Utah HC's 3-2 overtime win against Los Angeles Monday night was largely buoyed by a dominant performance by the bottom-six forward group.
Everyone knows the Los Angeles Kings want to wear you down with their physicality.
It's been the formula that's made them playoff contenders for the last 15 years, and it's what won them two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
But on a Monday night at a sold-out Delta Center, it was the Utah Hockey Club who decided to stand up to the bigger Kings and show them what they were made of.
The club's 3-2 overtime win in front of a raucous crowd was largely thanks to a bottom-six performance that scored two of the three goals on the power play and scored wins in two fights which turned the tide of the game.
"We got to do our job and answer the bell when the time comes," forward Lawson Crouse said. "We're a tight-knit group in here, and everyone's got each other's backs."
Utah HC did plenty of that and more; they out-hit the Kings 33 to 18 on the night, with defenceman Ian Cole and forward Liam O'Brien delivering big thuds to any Los Angeles forward in their cross-hairs.
Utah forward Travis Barron even made Kings forward Jack Studnicka answer for running into Utah goaltender Connor Ingram late in the first period, with Barron dominating Studnicka with a series of right hands.
And yes, defenceman Maveric Lamoureux got in on the act, with the 6-foot-7 blue-liner nearly taking out two Kings forwards by himself.
"Those guys, they're battle-proven," head coach Andre Tourigny said. "They did it in the past. I agree with the fact they played solid; it takes more than that, though, to impress me."
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