Clayton Keller’s second goal of the game was the winner for the Utah Hockey Club, which defeated the host New York Rangers 6-5 in overtime on Saturday.
Keller’s third goal of the season came with 55 seconds left in the extra period to give Utah its third straight victory in as many games. He came around the back of the net and then backhanded a shot past Igor Shesterkin to end it.
With the win, the first-year franchise continued its high-flying start to the NHL season. According to Hockey-Reference.com, Utah is just the 18th team since 1917, and only the third since 1994, to start an NHL season with five or more goals in each of its first three games to start a season.
Utah scored four times in the second period. Keller’s first of the game was the second of those with 13:58 remaining in the period. Alex Kerfoot created a turnover behind the New York net and found Keller alone in front of it. He beat the Rangers goalie to make it 3-2.
Dylan Guenther gave Utah a 5-3 lead with 6:01 left in the second, but the Rangers rallied from there to earn a point in their second game of the season. Will Cuylle’s skate redirected Adam Fox’s shot to get it past Utah’s Connor Ingram with 7:04 left in regulation to tie the score.
Ingram saved 29 of the 34 shots he faced, while Shesterkin, who posted a shutout in the Rangers’ opener Wednesday in Pittsburgh, made 20 saves in the loss.
Barrett Hayton put Utah up 1-0 less than four minutes into the contest. The former first-round draft pick was wide open beside the net and converted off the feed from Keller. Nick Schmaltz added the secondary assist, the first of his two helpers in the game.
Artemi Panarin scored twice for New York. His first tied the score at 1 with a shot from just outside the left faceoff circle with 11:22 left in the opening period. Alexis Lafreniere, playing in career game No. 300, got the assist on a drop pass to his linemate.
–Field Level Media
