Kerfoot gets 3 points, Utah Hockey Club defeats Blackhawks to end 3-game skid

CHICAGO -- Alexander Kerfoot had a goal and two assists for the Utah Hockey Club in a 5-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist, and Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves for Utah (33-29-12), which had lost three straight. John Marino had two assists. Utah is nine points behind the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, who are tied for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“Obviously we had a pretty embarrassing effort in Tampa, to say the least,” Kerfoot said of an 8-0 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Utah lost 2-1 in overtime at the Florida Panthers on Friday. “Given where we’re at in the season and looking at what we’re trying to accomplish, it was unacceptable. I thought that flying to Florida against a team like that at home, competing the way we did, was a step in the right direction. You’re not going to win every game. And just because you go out there and compete doesn’t mean results are going to follow you, but that was a great response.

“Coming here, to start the game wasn’t what we wanted, but we found a way to get two points. Now we’re (going) home. All we can do is control what we can control.”

Ryan Donato and Joe Veleno scored for the Blackhawks (21-44-9), who have lost three straight. Arvid Soderblom made 26 saves.

Forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel each made his NHL debut for Chicago.

“It felt good, honorable,” said Rinzel, who had four shots on goal in 20:15 of ice time. “It was so fun. Guys were great. Like 'Ollie' said, as a hockey player, you want to win, so that stings. But overall it was an unbelievable first game.”

Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen praised both rookies.

"A good example today is if you watch Rinzel,” Sorensen said. “His mentality of attack off the blue line or just advancing pucks with his feet, those are attributes that at this level are really positive. To see that for a first game, that was pretty impressive to watch. So just keep building off that. But those attributes, both of them that came in today have them, for sure.

“I thought Rinzel really [had an] attack mindset. I think he had three or four grade-A chances offensively, did a lot of good things. Oliver, too. Under pressure, made a lot of plays. They were good. I liked their game.”

Nick DeSimone’s first goal of the season gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 8:21 of the second period. DeSimone’s shot from the left point got past Soderblom through traffic in front of the net.

Veleno tied it 1-1 at 11:02 when he took a pass in the slot from Artyom Levshunov and went backhand to forehand, tucking the puck past Vejmelka.

Donato put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 at 14:55 with his fourth goal in two games. Vejmelka stopped Connor Bedard twice in front before Donato picked up the rebound and lifted it under the crossbar.

Utah evened it 2-2 16:37 on a wrist shot from the left point by Sergachev.

Kerfoot tipped Sergachev’s point shot in front at 17:08 to put Utah up 3-2.

“We’ve talked a lot about how you score goals in this league,” Kerfoot said. “The majority of goals are plays in and around the net: low to high, point shots, deflections, rebounds. That accounts for a lot of the 5-on-5 goals. That’s always a point of emphasis. We did a better job of that tonight.”

Kailer Yamamoto one-timed a rebound from the right circle off a Kerfoot shot to increase Utah's lead to 4-2 at 10:57 of the third period. The goal was his first of the season.

“It was a good shot by ‘Kerf,’” Yamamoto said. “Goalie got over pretty quick, but I just tried to put it on net. Thankfully it went in.”

Logan Cooley scored from the left face-off circle at 12:54 for the 5-2 final.

“The other thing I liked about our game is we created good traffic in front of their net and got some dirty goals -- some deflections,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We made it tough for their goalie. That’s stuff we didn’t do against them previously (a 4-3 overtime loss at Chicago on March 7). I’m happy about that part.”

NOTES: Utah defenseman Ian Cole played his 900th NHL game, finishing plus-2 in 19:20 of ice time. … Utah defenseman Olli Maatta did not play because of a lower-body injury sustained in the loss on Friday. … Utah activated defenseman Robert Bortuzzo off injured reserve prior to the game. He has not played since Jan. 2 because of a lower-body injury. … Marino and Lawson Crouse each recorded his 100th career assist on Sergachev’s goal. … Moore had two shots on goal and was minus-1 in 15:03.