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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Hockey Club forward Barrett Hayton likened Saturday night's tilt to a playoff game.
"In-division games, teams who we're competing with — they're 4-point games," Hayton said.
If that's the case, then the Hockey Club has a pair of budding playoff stars (if they can get there). Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley both matched their career-highs in points as The Club topped the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at the Delta Center to stay within shouting distance of a playoff spot.
Keller had 4 points on the night (one goal, three assists) and Cooley added 3 himself (one goal, two assists) as Utah got just its seventh home win.
"It's awesome. There's no better feeling than winning — and especially on home ice," Cooley said. "These fans deserve it. And, obviously, it's felt like it's been a year since we had to win at home, so it's nice."
In the opening minutes, though, it seemed like it would be more of the familiar struggles.
The Blues got on the board first when Tyler Tucker sent a quick shot past Connor Ingram off a faceoff just over two minutes into the game.
Sensing that there needed to be some energy brought back into the Delta Center, Utah forward Liam O'Brien dropped his gloves with Tucker on the ensuing faceoff, and soon was leaving the ice to cheers and blood streaming down his forehead.
"OB has a great fight there," Keller said. "Kind of pumps us up after they score."
And maybe no one more than Keller. The Utah captain scored 3 points in the first period to pull Utah out of the early deficit.
It wasn't long before Michael Kesselring found the top corner after a couple of nice passes from Keller and Cooley on a power play to tie things up. Things didn't stay level for long.
Less than three minutes later, Keller zipped a pass in front of the net to set up an open-net tap-in by Nick Schmaltz to give Utah 2-1 lead. The Utah Captain capped off his stellar opening period when he got the puck from Cooley, spun and fired it past St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington.
Keller returned the favor in the second period by setting up Cooley for his 14th goal of the season to give Utah a 4-2 lead.
Those plays showed off the increasing chemistry between the forwards, who have been on the same line since Dylan Guenther went out with an injury. Their line contributed three of the four goals — and then combined with Kesselring, who was filling in for the injured Mikhail Sergachev, for the fourth on the powerplay. Not a bad night.
"He's a gamer for sure," Keller said of Cooley. "Since Day 1, you can see all the talent. ... He works tremendously hard, and he really cares. So it's been great to play with him, and build some chemistry."
Added Cooley: "We're just reading off each other really well right now — and that's big. It's nice to have chemistry in this league; it allows you to make plays and eventually get chances and score like we did tonight."
That developing chemistry is exciting both for the present and the future of the club.
But it shouldn't have been a surprise to see Keller have a big night against the Blues. He's spent his career terrorizing his hometown team. Keller's recorded 34 points in 30 games against St. Louis, including 16 in the last eight games.
"It's always just a special feeling for me playing against them," he said. "The team I grew up watching, going to all the games, watching my favorite players, idolizing those guys — a lot of memories in St Louis. It's a special feeling."
And more special due to what it did for Utah's prospects this season.
The win snapped The Club's three-game losing streak and kept them 6 points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Yes, there is a long time to go — but after struggling over this recent homestand Utah needed something to go its way to right the ship.
"We had the lead after 2, we're at home, we played against a team we're chasing for the playoff, and we won. That's big for us," Tourigny said. "That's a good stepping stone. We knew we could do it. But with the stretch we were in, we needed it — and we did it."
