Utah Hockey Club defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) and Anaheim Ducks left wing Cutter Gauthier (61) battle for the puck in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Mar 12, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Utah Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev fed Dylan Guenther the game-winning goal in the third period for his 300th career point en route to defeating the Ducks on home ice.
The Utah Hockey Club welcomed the Anaheim Ducks to Delta Center on Wednesday night for the third and final meeting between the clubs this season. Anaheim prevailed 5-4 during both previous encounters which ended in overtime and a shootout. Utah entered the game 4 points of Anaheim in the Wild Card hunt.
At 11:03 of the first period, Utah forward Jack McBain tipped in a blast from Ian Cole for his 12th goal of the season with the additional assist by Josh Doan. Anaheim backup goaltender Ville Husso turned away 16 of 17 shots in a lopsided frame wherein the Ducks unsuccessfully challenged Karel Vejmelka with 8 shots on goal.
Alexander Kerfoot put Utah up 2-0 at 14:31 of the second period on a snap shot for his 8th of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Barrett Hayton. Less than two minutes later the Ducks got one back on a goal from forward Alex Killorn, his 14th of the season, assisted by Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier.
Early in the third period, Mikhail Sergachev went to the box for hooking against Mason McTavish who would immediately cash it in and tie the score on the power play for his 18th goal of the season, assisted by Trevor Zegras and Jackson LaCombe. A few minutes later, with Olen Zellweger in the sin bin for hooking against Josh Doan, Sergachev would redeem himself assisting on a slap shot by Dylan Guenther which put Utah up for good 3-2 as Karel Vejmelka locked down the Utah net the rest of the way. Guenther’s goal was his 24th of the season and his 8th game-winner. The assist gave Sergachev 300 points in his NHL career, the last 43 of which coming in his debut season with Utah.
In the locker room, Utah forward Barrett Hayton talked about tonight’s win. “Definitely a huge win, huge home stand. Obviously, it would have been really nice to get all four points, but the way we were able to fight back in that Toronto game and get a point, it’s huge for us. Same thing tonight, it was a grind. They were playing tight, they’re a dangerous team, and it was obviously a fight to the end there. But [Vejmelka] was kicking the guys who were doing a good job in front of them. Great three points.” Utah had 3rd period leads in each of their prior games against Anaheim which were lost in overtime. When asked about maintaining focus to hold on to tonight’s one-goal lead in the third, Hayton said, “It’s just about keeping poise in our game. Obviously, I think probably in the last couple of weeks, we’ve done a pretty good job with that once we’ve gotten a lead and not sitting back. That’s something that can kill you when you’re in these games. If you sit back and let them come and play with pace on you, it’s just not a not a good game plan. So I think we’ve done a good job of playing with poise, making plays, playing smart, but still playing with pace. … It all starts with preparation. I think all the guys in here are professionals and take their preparation really seriously. It’s kind of just a mental thing, knowing you need to start with pace and play direct, especially early on in games as you’re getting into the game, you don’t want to play too fancy or too risky. You want to get into the game, get on them, and allow that flow to build before you make those plays that might be a little more high risk.”
Dylan Guenther also talked about protecting the late lead. “We’re getting a little bit better at those situations every game. I don’t think we played our best game today, but we found a way to win, and we managed the puck pretty well at the end of the game.” On his game-winning power play goal, Guenther remarked, “When I saw [Anaheim] was low, I wanted [Keller] to go up to [Sergachev], and then he gave it over to me. So, it was just good recognition. I feel like we’ve gotten pretty good chemistry as we’ve continued to play together.”
Head coach André Tourigny opened his briefing by saying, “What I take from that game is the way we played in the third, how we protected the lead, the sacrifices our guys (made), the way they were engaged and disciplined, the resilience we had. That was great to see.” Talking about Guenther’s late-game, Tourigny commented, “A lot of confidence (in Guenther)…I’m more happy about the shot he blocked when the game was on the line than his goal–in the sense that that’s a choice you make. Scoring a goal is a pretty easy choice when you have the opportunity. But when you decide to put your body on the line and sacrifice yourself for the team and do that for your brothers, I think that’s huge.” His comment about brothers prompted one reporter to ask about the family mindset on the team, to which Bear responded, “I think it’s a strength of our organization. For a few years now, the togetherness and brotherhood we have; it’s special. I think the guys care so much about each other. Sometimes when you care about someone, you try to do too much. I think, in general, our team is really close. They love each other, they fight for each other, they’re together and everything.”
With Connor Ingram out of the lineup, Tourigny was asked how he plans to manage Vejmelka’s time in net during the final month of the regular season. “We will do one game at a time. For us it’s playoff time. We need to make sure we manage a lot of practice time. You need to practice to keep the skill level at a high level, but you can have shorter practice, you can do half of a practice or not taking shots after the morning skate, those kinds of things to make sure we keep the workload lower so it’s not as much the number of times he will go on the ice, it’s more the length.”
Utah’s win places the club just two points out of a Wild Card spot as they embark upon a 3-game road trip to Seattle, Vancouver, and Edmonton before returning March 20 against the Buffalo Sabres.
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