Utah Hockey Club dropped another heart-breaker on Friday night at Delta Center. Norris Trophy candidate Zach Werenski converted a 2-on-0 in overtime and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to defeat Utah, 3-2.
Utah (21-21-9) got off on the right foot with goals from Nick Schmaltz and Alex Kerfoot to carry a 2-0 lead into the final 14 minutes of play. Other than a four-minute Blue Jackets power play, Columbus had few good looks at the Utah net through two periods. But Columbus (26-19-7) got fluky third-period goals from Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson, both of which bounced off skates in front of the net, to tie the game midway through the final period.
Columbus got its first win on the back end of back-to-back games in eight tries this season. On the flip side, Utah was able to extend its home point streak to four games (2-0-2) which is a new season-long streak at Delta Center.
"We kind of let them back in the game,” captain Clayton Keller said. “It’s frustrating for sure. We’ve just got to keep going; learn from it.”
Cooley out: Coach André Tourigny told reporters Friday that center Logan Cooley will be out of the lineup indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated after the 4 Nations Face-Off (Feb. 12-20) after sustaining a lower-body injury on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Cooley finished that game.
Cooley is second on the team with 43 points (15 goals). With Dylan Guenther (day to day) also out of the lineup since Jan. 8 with a lower-body injury, Utah is facing a shortage of top-six forwards as it heads toward the break.
"You need to move on," Tourigny said. "Columbus [was] missing their first two centers. They missed [Sean] Monahan and Boone Jenner.
"Every team is the same. You cannot feel sorry for yourself. That league will jump right at your throat if you think you can feel sorry for yourself. We talked early in the season about our depth. It's time for us up front to show we have depth. We trust the guys who will have opportunity. It's time to not talk but do it."
Kerfatility: Kerfoot has made a career out of being versatile. With Cooley out of the lineup, Kerfoot filled the role between Keller and Schmaltz on the top line against Columbus, meaning Kerfoot has played on all four lines this season, just as he has in previous stops in Arizona, Toronto and Colorado.
Kerfoot's second-period goal came after he won an offensive zone faceoff and then went to the net to knock home a rebound of John Marino's shot from the right point.
PK prowess: Utah's penalty killing unit has killed 66 of opponents' past 74 opportunities over the past 28 games (Nov. 30 to present). The 89.2 percent success rate leads the NHL over that time span.
Quotable: “You’re not going to win every game," Kerfoot said. "Right now we’ve got to fight through it. We’ve got to find ways. We’re doing some good things. It’s not going our way.”
Up next: Utah hosts the St. Louis Blues at Delta Center on Sunday at 5 p.m. This is the third meeting between the teams this season. Utah leads the season series, 2-0, winning 4-2 in St. Louis on Nov. 7, and 4-2 at Delta Center on Jan. 18. Clayton Keller has a goal and five points in those two meetings.
