless, with Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka stopping 14 shots and his Colorado counterpart, Mackenzie Blackwood, stopping 11.

Nearly 12 minutes into the second period, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen gave Colorado the first lead of the game with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Malinski. Utah failed to respond in a period which concluded in a fight between MacKinnon and Barrett Hayton with eight seconds remaining.

At 2:36 of the third period, Avs forward Mikko Rantanen went to the penalty box for tripping against Olli Määttä. A little over a minute into the man-advantage, Utah evened the score when Logan Cooley fed the puck to Mikhail Sergachev who ripped a shot from deep in Utah’s offensive zone which was tipped in by Nick Schmaltz for his sixth goal of the season.

With a little more than five minutes remaining in the third, Artturi Kehkonen struck again with his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Valeri Nichushkin and Nathan MacKinnon. As the clock ticked down, Utah pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker, but the strategy failed when Mikko Rantanen atoned for his penalty with an empty net goal, his 20th of the season, assisted by MacKinnon. As fans began to head to the exits, Artturi Kehkonen completed the hat trick into an empty net unassisted with 26 seconds remaining.

The loss gives Utah a 1-3-2 record at home in December with the regulation losses coming against their closest division rivals competing for the wild card positions. Asked in the locker room about the team’s challenges winning at home, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev commented, “I don’t know. Honestly, we’re coming in every game with the same approach to win and to play our best. At home, it doesn’t show. I don’t think we were changing anything. I don’t know. … Obviously, we want to win in front of our fans, and they get us going every game, but it sucks. We’re trying to win every game. It’s not like we’re not trying at home. I think fans see that we’re not giving up ever. We’re coming in. We’re hitting, going strong, skating well. It’s just unfortunate.”

Head coach André Tourigny, commenting on his team’s performance, “I think we played against a really good team who were ready to play. They played hard the first two periods. I will say, especially in the first period, I think we tried to do a little bit too much with the puck, and we could not get inside. They defended well. I think in the second period, we had a good forecheck and quite good offense from it. In the third period, I think we had a great push. Our goalie was really good. I think we played against a team who will raise their level and that was good hockey.”

Utah, which is 11-6-2 on the road this season, hopes to continue their road success during their next four games in Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary, and Dallas. They will return to Salt Lake City on January 8 to face the Florida Panthers for the first of seven consecutive games at home where they hope to turn the corner in 2025.