Utah HC wins first preseason game, 5-3

DES MOINES (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah Hockey Club is off and skating.

Logan Cooley scored the go-ahead goal on a penalty shot with 1:17 remaining in the third period for the Utah Hockey Club in its win against the St. Louis Blues at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

Michael Carcone scored twice, and Kevin Connauton also scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves.

In its first preseason game of the year, Utah HC rested all of its regular rotation players.

Dylan Holloway, Anton Malmstrom and Simon Robertsson scored for the Blues. Joel Hofer stopped all 13 shots he faced in the first period before he was replaced by Vadim Zherenko, who made three saves.

Utah was playing its first game as a new franchise, while the Blues lost 2-1 to the Dallas Stars in their preseason opener Saturday.

Holloway gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 12:31 of the first period with a power-play goal. He took a cross-crease pass from Brayden Schenn and beat Vejmelka with a snap shot.

Malmstrom made it 2-0 at 3:32 of the second. He was last to touch the puck before Utah put it into its own net with Vejmelka on the bench for an extra skater during a delayed penalty.

Carcone cut it to 2-1 at 9:42 with a snap shot from in front off a 2-on-0 rush with Ben McCartney, who joined the rush out of the penalty box.

Connauton tied it 2-2 at 12:21. Dylan Guenther then gave Utah a 3-2 lead at 8:05 of the third period. He put in a cross-crease pass from Jack McBain on the power play.

Robertsson tied it 3-3 at 15:58 when he put in a backhanded centering pass from Juraj Pekarcik on the rush.

Carcone scored an empty-net goal for the 5-3 final at 19:00.

The Utah Hockey Club next hosts the Los Angeles Kings Monday night at the Delta Center at 7:00 p.m.

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