On Sunday night, the Utah Hockey Club hosted the St. Louis Blues at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Two teams with an outside shot at a Western Conference wild-card playoff spot. However, both teams have been trending in the wrong direction recently, with each team entering play on four-game losing streaks.
Game Recap
The Blues came out of the gates flying. In the first period, they had 27 shot attempts, 23 of which went unblocked. Fifteen resulted in shots on goal, and they controlled 59.46% of the shots in the first period. In addition, the Blues had 19 scoring chances, 10 high-danger chances and 3.05 expected goals.
After dominating much of the opening frame, the Blues finally solved Utah goaltender Connor Ingram 17 minutes into the first period. Alexandre Texier scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Blues a 1-0 lead, which they carried into the first intermission.
In the second, Utah did a better job slowing down the Blues attack. However, the Blues still managed five high-danger scoring chances and created 1.27 expected goals in the period. The second frame finished scoreless thanks to big saves from Ingram, who made 21 saves and saved +3.32 goals above expected.
In the final frame, Utah finally scored its first goal 46 minutes into the game on a shot from Michael Kesselring. This made the game 1-1 with just over 15 minutes remaining.
The game did not stay even for long as the Blues regained the lead four minutes later on Jordan Kyrou’s 22nd goal of the season. The goal was created off an excellent touch pass from behind Utah’s net right out to the slot on Kyrou’s tape, who made no mistake beating Ingram.
After taking the lead with 13 minutes left in the final period, the Blues killed off back-to-back penalties. After two big kills, the Blues closed the game at even strength and fended off Utah’s late push after pulling the goalie.
This was the first time the Blues were able to beat Utah this season. They will have the chance to even the season series when these two Central Division opponents match up in game 82 of each of their seasons.
