Utah HC drops overtime thriller to Las Vegas

The first Battle of I-15 at T-Mobile Arena was sure to be one Saturday night on the Strip.

And once again, the Utah Hockey Club came agonizingly close, but couldn't finish the job.

Brett Howden scored the game-winning goal 2:15 into overtime, and the Vegas Golden Knights escaped with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Utah to remain undefeated at home.

“We got better every game,” said head coach Andre Tourigny. “Unfortunately we were unable to complete the deal.”

It was an all-too-familiar refrain for Utah (5-4-3) as they let a 2-0 lead squander despite being outgunned on offense all night.

The club didn't even record a shot on goal until Logan Cooley fired a goal past Adin Hill nearly 11 minutes into the game, silencing the Vegas fans.

Ian Cole left The Fortress stunned with his first goal of the season after nine minutes of continuous action in the second period, giving Utah a 2-0 lead.

At that point, Vegas (8-3-1) woke up and tied the score at 2-2 with Noah Hanifin's goal with one second left.

William Karlsson gave the Golden Knights the lead six minutes into the third period before Alex Kerfoot responded with his second goal in two games to force overtime.

Despite the result, Tourigny said he was justifiably proud of the way the team had grown into the sport.

Utah gave up 21 goals while the bigger, more physical Golden Knights scored just 21, won 27 faceoffs and committed only one minor penalty the entire game.

“We really had to work our way into the game,” Tourigny said. “We build; This is an important point for us.”

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