On Monday night, we saw another Original Six franchise, the Toronto Maple Leafs, play in Salt Lake City against the Utah Hockey Club for the first time.
Game Recap
The game started with the Utah Hockey Club getting a powerplay opportunity three minutes in. Despite producing four scoring chances, one of which was a high-danger chance, the Maple Leafs were able to kill off Utah’s first powerplay. Seven minutes later, the Maple Leafs got their first chance on the man advantage and opened the scoring after Matthew Knies won a puck battle before feeding Mitch Marner at the point, who slid the puck cross-ice to William Nylander, who found the back of the net.
Then, with fewer than three minutes left in the first period, the Maple Leafs found themselves on the powerplay for the second time, where they extended their lead to two with 20 seconds left in the period. This time, it was not the Maple Leafs’ star-studded first unit that found the back of the net but their second. Calle Jarnkrok scored the goal. This was his first goal of the season since returning from injury two games ago, and his first since Jan. 6, 2024.
In the second period, the Maple Leafs extended their lead to three after Steven Lorentz tipped a Simon Benoit point shot past Karel Vejmelka. After the goal, on the following faceoff, Michael Kesselring stepped up for Utah and fought Benoit to try and spark some energy on the Utah bench.
Then, over the next four minutes, Utah scored three unanswered goals to tie the game 3-3 shortly after the midway mark. The first was scored by Michael Carcone, the second by Nick Schmaltz, and the tying goal by Barrett Hayton on the powerplay.
Things settled in the third period, as these two teams combined for only 10 scoring chances. With both defences standing firm in the final 20 minutes, this game needed extra time to be decided. Both teams traded chances back and forth in overtime, but Joseph Woll and Vejmelka continued to shut the door through overtime. The game was finally decided in a shootout after Auston Matthews and Marner scored for the Maple Leafs to walk away with a 5-4 win in their first game at the Delta Center.
