– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — If only there were another couple weeks left in the season, the Utah Hockey Club’s sizzling form might have carried them into postseason play in their first year in the Beehive State. As it stands, they’ll just have to settle for building positive momentum that they hope will carry into the new season, one that should be filled with lost of promise and expectation given their depth of young talent that was on display in an impressive win on Saturday night.
Logan Cooley had a goal and two assists to lead Utah to a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars inside American Airlines Center. Barrett Hayton had a goal and an assist, while Sean Durzi, Josh Doan and Nick Schmaltz also scored to help Utah improve to 3-0-1 in its last four games. Jack McBain and Dylan Guenther each had two assists, and Karel Vejmelka stopped 21 shots.
Utah’s push for an unlikely Wild Card spot officially ended earlier this week when it was eliminated from postseason contention, but their recent streak includes wins against the playoff-contending Calgary Flames and the Presidents’ Trophy-contending Winnipeg Jets.
Four of the five goals that Utah scored came on the power play, made more impressive given that the Stars came into the evening as the third-best penalty-killing unit in the league. Utah was also perfect, as it had four power play opportunities in the contest.
“Great game from all of our team. I thought we had probably two shifts where we would’ve loved to take back at the end of the second but other than that, I think we played really well,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “Power play came up big obviously but that’s the way we play with or without the puck. Without the puck really responsible, always on the right side stopping them, great in our battles. I think we’re solid. Normally Dallas is a team that creates a lot of offense against us, our reload was good, limited the odd-man rush, like I said, except two shifts at the end of the second, so really proud of the boys.”
Wyatt Johnston, Brendan Smith, and Jason Robertson each scored, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for the Stars, who have lost five straight (0-3-2). Casey DeSmith made 29 saves. With the Colorado Avalanche’s defeat earlier in the day, the Stars clinched home-ice advantage in the first-round series they will contest against Colorado starting next week.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 18 pictures in total.
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