Lamoureux scores first NHL goal in Utah’s 5-1 win

One four-game losing streak ends and another begins with the Utah Hockey Club’s 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Utah HC breathes a sigh of relief while the Flames go back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong.

Utah Hockey for dummies

The Delta Center is finally buzzing again.

It’s a weight off the shoulders of the players, coaches, managers and fans. The mood is lighter and Shaboozey’s music graces the locker room once again.

“There were a couple games where we were falling asleep a little bit, and a couple of games where we played well and we didn’t win,” said team captain Clayton Keller after the game. “It’s a long season, like I said, and it’s definitely good to get that win and hopefully carry it into the next games.”

Mikhail Sergachev led the way offensively for Utah HC. He tallied a goal and two assists, earning him third-star honors.

The next test will be a big one: the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights are in second place in the league right now, and their arena is not an easy one for the road team to play in. If they can beat the Golden Knights, they’ll prove that they can beat anyone.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

If you’ve followed the team since rookie camp, you may have fallen in love with rookie defenseman Maveric Lamoureux. He scored the first goal of his NHL career on Wednesday.

“It was something like I dreamt of,” Lamoureux said after the game. “That was special.”

Lamoureux seems to have come out of his shell on the ice. He was hesitant to get involved in the offense for his first few games — probably afraid of getting trapped up ice and being responsible for a goal against.

He has put that behind him now.

His impact on the team has grown from game to game. He’s responsible defensively, he can break the puck out and he’s physical. What more can you ask of a 20-year-old in the NHL?

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Head coach André Tourigny likes what he has seen from Lamoureux, but he still considers this a test run.

“The big thing for Mav will be to stay urgent,” Tourigny said after the game. “(It’s) not just being able to play (in the) NHL. There’s a lot of people who can play (in the) NHL for a week or two. An NHL player is capable of doing it every night, all the time. That’s what he has to do. That’s what he has to prove.”

I’d also like to add that I predicted during morning skate that he’d score against the Flames. I found out after the game though, that Michael Kesselring also called it this morning. Great minds think alike, I guess.

Utah Hockey for nerds

Newly acquired defenseman Olli Määttä had a quiet but steady game. He logged 20:06 of ice time — the second-most on the team — despite the fact that Utah HC rolled seven defensemen.

He found out on Tuesday night that he’d been traded. He got four hours of sleep before catching a flight to Salt Lake City.

“He was actually really good,” Tourigny said after the game. “He showed what I often talk about: He’s an NHL player. ... More (often than not), you will see that kind of performance from him.”

General manager Bill Armstrong said on Wednesday morning that one of the reasons he acquired Määttä is his ability to move the puck up the ice. It’s a relatively simple skill, but it’s something that Utah HC had struggled with for the first 10 games of the season.

Määttä was very effective in that aspect against the Flames — especially when one of his breakout passes turned into Utah HC’s second goal.

He got ice time with nearly every other Utah HC defenseman, likely to see where he would fit best. It should be noted, though, that he exclusively played the left side, even when paired with the other lefties.

Tourigny said he’d give Määttä some time to get settled before grilling him about the details of his game, such as how comfortable he is on the right side.

What’s next?

Utah HC hits the road until mid-November, making stops in Las Vegas, Winnipeg, St. Louis and Nashville. The latter three games are against divisional rivals, so they’re extra important.

Up first are the league’s second-place team, the Vegas Golden Knights. They’ve scored five or more goals in each of their last four games and they have two players in the top four in the league in scoring.

The Golden Knights have also inspired a number of teams’ defense corps since their Stanley Cup championship in 2023. Their defensemen are big, physical and skilled, and they can beat teams in a number of different ways.

The game starts at 8 p.m. MDT Saturday and can be seen on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.