Sergachev has 3 points, Utah Hockey Club defeats Flames

SALT LAKE CITY – Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and two assists for the Utah Hockey Club in a 5-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Delta Center on Wednesday.

Maveric Lamoureux scored his first NHL goal in his fourth game, and Nick Schmaltz and Dylan Guenther each had two assists for Utah (5-4-2), who had lost four straight games (0-3-1). Connor Ingram made 30 saves.

“I think we were men in our battle,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We were solid, we were strong in front of our net, along the boards in our breakouts, on the forecheck. I felt we were mature and solid.”

Anthony Mantha scored, and Dustin Wolf made 23 saves for the Flames (5-4-1), who have lost five of their last six games (1-4-1) after starting the season 4-0-0.

“I thought we got outplayed in almost every position,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said. “In the last two games, the work ethic hasn't been where it needs to be. And for me, that starts right at the top and it works its way right down. That's a big reason why we scored one goal in two games and we've given up ten. It can't happen that way for us.”

Alex Kerfoot scored his first goal of the season to give Utah a 1-0 lead at 4:41 of the first period, firing a wrist shot from the high slot past Wolf.

Barrett Hayton made it 2-0 with two seconds left in the first period, beating Wolf glove side with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

Mantha cut it to 2-1 at 3:53 of the second period with a wrist shot from the left circle on the rush.

“I thought right from the start they were the better team and they had a little more jump, more urgency than us,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund, who played his 1,000th NHL game. “We say we're in a pit of doom right now, but we've got to climb ourselves out of it. It's up to us. It's got to be 23 players here, we've got to turn this around, but yeah, it's been two tough games from us.”

Lamoureux responded 17 seconds after Mantha's goal to make it 3-1 with a one-timer from the right point through traffic at 4:10.

“Scoring here with all the fans, that was loud,” said Lamoureux, the No. 29 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. “It was like something I dreamed of, that was definitely special.”

When asked how many texts he had received since scoring the goal, the 20-year-old defenseman responded, “No idea. It’s probably going to be blowing up like it was when I got called up to play my first game. So it’s probably going to take me a few days to answer everyone.”

Sergachev scored with a wrist shot from the high slot on a 5-on-3 power play to make it 4-1 at 16:32.

Clayton Keller extended the lead to 5-1 at 5:13 of the third period with a power-play goal, beating Wolf with a one-timer from the right circle.

“We had a good first two periods and we wanted to learn from our last couple of games and our mistakes,” Keller said. “It’s a long season, it’s definitely good to get the win and hopefully carry that into the next games.”

Defenseman Olli Maatta made his debut for Utah after being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday

“Honestly, it felt good all around,” Maatta said. “I think we played great; we got a lot of skill on this team, we got a lot of heart, and that showed. It was an awesome feeling to go out there.”

NOTE: Backlund became the second player to play 1,000 games for the Flames, joining Jarome Iginla (1,219).