Michael Kesselring nets Utah's 1st Gordie Howe hat trick in 5-2 win over Buffalo

SALT LAKE CITY — Michael Kesselring woke up Saturday morning knowing Utah's trip to Buffalo would mark a special moment in his NHL career.

The third-year defenseman was already set to register his 100th career game in the league.

The honors didn't stop there, though.

Kesselring notched the first Gordie Howe hat trick in Utah Hockey Club history, and Nick Schmaltz scored his fourth goal in the last three games as Utah extended Buffalo's winless streak to six-straight with a 5-2 win over the Sabres at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.

With a goal, an assist and a five-minute penalty for fighting, Kesselring, who signed a two-year, $1.4 million contract in June, registered the first Gordie Howe hat trick in Utah Hockey Club history.

Only two players in NHL history have registered the goal-assist-fight feat in their 100th career game: Kesselring, and Utah teammate Jack McBain, who also scored Saturday to help the Hockey Club bounce back from Monday's 2-1 loss to Dallas.

"That's fun," McBain said after the Hockey Club's win in the first of a two-game road trip that ends Sunday in Philadelphia. "It's a fun stat, and Kess had a great second period. It's really good for him ... but I guess, I don't know, do it again."

Kevin Stenlund also had a goal for Utah, which got 23 saves from Karel Vejmelka to net head coach André Tourigny's 100th victory as head coach of the former Arizona Coyotes-turned-Utah-HC.

It's the first time this season Utah has won a game when trailing after the first period (1-4-0).

"I liked the way we played offensively and defensively," Tourigny said. "We had a ton of pace in the second period."

After Schmaltz's opening goal was called back for goaltender interference, Buffalo broke the ice when Tyson Kozak scored his first NHL goal on a tip-in from Beck Malenstyn to give the Sabres a 1-0 advantage with 10:14 left in the first period.

Utah out-shot Buffalo 10-7 before the first intermission, and also killed off one penalty and all but 39 seconds of a second when Mikhail Sergachev was called for interference with 1:21 remaining.

But Kesselring ripped an equalizer just over three minutes into the second period of his 100th game, and Sergachev gave the Hockey Club a 2-1 lead when he slid the biscuit into the basket just 22 seconds later.

Jason Zucker tried to equalize with 4:44 left in the period, but his backhand shot was parried by Vejmelka. Instead, it was Kesselring who picked up the Gordie Howe hat trick in the closing moments of the period.

In the final minute of the same period where the 6-foot-4, 215-pound defenseman dropped the gloves with Beck Malenstyn before both were sent to the bin, Kesselring found Schmaltz across the face of goal with 52 seconds left in the second to give the Hockey Club a 3-1 lead.

"It's nice to be in the game," Kesselring deadpanned when asked about the unique hat trick at the second intermission break. "I think we had a good first, and just kind of carried it over and stuck to the game plan."

But Utah wasn't done. McBain opened the third period with with his ninth goal, finishing an attack from Logan Cooley just over two minutes into the period to give the Hockey Club a 4-1 advantage. Stenlund added another midway through the third, finishing his second with 7:53 to go to stretch the lead to 5-1.

Vejmelka stopped 23-of-24 shots until until Jiri Kulich slipped through a wrist shot off a rebound with just over two minutes remaining for Buffalo (11-12-3), which saw its longest losing skid since eight straight games in November 2022.

"I feel like we've played well the last 5-6 games now. We're keeping the momentum going," Kesselring said of his club that is outscoring opponents 14-4 in its last three road games. "We're tracking better, we're managing the puck better. We can still clean it up a little bit, but we did a good job tonight."

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