Canucks, ‘rusty’ after break, look for victory at Utah

The Vancouver Canucks and the Utah Hockey Club enter their clash in Salt Lake City on Sunday night having lost their first games after the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

On Saturday, the Canucks fell 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on the road and Utah lost in Los Angeles, 5-3 to the Kings. But Vancouver and Utah will go back it in the second game of their back-to-back sets.

Jake DeBrusk, who scored Vancouver’s only goal as the Canucks had their three-game winning streak snapped Saturday, said it took some time getting acclimated again after the two-week break.

“Just getting the feeling of the puck, like off the boards,” he said. “Like myself, I felt rusty.”

DeBrusk reached the 20-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career as he gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 6:22 into the game. But that was the extent of Vancouver’s offense for the night.

Kevin Lankinen, who played for Finland in the 4 Nations Face-off, made 32 saves.

“We got to make more plays,” said the Canucks’ Kiefer Sherwood, who got the first assist on DeBrusk’s goal. “I know Lankey’s (Lankinen) world-class, but we left him out on an island too much.”

Star center Elias Pettersson played for the Canucks on Saturday after many doubted his availability due to an undisclosed injury suffered while he played for Sweden in the tournament. Pettersson was minus-1 with one shot in just shy of 16 minutes of ice time. He has 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in 50 games for the season.

Captain and reigning Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Quinn Hughes remained out with an oblique injury that has forced him to miss all of Vancouver’s February games. He had been selected to the United States’ 4 Nations Face-Off team before he was injured.

Utah, meanwhile, has dropped two of its past three games.

Barrett Hayton was responsible for all of the Utah scoring Saturday with his first career hat trick and the first-ever hat trick for the Utah Hockey Club. The franchise is in its first season in Salt Lake City after moving from Arizona.

“I like the fact he got rewarded,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We often talk about how much ‘Haytes’ plays the right way. He does everything right on and off the ice, has the right attitude, competes so hard. You cannot not cheer for him, so really happy for him.”

Hayton’s first goal gave Utah a 1-0 lead 7:54 into the game. His second goal put Utah ahead 2-1 at 5:50 of the second period. Both goals came on the power play. Hayton’s third goal came with nine minutes left and pulled the team to 4-3. But defenseman Mikey Anderson’s empty-net goal with 1:30 remaining clinched the victory for the Kings.

Hayton said the joy he might have felt over the feat was overshadowed by defeat.

“Right now it’s kind of just the sting of the game. At some point, I’ll look back. It is cool to do,” Hayton said. “At this point, it is frustrating losing that game. It’s such a big game. I feel like we kind of put our heart and soul into that game — our effort was there.”

Nick Schmaltz had two assists and Connor Ingram made 21 saves.

Hayton has 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 57 games for the season.

Utah defenseman Sean Durzi returned after sustaining a shoulder injury on Oct. 14 and missing 52 games. In 21:37 of ice time Saturday, he had an assist, four shots, two blocks, two giveaways and a takeaway.

–Field Level Media