John Marino came to the rescue for Utah Hockey Club with Mikhail Sergachev out

SALT LAKE CITY — The net was open.

Utah Hockey Club goalie Connor Ingram was down on the ice after making a save, and the puck had bounced right to St. Louis forward Jordan Kyrou who took aim.

Utah's two-goal lead was about to be cut in half.

John Marino, though, didn't get that memo.

The veteran defenseman — playing in just his third game of the season — came to the rescue, sliding across the goal line and blocking Kyrou's shot with his body.

Marino's quick-thinking play saved a goal with under 14 minutes remaining and helped Utah preserve a 4-2 win over the Blues.

"When you see guys like that blocking shots, willing to sacrifice, it's cool to see," forward Logan Cooley said. "It starts to (rub) off on everyone in here."

Marino's play came at a key juncture of the game, and a key juncture in the season. Utah was without Mikhail Sergachev on Saturday due to an upper-body injury, and Marino played in his place on Utah's top pairing alongside Olli Määttä. Sergachev is considered a game-time decision for Monday's game against Winnipeg.

But at least for one game, Utah showed it can survive without its most used defender. Sergachev leads the team in ice time and has been called on in just about every high-leverage situation. Power plays, penalty kills, overtimes — Sergachev has been out there. That's a lot of minutes and moments to make up.

Marino and Co. were able to fill them admirably. Marino led the team in time on ice (24:14), recorded an assist on Utah's second goal of the game, and finished with a plus/minus of +2.

If there was any rust after missing the first three months of the season, it seems he's shaken it off.

"The third game (back) is the toughest one," Utah coach André Tourigny said. "So that's why I'm happy about John Marino because today's the third game and there was no time to step back for him. We needed him to even step up."

The good news for Utah is Marino should continue to get better. Or at least more comfortable.

"It's not just an injury for John, it's a new team, it's a new environment, it's new teammates," Tourigny said. "It's understanding, communicating, reading situations."

While Marino has played well instinctively — highlighted by his highlight-reel block — Tourigny doesn't think he's quite there yet when it comes to grasping everywhere he should be within Utah's system.

And there's the fitness part, too.

"Johnny was maybe a little bit tired at the end of the game, but he was really good for us and made a key play at the end of the game," the coach said.

Marino wasn't the only defenseman to step up with Sergachev out. Michael Kesselring was elevated to the top power-play unit and didn't take long to find success. Kesselring scored Utah's opening goal on the man advantage in the first period.

"I just tried to tell him to be simple, don't overthink it," said captain Clayton Keller, who got an assist on the Kesselring's goal. "He's a great player. He knows the right play to make, and it's nice to see him get rewarded. He's got an absolute bomb, so it's good to see one go in for him."

And after going 2-9-1 over the previous 12 games, it was nice to get a win, too.

"We're all at the point where we all wanted to stop losing, and this is what it takes," Cooley said "You got to block shots. You got to do whatever you can to help the team win. We did that tonight, and we're going to need to keep doing that each and every game."

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