The Utah Hockey Club's comeback failed in OT with a 5-4 loss to the Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. – At this point, expect some late mayhem from the Utah Hockey Club.

And maybe a little bonus hockey too.

The latest example? A 5-4 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday at Honda Center.

It was Utah HC's third overtime game in its first five games, but this time the club was on the losing side. Anaheim's Leo Carlsson defeated Connor Ingram in the first minute of overtime to secure the Ducks' victory. Utah still picked up one point in the standings with the OT loss.

“I really liked our fight and our competitiveness,” said André Tourigny. “It's 5 out of 8 points on the trip, it's a comeback in the third. There are a lot of positives.”

The quick extra time was followed by a hectic third period that saw four goals that either tied the game or took the lead.

And the whole drama started with a penalty shootout.

After trailing in the final frame, Utah endured a lengthy penalty shootout that ended with two players down by more than a minute. But what seemed like a death knell ended with a game-winning goal.

As the Anaheim power play came to an end, Utah caught a change from the Ducks. Jack McBain accelerated up the ice and dropped the puck to Michael Kesselring, whose mid-range shot tied the game at 3-3.

Soon after, another onslaught of strange men put Utah on top.

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz stormed into the offensive zone together, Keller passed the ball to Schmaltz, who pushed it back to Keller in front of the net. Keller backhanded the puck up and over the Anaheim goalie's left pad to give Utah the lead with less than 10 minutes left in the contest.

“We found ways to create some good chances in the second part of the game,” Tourigny said.

But a bit of bad luck equalized the game.

Utah goaltender Connor Ingram, who made 29 saves, initially stopped a shot but was unable to find the puck as it eventually slipped into the net, tying the game.

It was an unfortunate rebound, but the shot came over loose defensive zone coverage that is becoming the norm for Utah. The Hockey Club struggled to reach or block passing lanes as the Ducks applied pressure in the offensive zone. This led to several good late chances for the home team.

“We missed too many chances in the rush. We have to get better,” said Tourigny. “It's not an odd-man rush, it's an even-man rush where we need to work on our coverage.”

In that sense, it didn't help that defenseman Sean Durzi missed the game with an upper-body injury (Tourigny said he was still being evaluated and didn't know a timetable for when he might return). But even with Durzi, Utah has relied on Ingram to bail them out in the third period several times this season. It was a similar story on Wednesday and the club paid for it.

To make matters worse, defender Robert Bortuzzo, who was making his season debut because of Durzi's injury, left the game in the third period and did not return. Tourigny said he did not know his status.

A similarly unfortunate jump almost ended the game in regular time. A save by Ingram sent the puck flying high over the Utah goaltender, but HC defenseman Ian Cole knocked it out of the air with his stick to prevent another goal.

Like I said, chaos.

This created an OT session that lasted a full 54 seconds. Carlsson forced a turnover at the blue line and hit Ingram for the game-winner.

McBain and Barrett Hayton scored first-period goals for Utah, which moved to 3-1-1 on the season with seven points.

Utah now returns home from a week-long road trip that took the team from coast to coast.

“It’s been a long journey,” Tourigny said. “I liked the energy we had, the fight we had. You see a little mental fatigue and some mistakes and holding back our emotions, but in terms of character and fighting for the team, I think it's a plus.”