Cooley, Kerfoot each has 2 goals, lift Utah Hockey Club past Lightning

SALT LAKE CITY -- Logan Cooley and Alex Kerfoot each scored twice and the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4 at Delta Center on Saturday.

“I thought we just kept going at them,” said Cooley, who now has a career-high 21 goals on the season. “I thought we were playing the right way the whole [third period] there and then we got the outcome with a big two points.”

Cooley also had an assist, Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists and Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves for Utah (32-27-11), which is 7-1-1 in its past nine home games.

“I think the focus from the beginning, right from the start of the game, the focus, the execution, the urgency was elite,” said Utah coach Andre Tourigny. “I think everybody was engaged. Everybody was connected. We were really disciplined in the way we had to play against those guys. So [it was a] great effort from the boys.”

Utah remains four points back of St. Louis for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with one game in hand.

Brayden Point scored twice, and Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists for the Lightning (40-24-5), who snapped a three-game winning streak. Brandon Halverson made 19 saves in his first career NHL start.

“The tough part is we didn't play near well enough in front of [Halverson],” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And you're playing a hungry team that's trying to battle for a playoff spot. So if you're not going to match that intensity, you’ve got no chance.”

Tampa Bay remains in third place in the Atlantic Division with 85 points, two behind the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Josh Doan opened the scoring at 6:42 of the first period, beating Halverson between the legs from a pass by Jack McBain from behind the net to make it 1-0 Utah.

Cooley scored at 17:42, tapping in a rebound off a breakaway by Michael Kesselring to give Utah a 2-0 lead.

Point answered back with a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 18:49, scoring off a pass from Guentzel.

“They're a really talented team, they have a lot of speed, and I think they were just faster than us tonight,” Point said. “They won a lot of pucks, they made a lot of plays kind of around us, and our structure wasn't good enough to kind of compete with their skill level.”

Anthony Cirelli tied the game 2-2 at 5:22 of the second. He positioned himself in the slot and one-timed Brandon Hagel's pass from the left circle.

Kerfoot put Utah up 3-2 at 5:58 after Kevin Stenlund sent a pass to the net and Kerfoot tapped it in on the doorstep.

“I think that right now we've got four lines that are rolling pretty good on any given night,” Kerfoot said. “Guys are stepping up and we’re getting contributions from up and down the lineup, so that's big. We're not gonna score six goals every night but we'll take it tonight.”

Guentzel evened it 3-3 at 17:23 with a tip on a shot from the point by Nick Perbix.

Cooley deflected a John Marino shot 30 seconds later to give Utah a 4-3 lead.

Schmaltz pushed it to 5-3 at 1:10 of the third period when he backhanded in a rebound from a Cooley shot.

Point scored his second goal at 2:54 to make it 5-4. He tipped Ryan McDonagh's shot from the left point past Vejmelka's blocker.

“I’m really happy about the offense we created tonight, but even more proud of the way we defended the rush and the way we closed the middle of the ice,” Tourigny said. “That was a really tough challenge, a tough team to do that against… I think [Sergachev] was really good. Cooley's line, they were something else. They were really, really good. And really, I think it's a huge character win.”

NOTES: Cooley became the fifth active U.S.-born player to record multiple 20-goal seasons at age 20 or younger. The others: Brady Tkachuk (2019-20 & 2018-19), Auston Matthews (2017-18 & 2016-17), Jack Eichel (2016-17 & 2015-16) and Patrick Kane (2008-09 & 2007-08). ... Schmaltz has now reached the 40-assist mark for the first time in his career, topping his 39 from last season in Arizona. … Guentzel (34-33—67) moved within one goal of tying Dino Ciccarelli (35 in 1996-97) for the second-most goals by a player in his first season with Tampa Bay. Brian Bradley (42 in 1992-93) tops the list.