Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah Hockey Club loses 3-2 to Kings, marking third consecutive defeat.
- Joel Edmundson scored twice, leading Kings to victory over Utah.
- Coach Tourigny sees improvement despite loss; team aims to recover.
SALT LAKE CITY — The last time Los Angeles Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson scored more than two goals in a season was 2021-22 (when he got a grand total of three), and the most he's ever scored in a season was seven. So he's not exactly a prolific goal scorer.
The Utah Hockey Club would have preferred that version of Edmundson to show up in Los Angeles on Saturday.
For the first time in his career, Edmundson scored two goals in a game to lead the Kings to a 3-2 win over Utah in a weekend matinee game at Crypto.com Arena.
It was Utah's third straight loss as the team fell to 4-4-1 on the season. The Hockey Club's scorching start of the season, when Utah won four of its first five games, now seems like a distant memory.
But if Utah fans are looking for a silver lining ... well, at least this one was competitive.
"That was a hell of a hockey game," head coach André Tourigny said. "Two good teams who played really hard. I think we played hard on both sides of the puck. I think was a one-shot game."
After losing by a combined 9-1 over their last two games, Utah showed a bit more fight on Saturday — especially after going down by two goals in the second period.
Utah captain Clayton Keller smashed a one-timer into the net off a terrific feed from Mihail Sergachev to make it 2-1 at 15:55 of the second period. It was Keller's fifth goal of the season, which is tied for the team lead, to cut the Kings' lead to 2-1 heading into the final period.
But just over a minute into the third, Edmundson gave the Kings a two-goal lead once again.
That's when Logan Cooley gave Utah new life.
The 20-year-old forward finally got his first goal of the season at 9:47 of the third to cut the lead to one again. Cooley got in front of the net and deflected a centering pass from Michael Kesselring past LA goalie Darcy Kuemper.
"I think it's great for him," Tourigny said. "I think he's working hard. He played his best game in a couple games. I think really like his game both sides of the puck, his compete level. I'm happy for him."
Utah, though, couldn't find the equalizer.
Nick Schmaltz had a chance later from point-blank distance but couldn't quite control the puck, and Utah couldn't find an opening after pulling goalie Connor Ingram in the final minutes. Still, Tourginy thinks Saturday showed a step in the right direction.
"I liked the way the guys fought," Tourigny said. "Obviously, it's not the result we want, but it's a good league, good team. We played good, they played good. It's frustrating."
Now, the team is looking to the past to get out of the current slide. It's not the first time this group of players has been on a losing skid, so they are hoping they can learn from those times in Arizona to pull out of it quickly.
"We've been through it," said center Nick Bjugstrad who played his first game of the season. "We went through a real tough stretch last year, so I think you learn from those situations. It's not ideal going three in a row here, but you can't hit the panic button. ... We got the tools, we got the guys in there."
One thing that could help: more early goals.
Utah hasn't scored in the first period in its last four games.
"I think it's just the mentality, believing it's going to go in, and having that kind of killer Instinct," Bjugstrad said. "There's a difference between just thinking about getting shots on net and actually shooting to score. So we're going to go through times like this during the season, and we got a lot of good players in there, so we'll figure it out."
