Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah Hockey Club lost 5-2 to Winnipeg Jets, ending a three-game streak.
- Coach Tourigny remains optimistic, believing consistent performance will lead to future success.
- Utah is four games away from the final wildcard spot, facing challenging competition.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Utah Hockey Club coach André Tourigny said his team "ran out of gas" at the end.
Forward Barrett Hayton put things a little more bluntly.
"It's kind of like an old saying: A tired hockey player is a dumb hockey player," he said.
A mistake-ridden ending cost Utah in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Friday at Canada Life Centre.
The Hockey Club was playing on the second night of a back-to-back and its third straight game against the top teams in its division. So heavy legs were expected — and those became obvious late.
Utah struggled to maintain consistent pressure in the offensive zone and Winnipeg took full advantage. The Jets took the lead by finding an unmarked man in front of the net with 14:09 left in the game and then doubled it when Utah lost the puck at the offensive blue line, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored on a free breakaway.
Suddenly, a tight game was anything but.
"It's a tough schedule, back-to-backs, travel all that," Hayton said. "I mean, every team goes through it, you've got to be strong physically and manage that side, but also, it's a lot of mental."
Hayton scored the game-tying goal early in the third with a top-shelf rocket that beat Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck clean. It was his fourth goal in the last three games, rivaling his best stretch of the season. Nick Schmaltz also remained hot with a goal in the first period that made the game 1-1. It was his eighth straight game with a point.
But those individual stats weren't much of a consolation prize after Utah's three-game winning streak was snapped.
And neither was thinking back to those wins — all against Central Division teams that Utah is looking up at now.
"Obviously, as a four-game stretch against these teams competing with those first three were great games," Hayton said. "But, I mean, right now, it's tough to look at it that way."
If anything, though, the stretch has solidified Tourigny's belief in his team.
Sure, Utah lost on Friday, but for the most part, he thought they played good hockey. Some odd bounces went against the team — Utah got scored on after a puck hit off the boards when goalie Connor Ingram was behind the net ready to retrieve, leaving an empty net for Winnipeg — and lost the game at the end.
"I think today we played a good team and we didn't win," he said. "That will happen."
But if the team keeps playing like it has over the last week, he thinks good things are coming in the immediate future.
"We need to show up every night like we did tonight, and I believe that way we will end up at the end of the year with a big smile," he said. "It's not as easy as it sounds — to show up every day and play well, play good hockey — but I think in the long run, we'll get a reward."
Utah is four games out of the final wildcard spot following the loss, and has a couple of teams to jump along the way, too.
"I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I believe in that group, and I'm sure our players are believing as well in themselves," he said. "I have no doubt about that."
