The Utah Hockey Club and Dallas Stars played the first game of their four-game season series on Monday night at the Delta Center. Utah came into this one looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 12, whereas the Stars were looking to extend their win streak to three games after beating the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
At the end of the night, Utah dominated most of the play. However, this is not a game where Money Puck’s ‘Deserve To Win O’Meter‘ did not align with the final score, as the Stars came out with a 2-1 victory.
Casey DeSmith Goalies Utah HC
From the opening puck drop, Utah controlled the play. After the first five minutes of the game, they were leading the scoring chances 6-1, and after the first 10 minutes, they were leading the high-danger chance category 3-0 over the Stars. While the Stars found their legs late in the first period to even these chances up after one period, Utah would go on to dominate the puck the rest of the game, outshooting the Stars 35-21, having 12 high-danger chances to the Stars seven and won the expected goal battle 3.05-2.35.
Related: Utah HC: Has Nick Schmaltz Lost His Scoring Touch?
Despite Utah’s great offensive effort, they could not solve Casey DeSmith until midway through the third period when Nick Schmaltz went bar down on a great wrist shot from the slot for his second goal. Schmaltz scored his first goal in Utah’s most recent game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He is a guy Utah has needed to get going for quite some time, given he has scored 20 goals or more in three straight seasons. His scoring his second goal in as many games is the silver lining for this Utah team tonight. Utah has been desperately looking for secondary goal-scoring. Schmaltz has typically been the guy they have relied on for that, and if he can get hot, Utah could be much improved offensively in December.
However, DeSmith was the star of the show in the Stars net. He saved 33 of the 34 shots he faced for a .971 save percentage. In addition, he stopped all seven of the high-danger chances he faced and saved 2.05 goals above expected. This was a performance the Stars needed from their backup goalie. Jake Oettinger has been phenomenal for the Stars. However, DeSmith had struggled recently, losing four straight games he started and allowing four or more goals in all four of those starts. With the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets leading the Central Division and…
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