St Louis Blues center Dylan Holloway (81) and Blues center Brayden Schenn (10) with Utah Hockey Club left win Matias Maccelli (63) battle for the puck at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Feb 2, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah had defeated St. Louis in each of the two previous matchups, but the Blues take Game 3 of the season series.

The St. Louis returned to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday night for their third encounter with the Utah Hockey Club this season. Utah prevailed 4-2 in each of the previous two games both at home and on the road.

Alexandre Texier got things going for the Blues at 17:41 of the first period with a wrist shot for his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Radek Faksa and Alexey Toropchenko.

Goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Connor Ingram both defended their nets in the second period to prevent further scoring.

At 3:27 of the third, Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring tied things up with his 6th goal of the season, assisted by Nick Bjugstand and Kevin Stenlund. Unfortunately for the home squad, Blues forward Jordan Kyrou regained the St. Louis lead at 7:13 of the frame with his 22nd goal of the season, assisted by Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. The 2-1 lead would hold up as the Blues broke out of a four-game losing streak while Utah went down to defeat for the fifth consecutive game, and 15 of the last 20.

After the game, Utah’s lone goal-scorer Michael Kesselring talked about his squad’s struggles. “It’s tough, we just got to get more pucks than that, and bodies and bang away. It’s a tough situation. We got to get out of those situations. … Obviously the break is coming up, but these are playoff games for us. We need to win, we need to push. I know we have some injuries, but there’s no excuses. Like I said, it’s the NHL, so we have to find a way here.” Talking about whether the team is getting frustrated, Kesselring responded, “Honestly, the mood is pretty good. Maybe tonight was (not) our best game, but I thought we were playing really well before this. So you have to get over it quick. Watch some video, make some adjustments, but we have to be ready to go next game.”

Defenseman Ian Cole talked about the problem with shot lanes. “They (St. Louis) did a good job. You know, they were coming back to the middle and, off their forecheck through the neutral zone, into their D zone. And then, you get the puck, look up all you really see are white jerseys. So they did a good job with it, so kudos to them. But that being said, we did get good chances when we got pucks down there, so we need to do that.” Cole agreed with Kesselring’s comments about every game at this stage being a playoff game for the team. “I think that’s an accurate assessment in terms of they are playoff games. We’re playing for our playoff lives right now. And (I) didn’t love our first, thought we responded better as the game went on, but again, kind of lost it. Lost it in the third a little bit.”

Head coach André Tourigny addressed his team’s difficulties at producing when pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker. “I think we’ve gotten better lately. I think early on, on 6-on-5, we gave up a lot of goals. We could not sustain a lot of possessions…I think we need to simplify at 6-on-5. … I think (sometimes) we were trying to make too good of a play. The middle was clogged; it’s really tough. Like I said, the last two or three (extra-attacker opportunities) we had shots, we had opportunities. We hit the crossbar today. We’re almost there.” The coach was asked about the importance of finishing strong in the final games leading up to the break for the 4 Nations Faceoff. “It’s super important. For us, we’re in a sprint. I talked before, it’s a race. Every step is important. It’s an extremely huge game for us (Tuesday) against Philly. We need the two points; we need to finish the homestand at least at .500, hit the road and have a helluva road trip before the break. There’s no doubt about it.”

Utah wraps up the four-game homestand on Tuesday with a 7:00pm tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers, after which they will hit the road for games against Columbus, Carolina, and Washington prior to the 4 Nations Faceoff break.