On Wednesday night, we saw the Pittsburgh Penguins close out a seven-game road trip with a matchup against the Utah Hockey Club, who were playing the first of a four-game homestand. Both teams were looking for bounce-back performances after each losing back-to-back games.
Game Recap
The game had an exciting start with Liam O’Brien and Bokondji Imana, former teammates on the Arizona Coyotes, dropping the gloves. The fight was short-lived, but it got the energy going in the building early.
Although, after the fight, the pace of play did not pick up, these two teams only combined for five shots on goal in the first 10 minutes of the game. However, Utah would dominate the play throughout the rest of the period and finally open the scoring 15 minutes into the first frame on their first powerplay opportunity. Mikhail Sergachev scored the goal, his ninth of the season, and this was his first game since returning from injury.
After being hemmed into their defensive end for most of the first period, the Penguins flipped the script in the second. The Penguins doubled Utah in shot attempts and shots on goal in the period. The Penguins tied the game at one six minutes into the second frame on Marcus Pettersson’s third goal of the season.
The score was not even for long, with Michael Carcone responding for Utah just two minutes later at the eight-minute mark of the period to take a 2-1 lead. Even though Utah spent most of the second in the defensive end, they managed to hold the Penguins to just one high-danger shot attempt in the period despite allowing 29 attempts.
Utah’s team defense in key areas of the ice allowed them to carry a one-goal lead into the second intermission. However, in the third, this effort would go to waste when the Penguins scored on a shot from Erik Karlsson that beat Connor Ingram short side. This was a good shot from Karlsson, but it was one Ingram should have got a piece of. Nevertheless, it was 2-2 going into the final 15 minutes of the game.
Karlsson’s goal forced overtime, where the two traded chances until Sidney Crosby beat Ingram with one of his classic backhand shots to score the game-winning goal, showing Utah fans vintage Crosby getting the 3-2 win for the Penguins on his first trip to Salt Lake City.
