Jared Tofil | Contributing Writer
On the opening night of the NHL season, Tuesday, October 8th, the Utah Hockey Club hosted the Chicago Blackhawks to a crowd of 11,000 plus fans in attendance. Founded on April 18th, 2024 with the removal of the Arizona Coyotes, the NHL granted an expansion franchise to Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz NBA team. Smith and the new team acquired hockey assets from Arizona such as players, coaches, and draft picks as well as an expansion draft to stock the new team. The current name and colors for the team that plays at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City are temporary, but by 2025-2026, the team is expected to have a full identity.
To open the scoring in under 5 minutes of play, Dylan Guenther scored Utah's first goal, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Logan Cooley. Guenther, who was drafted in the 1st round 9th overall in his 3rd season, had 18 goals and 17 assists for the Coyotes in 45 games last year. Not even 10 minutes later, the team captain and 4-time all-star veteran center Clayton Keller scored the team's 2nd goal with some help from Nick Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton to put them up 2-0, a lead they held until the 2nd quarter.
The 2nd quarter was quite an eventful one, with the scoring starting after just over eight and a half minutes when Mikhail Sergachev and Nick Schmaltz set up Barrett Hayton, another young star coming over from the Coyotes in his 6th season after being drafted 5th overall back in 2018. The lead wouldn’t stay 3-0 for too long as Chicago finally made a little dent into the scoreboard with a goal from Teuvo Teräväinen assisted by Connor Bedard and Seth Jones.
Teräväinen is in his first season back with Chicago the team that drafted him after 8 solid seasons with the Carolina Hurricane. There was a little drama seconds later though with 3 players receiving penalties after some physicality on the boards. Clayton Keller received 2 minutes for illegal equipment after removing Connor Murphy's helmet, while Murphy and Sean Durzi both received 5 minutes for fighting.
In the third quarter, the Blackhawks continued to claw their way back into the game, scoring their 2nd goal from 1-time Clancy and Messier winner left wing Nick Foligno in his 18th season in the NHL. Alex Vlasic and Connor Bedard assisted the goal for Bedards 2nd assist of the game. But this wasn't enough to change the tides in Utah and make a miraculous comeback. The final two goals of the game came within the final minute one on an empty net and the next 10 seconds later to secure a 5-2 win for the Hockey Club.
The final player stats for Utah were goals by Lawson Course (1), Dylan Guenther (2), Barrett Hayton (1), and Cayton Keller (1). With assists from Ian Cole (1), Logan Cooley (2), Sean Durzi (1), Barrett Hayton (1), Micheal Kesselring (1), Nick Schmaltz (2), and Mikhail Sergachev (1). Utah goalie Connor Ingram won with 24 saves on 26 shots for a save percentage of .923. The loss was handed to Petr Mrázek who last year led the league in losses with 31 total losses. His final stats were 22 saves on 26 shots on goal for a save percentage of .846. Skater stats for Chicago were goals from Nick Foligno (1), and Teuvo Teräväinen (1). Assists came from the young star and last year's Calder winner Connor Bedard (2), Seth Jones (1), and Alex Vlasic (1).
Head coach Andre Tourigny, who came over from the Arizona team, said, "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." Dylan Guenther who scored two of the five goals for Utah said "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."
Utah Hockey Club looks to continue this success throughout their upcoming games, and hopefully, this new environment can bring the team more success than their days in Arizona.
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