Utah Hockey Club lost in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights with a score of 4:3 – Deseret News

The Utah Hockey Club took on the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday but ultimately lost in overtime, 4-3.

Ian Cole scored his first goal in a Utah HC jersey, and Tomas Hertl’s assist gave him 500 career points. Brett Howden scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the Golden Knights.

“We got better in three periods,” Utah HC head coach Andre Tourigny said after the game. “I liked the way we finished the game. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get a deal done, but I’m pleased with our progress.”

Utah Hockey for Dummies

NHL standings not based on victories. An overtime loss is still a step in the right direction as it is worth one point in the standings, while a win is worth two points.

Saturday’s game was Utah HC’s sixth overtime in 12 games this season. For comparison, last year the two teams that played the most games in overtime were the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings, with 19 games each. Utah HC is currently approaching 41st place.

While neither team seeks overtime on the first faceoff, teams benefit from games that are played at a distance. It also indicates that the game was close, which is much better for morale and reputation than losing.

HC Utah would prefer to win regulation, but they shouldn’t hang their heads over an overtime loss to one of the league’s best teams.

Utah Hockey for Casual Fans

Most often, the team that makes the most shots wins. Moreover, if one team has significantly fewer shots than another, that team will usually lose by a few goals.

But not always.

A look at the shot clock might suggest that Saturday’s game was lopsided in favor of the Golden Knights, 35-19, but that wasn’t the case—Utah simply chose their shooting spots differently.

Here’s the thing: you can take as many shots as you want, but if they come from low-percentage spots, all you’re doing is boosting the other goalie’s confidence.

HC Utah didn’t take a shot until midway through the first period Saturday, and they managed to get that shot. Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill didn’t stop a single shot after warming up probably 45 minutes earlier, which worked in Utah HC’s favor.

This theme remained consistent throughout the game, but by the end of regulation time both teams were deadlocked.

Hockey players are never satisfied with losses – even when they come in overtime – so veteran forward Alex Kerfoot regrets his team couldn’t score more.

“There’s a little bit of puck luck involved,” Kerfoot said. “We had the A’s, we took our chances a little bit, but we didn’t want to show it to them by any means.”

Utah Hockey for Nerds

Connor Ingram was Utah HC’s best player on Saturday and that’s not even up for debate.

Of the four shots Ingram missed, he only actually had a chance to save one. The rest had more to do with his teammates. Ingram spent the first half making big save after big save to keep his team in a game they were losing badly.

One example occurred just a few minutes into the game. Ingram stopped Noah Hanifin’s shot from the spot and then positioned himself to tap the ball away from Nick Roy with his pad, deflecting a sure goal from Roy.

Per A Natural Statistics TrickIngram managed a .889 high-threat save percentage in normal conditions, which is slightly above average. He stopped more shots than expected and allowed only one low-threat goal.

All you can ask of a goalie is to give your team a chance to win, and Ingram did just that against the Golden Knights.

What’s next?

HC Utah is moving from one of the warmest cities in the league, Las Vegas, to one of the coldest cities in the league, Winnipeg.

They will face the Winnipeg Jets, the best team in the NHL at the moment. To this point in the season, the Jets had only suffered one loss. They score a ton of goals, to the point where their fifth leading scorer has more points than Utah HC’s leading scorer.

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is the current Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goaltender. This year he ranks in the top five in save percentage, goals-against average, wins and shutouts—almost every major stat by which goaltenders are measured.

After traveling to Winnipeg on Tuesday, Utah HC will visit two more division opponents: the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

All three games will begin at 18:00 Moscow time and will be available on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.