Utah Hockey Club goaltender Conner Ingram (39) blocks a shot against the Winnipeg Jets center Morgan Baron (36) in the third period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Mon Jan 20, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–After 36 scoreless minutes, Utah scored four consecutive goals en route to 5-2 victory over division-leading Winnipeg.
On a day when the United States celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and inaugurated a new president, the Utah Hockey Club wrapped up its 7-game homestand on Monday against the Central Division leading Winnipeg Jets. Whereas our neighbors to the north have thus far resisted becoming America’s 51st state in the opening hours of the new administration, fans in attendance were treated to local recording artist Oba “Obeeyay” Bonner’s stirring renditions of O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner prior to the opening faceoff.
The first period was all defense on both ends of the ice. In a battle of the Connors, Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck turned away all 10 shots he faced, while Utah goalie Connor Ingram stopped 11.
The initial 16 minutes of the second period remained a defensive draw until Olli Määttä found the back of the net for his first goal in a Utah sweater, assisted by Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller. Keller had just returned to the ice after sitting out most of the period after being hit in the face by a deflected puck and receiving a dozen stitches in the locker room. In the closing seconds of the period, Barrett Hayton fed a breakaway pass to Logan Cooley who put Utah up 2-0 at the end of the second with his 15th goal of the season.
Nearly 5 minutes into the third period, Hayton would score his 9th of the season, assisted by Josh Doan and Kevin Stenlund, and just a few minutes after that, Utah would go up 4-0 on the 8th goal of the season from Matias Maccelli, assisted by Doan and Hayton. If anyone began to feel like Utah might have the game in the bag at this point, those thoughts were quickly dashed as Winnipeg got one back 28 seconds later on a shot by Nino Niederreiter, and then cut the lead in half a few minutes later with Dylan DeMelo putting the puck past Ingram. Recent 3rd period lapses at home suddenly caused concern that another one might slip away in the closing minutes. This time, however, Utah held the line on defense and Clayton Keller sealed the result with an empty net goal, his 16th goal of the season assisted by Schmaltz, to officially put the game away with two minutes remaining.
Though Utah closed out the homestand with a 3-4 record, the team felt good about hitting the road on a positive note having won the final two. After the game, head coach André Tourigny began his media session by joking, “I wish we stay at home for a little while, man, now we’re rolling!” Tourigny praised his captain’s return to the game from his injury. “That’s a hockey player. The other thing is that he went at the net and got a puck right in the eye and came back on his first shift–no hesitation…Kicked the puck out on entry, went right at the net and got rewarded. Coming back without hesitation, without a doubt in his head; that was great.”
Tourigny continued commenting on his team’s performance, “They believe in the way they play, they believe in themselves, they believe in the consistency in our game. Every loss or every stretch (is) not necessarily positive, unfortunately…We have a different mindset; there’s no doubt about it. The key moment in the game was in the first period. The first 17 and a half minutes, we didn’t give anything. You’ll tell me we didn’t get a lot–but that’s the Winnipeg Jets. That’s one of the best defensive teams in the league. There was a bunch of nothing happening, which was fine. There’s a few calls we didn’t get. Then we got emotional a little bit…And they dominated the last two (and a half) minutes. We came back in the second calm (and) collected and we played well. Even when they had a push the rest of the game, I never felt the boat was rocking. We had great leadership, we had a great presence. I’m really proud of the way we weathered the storm and stayed with it. I think that made a difference. When we took the lead, we didn’t change the way we played. We kept playing the same way. We started the third period, we didn’t back down or get nervous, we kept playing–playing the right way. For me, that is the key moment.”
Captain Clayton Keller spoke to the media in the locker room, his stitched-up eyebrow on full display, “I’m feeling great. I got lucky; (the puck) didn’t catch my eye. When it happened, it happened so fast. You don’t really feel much. But I tried to look through my eye and I knew I could, so I wasn’t really too worried after that.” Keller immediately moved on to talking about the game itself. “I think we tried to be simple and try to have some traffic, get to the net. I think we did a good job of that. (Hellebuyck is) one of the best goalies in the league. He’s so hard to score on. Credit to the guys for going to the net and bearing down on our chances.”
Forward Josh Doan, who picked up a couple of assists in the game and is holding his own since being recalled from Tucson, commented about playing the Jets. “Any time you play a division opponent it’s a huge game. (Winnipeg) is such a great team…I think we did a good job tonight of taking what was there and not forcing it. I think that’s something that maybe, earlier in the year, we wouldn’t have done.” With regard to Keller returning to the game in the second period, Doan said, “Yeah, I think it does a lot for the bench knowing that he’s willing to do that and come back and go right back to the net front next shift and get rewarded. It’s one of those things where it’s part of the game, but you hate to see it happen and for him to bounce back like that was huge for us and our momentum. Obviously you heard the crowd’s reaction. It meant a lot to them too.”
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