Toronto Maple Leafs left winger Mitch Marner (16) scores on Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) during the shootout period at Delta Center in Salt Lake City Mon Mar 10, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Carcone, Schmaltz, and Hayton each lit the lamp in the second period to tie the score at 3-3, but Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll outdueled Karel Vejmelka in the shootout to give Toronto the 4-3 win at the Delta Center.
The Utah Hockey Club returned home Monday night after splitting a two-game road trip where they defeated the Detroit Red Wings and lost in overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks. The NHL trade deadline came and went during their absence without any significant trades being made, however several pending free agents signed contract extensions: defenseman Ian Cole and forward Alex Kerfoot for one year, defenseman Olli Määttä for three years, and the current #1 goaltender Karel Vejmelka for five years. On Sunday, Utah announced that Vejmelka’s netminding counterpart, Connor Ingram, had re-entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and will be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
With Josh Doan in the penalty box for tripping against William Nylander, Toronto struck first at 12:42 of the opening frame when a snap shot by Nylander deflected off the stick of Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and into the top right corner of the net.
Nylander’s 36th goal of the season was assisted by Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies. As the period wound down, Ian Cole went to the sin bin for high-sticking against Bobby McMann and with 22 seconds remaining Calle Jarnkrok gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead with their second power play goal of the night, Jarnkrok’s first of the season, assisted by Max Domi and Morgan Rielly.
At 4:48 of the second period, Toronto defenseman Simon Benoit ripped a shot from the blue line which found the back of the net for his first goal of the season, assisted by David Kampf and Pontus Holmberg, to give the Maple Leafs a 3-0 lead.
When play resumed, Benoit and Kesselring dropped the gloves with the Utah defender hoping to fire up his team. It worked. Over the next seven minutes and 23 seconds Utah would come all the way back from their early hole.
Forward Michael Carcone got things going for the home team at 8:14 with his sixth goal of the season, tipping in a sweet pass from Josh Doan in front of the net with the additional assist going to Jack McBain. 49 seconds later, forward Nick Schmaltz would tip in a perfect pass from Olli Määttä for his 15th of the season, with the additional assist by captain Clayton Keller.
Just past the halfway mark of the period, Benoit went to the box again for tripping against McBain, setting the table for Utah forward Barrett Hayton to even the score 3-3 on the power play with his 17th of the season, a deflected shot by Mikhail Sergachev at the blue line, with Dylan Guenther picking up the additional assist.
Joseph Woll and Karel Vejmelka each held their opponents at bay for the remainder of the second period and all of the third period and overtime. Austen Matthews gave Toronto the first lead of the shootout, but Clayton Keller immediately evened things up with a backhand shot. Mitch Marner put the game away for the Maple Leafs with a wrist shot to give his squad the victory.
In the locker room, Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring talked about the second period comeback. “Honestly, we’re a resilient group. We fought back against a really, really good team. I thought we outplayed them. We deserved a little bit better, so it was a good effort, and we should build on that.”
What did the team do differently after the first period? “I think we played low/high more and got more pucks to the net. I know it’s a cliche, but we just kind of grind them down a little bit. Obviously, their top players are really high end, so you have to try to make them defend, so they have to change when they go up the ice. I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
Captain Clayton Keller also addressed the second period surge. “Even early on in the game, we felt good about our game. They got two power play goals and I think as the game went on, we got better. Our guys stepped up in big moments and [Kesselring] got us going there with the fight which was awesome for us and really elevated us. We scored two quick goals and it sucks to not get the two points tonight, but everyone dug in tonight. We stayed together no matter what was going on. It was a lot of back and forth, just a lot going on. I’m proud of the guys the way we fought until the end.”
Head coach André Tourigny began his post-game comments by remarking, “That was a hell of a character game for us. The way things unfold, I’m really proud of the way the guys fought back, the resiliency, and all of that. I talked this morning about us being hard on the inside and winning battles and I think we were really disciplined in our approach and playing against their tough players. I’m really proud of the efforts.” Tourigny was particularly pleased with the momentum shift from Kesselring’s fight. “Unreal. We talked in the beginning of the season on our team managing the game and learning. That moment of the game, the emotion of the situation, their third goal, the fight, and the way the guys were talking on the bench, they had the right message on discipline and being resilient and staying engaged and staying with it. It was unreal. That’s kudos to the guys. They were unbelievable and we know how important it is. We need points and stuff like that and there’s a level of frustration we didn’t get, but there’s a huge level of pride on the character we showed and how we managed our emotions and how we managed the game in those tough situations. … The whole day for me is positive. We’re missing one point and that’s the only thing we can complain about. The rest is unreal. That’s a good team. On five-on-five, we probably doubled them in scoring chances and we came back from a three goal deficit. We fought, we hit, and we fed on the energy of our crowd. That’s a great day.”
Utah Hockey Club will play host to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday and then hit the road for three games against Seattle, Vancouver, and Edmonton before returning March 20 against the Buffalo Sabres.
