Clayton Keller vaults Utah Hockey Club past Blues

Clayton Keller had a goal and three assists as the Utah Hockey Club defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 Saturday night in Salt Lake City to snap its three-game losing streak.Logan Cooley had a goal an

Clayton Keller vaults Utah Hockey Club past Blues

Clayton Keller had a goal and three assists as the Utah Hockey Club defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 Saturday night in Salt Lake City to snap its three-game losing streak.

Logan Cooley had a goal and two assists for Utah. Michael Kesselring and Nick Schmaltz also scored for the Hockey Club and Connor Ingram made 22 saves for Utah

Tyler Tucker and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves.

Utah dominated the first period, outshooting the Blues 17-6 while building a 3-1 lead.

But first the Hockey Club had to overcome a bad sequence, since Tucker put the Blues up 1-0 just 2:05 into the game. Oskar Sundqvist won a faceoff at the left dot back to Tucker, who hammered a shot from the center point.

Utah answered just over 4 minutes later with a power-play goal from Kesselring, who snapped a shot past Binnington from atop the left circle.

Schmaltz put Utah up 2-1 at the 8:25 mark of the first period by scoring from the left faceoff dot off a pass from Keller.

Keller made it 3-1 with a spinning shot from the right faceoff dot while a delayed penalty was pending against the Blues.

St. Louis cut its deficit to 3-2 with a power-play goal 1:32 into the second period. Dylan Holloway cut to the net for a point-blank backhand shot, then Neighbours swooped in to convert the rebound.

The top Utah line struck again to make it 4-2 midway through the period. This time it was Cooley cutting to the middle from the left circle off another Keller assist.

The Blues got three power plays in succession in the third period, but they couldn’t take advantage and get back into the game. Their best chance came on a Jordan Kyrou shot that defenseman John Marino kept out of the net.