Utah Falls in Overtime to the New York Islanders

JJ Peterka scored in his second straight game on his new line alongside Lawson Crouse and Jack McBain. The trio found plenty of chemistry quickly and Crouse set up Peterka perfectly to tap in his sixth of the season on the doorstep. John Marino also recorded an assist on the tally.

“JJ has jumped into our line perfectly,” Associate Captain Lawson Crouse explained of his line. “I think with myself, (McBain) and (Carcone), we created an identity of how we wanted to play and JJ’s complimenting that right now. We talked to him about when the play’s there, make the play, but (McBain) and I like to get in, and when you put pucks in, we’ll get it back. He’s doing a great job and reaping some rewards and getting some goals here, so it’s been great.”

Utah’s power play scored its first goal since Oct. 26 in Winnipeg. Dylan Guenther’s shot from the left faceoff circle soared past New York’s David Rittich and gave Utah its first lead of the game, 2-1. Mikhail Sergachev and Clayton Keller assisted on the power play goal.

For the eighth-straight game, Utah’s penalty kill has put up a perfect performance as the Mammoth killed off all four of their penalties tonight. Utah has gone 16-for-16 over the last eight games played, and is best in the league over this span.

“Determination and knowing the game plan and sticking to it,” Crouse explained. “(Madden) is doing a great job explaining the position strengths, and then kill’s doing a great job of buying in.”

“(Assistant Coach John Madden) puts together a really good plan for us and I think our guys are sticking to it, and they believe in it right now, and I think that’s a really good sign of (our) group,” Nate Schmidt shared. “We’re not relying on one guy to clear the puck. I think we’ve had a couple shared clears over the last couple of games that those (have been) the difference, killing off another 30 seconds of their power play. Always have to have good goaltending but right now, I think we’re in sync and we’re trusting where guys are on the backside and there’s a lot of talk about that, that always helps.”

The Mammoth defended a one-goal lead throughout the second period, and weathered surges by the Islanders. However, with under seven to play, the Islanders tied the game with a goal by Jonathan Drouin.

“Puck management was much better, I think that was good,” Tourigny shared. “If there’s one thing in our game we need to remain aggressive. We did a good job of staying composed, but we flirt with getting a little bit too passive. We need to be patient, but aggressive. We need to find that line with consistency because you become passive. The Islanders are a team who likes to be in possession. They took advantage of the fact we were not playing with as much pace in the second half of the game.”

After neither team was able to break through in the final minutes of the third, the game went to overtime. Two minutes into the overtime, Matthew Schaefer scored and the Islanders secured the win. Despite the loss, Utah finished the two-game homestand with three of four possible points.