How a 1-minute stretch doomed the Utah Hockey Club against the Kings

SALT LAKE CITY — Dylan Guenther said the quiet part out loud.

"These next (six) games are gonna give us momentum into next season," the 21-year-old forward said.

No, the Utah Hockey Club is not officially eliminated from playoff contention, but after falling 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings Thursday at the Delta Center, the team is on its last breath. That's why there was more solemn frustration in the players' voices following the game.

"We were in the driver's seat for the first two periods, and it's unfortunate what happened," forward Lawson Crouse said.

What happened was a disastrous two-minute four-on-four run in the third period that saw a tie game balloon to a 3-1 Kings lead in less than a minute.

Kevin Fiala intercepted a misguided pass from John Mariono right in front of Utah's net and then buried the puck past Karel Vejmelka to break a 1-1 tie.

"Unfortunate turnover," Utah head coach André Tourigny said. "Johnny doesn't do a lot of those. It just happened at the wrong time; I think it was an unnecessary risk."

It was so out of character that it's likely Marino never saw Fiala stationed in the middle of the ice. That, though, didn't change the result, and that mistake was compounded 44 seconds later.

Utah defenseman Sean Durzi couldn't get his stick to a puck on Utah's offensive side after a collision, and Kings forward Trevor Moore won a race to the other end, where he collected the puck and went five-hole on Vejmelka.

"It's man on man," Crouse said. "So winning races is a big part of it."

Utah lost that race and eventually lost the game. Those two quick goals turned a tie game into a two-goal third-period deficit.

"We didn't move our feet to get up ice," Tourigny said of the second one. "So our motion was in the wrong direction. There's contact, and then there's a loose puck."

And then Utah was let down by the player that has kept them in so many games. Instead of going out and getting the puck, Vejmelka hesitated in the crease. That gave Moore enough time to get the puck and make a move toward the goal.

"Veggie should have got that puck," Tourigny said. "That said, Veggie was solid again tonight. So it's far from my intention to blame him. I'm just saying on that particular play, he could have played the puck. The puck was 10 feet from him, but that's what happened."

And that's how a game that Utah had controlled slipped away.

Utah outshot Los Angeles 16-3 in the first period and even had a goal taken off the board. Guenther — who was wearing a bubble mask to protect the broken nose he sustained in Tuesday's game — found the back of the net in the opening minutes, but the play was ruled offside.

"It sucks, to be honest," Guenther said. "It's happened a few times, and especially early. I mean, sometimes when you get one early and it feels like the floodgates kind of open."

Instead, it set the tone for an unlucky night for the Club,

The Kings' first goal came after Logan Cooley hit Adrian Kempe into Vejmelka, which caused the puck to cross the goal line. Then, two four-on-four chances ended the game — and any hope of a miracle playoff push.

"I mean, it's frustrating," said Crouse, who scored his 11th goal of the season to tie things up at 1-1 in the second period. "We felt we worked hard. It was a minute of the hockey game. They capitalized on two chances. We were in control of the game. We were playing hungry hockey, determined hockey, and just crappy feeling when it doesn't pay off."

Related topics