Utah Hockey Club’s Logan Cooley (92) scored a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sat Mar 22, 2025 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Here is Cooley getting congratulated by teammates after scoring against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Sun Mar 16, 2025. (Canadian Press via AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Utah forwards explode for six goals while notching the team’s seventh home win over the past 9 games in hard fought victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Utah Hockey Club played a rare early afternoon game at Delta Center on Saturday, hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning who have outscored every other team in the league except the Washington Capitals and boasts the highest plus/minus differential in the NHL.
Josh Doan struck first for the home team at 6:42 of the opening frame connecting at the goal crease on a perfect pass from Jack McBain from behind the net for his fifth goal of the season, with the second assist to Lawson Crouse.
With a little more than two minutes remaining in the period, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz fed Michael Kesselring the puck on a breakaway which was stopped by Lightning netminder Brandon Halverson, but Logan Cooley followed the play and punched the rebound into the back of the net for his 20th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, Ian Cole was whistled for tripping against Nikita Kucherov, resulting in a power play goal for Brayden Point, his 33rd on the season, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
At 5:22 of the second period, Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli evened the score on a slap shot for his 24th goal of the season, assisted by Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov. 36 seconds later Utah would regain the lead when forward Kevin Stenlund one-timed a cross ice pass from John Marino to find Alexander Kerfoot in front of the net who knocked it in for his 9th goal of the season.
With 2:37 remaining in the period, Lightning forward Jake Guentzel tied things up once again, tipping in a pass from Nick Perbix for his 34th goal of the season, but 30 seconds later John Marino launched a shot from the blue line which Logan Cooley deflected into the net for his 21st of the season, putting Utah back on top 4-3 as the period closed.
Barely a minute into the third period, Clayton Keller was stopped at close range by Brandon Halverson, who immediately turned away a rebound attempt by Logan Cooley but was unable to stop Nick Schmaltz on a second rebound backhand shot for his 17th goal of the season and a 5-3 lead.
Less than two minutes later Brayen Point could cut the lead to one again with his second goal of the game, assisted by Ryan McDonagh and Jake Guentzel. Earlier in the season Utah struggled to maintain third period leads, but Karel Vejmelka, playing in his career high 13th consecutive game, held the Lightning offense scoreless the rest of the way, fending off a Tampa Bay power play with 2:09 remaining due to a too many men on the ice penalty.
With 57 seconds remaining, Alexander Kerfoot fired the puck into an empty net for his 2nd goal of the night and 10th of the season, giving Utah the 6-4 victory, their seventh at home over their past 9 contests.
In the locker room, Kerfoot talked about Utah’s recent success at home. “I think the crowd’s been unreal. I mean, third period there towards the end of the game—that’s a loud building that’s fun to play in. We’ve obviously placed an emphasis on being at home, I don’t think that our mindset has really changed, but we’ve just dug in here down the stretch and it’s a fun place to play. It feels like we’ve got momentum when we come home and when we’re playing in front of our fans. … I think that this was a great atmosphere for kids to come and watch the game and this is a new market, we’re trying to grow hockey here. SEG’s done an awesome job of growing the game in this community and to have a night like this where we get to bring in some youth hockey players and some kids during an early game on the weekend, it’s really fun and I hope that we can do that again in the future.”
In a game full of momentum swings, Logan Cooley talked about managing emotions. “It was kind of a crazy game, honestly. We were up two but then a goal gets called back, but you know, we just kept going at it and I thought we were playing the right way the whole third [period] there and then we got the outcome with a big two points.” With regard to his personal compete level, Cooley remarked, “I think just for me, I try to be the best version of myself each and every day and just try to get as good as I can to become the player I want to be. Obviously, it comes back to the team and trying to get into the playoffs. Eventually, I want to get a Cup and I think that’s the biggest drive for me right now. Being in Utah, it’s special in front of these fans. There’s no better feeling than coming to the rink every day and working together towards one goal here.”
Head coach André Tourigny was all smiles in the media room. “Really happy about the offense we created tonight, but even more proud of the way we defended the rush and the way we closed the middle of the ice. That was a really tough challenge, tough team to do that against them. Obviously for individual performance, I think Sergey [Mikhail Sergachev] was really good. Cooley and his line, they were something else. They were really, really good. I think it’s a huge character win. … Right from the start of the game, the focus, the execution, the urgency was elite. I think everybody was engaged. Everybody was connected. We’re really disciplined, and in the way we had to play against those guys. Great effort from the boys.” Comparing his club’s protecting the lead in the third period with difficulties earlier in the season, Tourigny said, “It’s day and night. I think that the mindset, the composure, the assertiveness, you cannot even compare. I think our team grew a lot, and I think we have way more maturity now.”
Utah will square off on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings before embarking upon a three game road trip to Tampa Bay, Florida, and Chicago. They will then return for one final homestand of five games before finishing out the regular season on the road.
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