Utah Hockey Club falters in 3rd period, loses to New York Islanders

The Utah Hockey Club’s game against the New York Islanders on Saturday used the exact same script as their win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday, but with the result reversed.

In both games, a 1-1 tie was broken with about a minute and 30 seconds left in the third period to avoid overtime. The similarities even go as far as having the same player, Nick Schmaltz, score first for Utah in both games.

The only major difference is that Utah was on the winning end on Friday and the losing end on Saturday.

Utah HC is now three games into a seven-game home stand. They still haven’t won consecutive games at home without a road trip separating them.

As frustrating as that is for the team and its fans, they’ve been right there in most of their recent losses — they just need that extra push to get them over the hump.

“It’s frustrating, obviously, to give another one up late like that,” Schmaltz said after the game. “I thought we should have been able to find one there at the end. We had a lot of looks, but we’ve got to be able to find more than one goal. The last couple of games, we haven’t generated a ton.”

The Islanders, on the other hand, have now won three consecutive games.

Utah Hockey for dummies

Utah HC fans and rivals alike wanted to see Connor Ingram do well on Saturday. It was the goaltender’s first game in nearly two months after the passing of his mother.

While he didn’t get the exact result he wanted, he did play incredibly well.

“He was really, really good,” said head coach André Tourigny after the game. “All game long, he was solid, made key saves. He’s for sure one of the bright sides of the game.”

Ingram kept the Islanders off the board the entire first two periods. He stopped 19 shots along the way, including eight high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

But no matter what Utah HC did, they couldn’t get pucks past Marcus Högberg.

That’s where the other part of this story comes in: Högberg found out on Friday night that he’d be playing on Saturday, according to Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.

Starting goaltender Ilya Sorokin is ill and backup goalie Semyon Varlamov has been out with a lower-body injury since Jan. 4. It was Högberg’s first NHL win since April 28, 2021.

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The 30-year-old has spent most of the year in the minors and played in Sweden the three previous years.

“Hoggs is playing very simple,” Roy said after the game. “He’s fighting. He’s in the middle of the net. Covers his angles very well and moves well.”

Roy, of course, is among the greatest goaltenders of all time, so his opinions on goalies carry a lot of weight.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

It didn’t take a keen eye to notice Logan Cooley on Saturday. Right from his first shift, he was the fastest skater, the best stickhandler, the most creative playmaker and, seemingly, the most driven player.

His only point of the night was a secondary assist on Schmaltz’s goal, but had a few bounces gone his way, he could have easily padded his stats a lot more.

His creativity started with a spin-o-rama pass to himself off the boards to gain the offensive zone. A few minutes later, he was knocked off balance but sent a backhanded pass as he spun to the ice.

At a certain point, the Islanders’ defense seemed determined to not appear on any highlight reels for the wrong reasons, so they started checking him harder.

That’s when Cooley separated himself as a high-IQ hockey player, rather than just a quick, flashy kid. He adjusted his game so that he was making smart, high-percentage plays. A garbage goal counts for just as many points as a pretty one does, after all.

It almost paid off for him during a third-period power play, when he was in perfect position for a one-timer. He loaded up and fired with a considerable amount of net to shoot at, but he put it just wide.

“I think he played well,” Tourigny said of Cooley. “I think he brought speed, he competed hard.”

Utah Hockey for nerds

Contrary to recent history, the second period was Utah’s best frame of its two most recent games. Previous to this weekend, Utah HC were tied as the second-worst team when it comes to second period goal differential at -16.

They’ve now cut that deficit down to -14.

But this is “hockey for nerds.” Let’s dive even deeper.

In the second period on Saturday, Utah HC had 70.59% of the scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. On Friday, they had a less dominant but still adequate 53.33% of the chances.

Their face-off percentages were nearly identical to those of their scoring chances in both games and the second period produced two of their three goals.

If Utah HC can continue doing well in the middle frame, they can expect to have more success.

What’s next?

Utah gets two days off before hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The Canadiens have been among the league’s hottest teams the last few weeks, beating teams like the Washington Capitals, the Vancouver Canucks, the Colorado Avalanche, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers.

This will be the final of two matchups between these teams this season. The first was a Utah HC overtime win in Montreal with former Canadien Mikhail Sergachev scoring the winner.

Both teams are desperately trying to claw their way into playoff spots, so every point matters. The game starts at 7 p.m. MST and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.