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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporterOct 9, 2024, 01:20 AM ET
- Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
SALT LAKE CITY — The first game. The first goal. The first fight. Those moments led to another first for the Utah Hockey Club: the first win in franchise history, a 5-2 victory Tuesday night over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Though it took months to reach this point, Utah’s introduction to the NHL was swift. Dylan Guenther needed less than five minutes to score the first goal in team history. Nearly 10 minutes later, Utah captain Clayton Keller scored to give the club a 2-0 lead.
“That was pretty cool,” Guenther said. “That building was special. That was a ton of fun. A lot of fun to play in front of that crowd.”
Midway through the second period, Utah tripled its lead when prized offseason acquisition Mikhail Sergachev set up Barrett Hayton for a 3-0 lead.
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A three-goal lead in front of a packed crowd created the belief that at least the first game in team history would be a successful one. And it was — but it almost wasn’t.
“I think we were good from the start after we kind of settled in and we got back to our style of hockey and playing the right way,” Keller said. “We had a little bit of lull in the third period, but [Connor Ingram] was great back there and he settled us down. It doesn’t matter how you get the win, [the win itself] that’s all that matters.
Chicago’s Teuvo Teravainen, who returned to the team that drafted him in the offseason, broke through to cut the lead to 3-1 with less than five minutes left in what ultimately became a rather active second period.
Seconds after the goal, there was a scrum against the boards that saw Keller receive a two-minute minor for removing Connor Murphy‘s helmet, while Murphy and Utah defenseman Sean Durzi each received five minutes for fighting.
Once Durzi and Murphy were separated, cameras captured Durzi jawing at Murphy, which led to the Utah crowd chanting “Durzi! Durzi! Durzi!”
That high later turned to dread when Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno scored just 4:48 into the third period to trim UHC’s lead to 3-2.
With that, Foligno gave Utah fans another first: that feeling of potentially watching your team surrender a three-goal lead at home on opening night.
The Utah crowd watched as reigning Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard attempted to pull off “The Michigan” lacrosse-style goal, only to have it come up short. With around nine minutes left, the fans watched as Bedard created isolation and launched a point-blank chance. Then with 7:54 remaining, they witnessed former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall get behind three Utah players for a breakaway.
All of those tense moments were met with Utah goaltender Ingram making a save each time.
Ingram finished with 24 saves and his teammates combined to block 23 shots in a game that appeared at one time to be on cruise control. The game concluded with Guenther scoring his second goal on an empty-netter with 42 seconds left and Lawson Crouse scoring 10 seconds later for a 5-2 lead.
“Today was special, there’s no doubt about it. One day we will look back. I received texts from about half of the head coaches in the league today. That means something and it’s because it’s special.” Utah Hockey Club coach Andre Tourigny
“I think that’s what this team needs to learn now … [to] close [games] out,” Ingram said. “It’s a good learning step for us.”
Getting the first win in team history capped what was an active day. As the team held its first morning skate, there were construction crews still at work. While players were coming off the ice, arena workers scurried to take care of everything from adding more monitors to other last-minute details.
Hours later, the team arrived at the Delta Center and walked the blue carpet with fans screaming around them.
Many fans filled the arena wearing the Utah club’s blue and white, while there was also a strong contingent of Blackhawks fans. There were even a few fans wearing Arizona Coyotes jerseys.
Utah’s Andre Tourigny, who also coached that Coyotes team, said there was quite a bit about Tuesday that will be remembered for many years.
But at the same time, he admitted he couldn’t wait to return to the normalcy that comes with a regular-season schedule.
“Today was special, there’s no doubt about it,” Tourigny said. “One day we will look back. I received texts from about half of the head coaches in the league today. That means something and it’s because it’s special.”
