A slew of penalties stymied the Utah Hockey Club Monday at the Prudential Center.
Andre Tourigny said the Utah Hockey Club did well enough in the first period.
Then a rash of penalties and mistakes led to a second-period slide they couldn't recover from.
Thanks to that slight slip-up, Utah dropped its East Coast road finale to the New Jersey Devils 3-0 Monday at the Prudential Center.
The loss was also magnified by an injury to Sean Durzi, who left early in the second period and didn't return, with Tourigny stating post-game he will be re-evaluated tomorrow.
It was just one of the myriad of issues Monday that left the team frustrated by a Devils squad that allowed them no time and space to possess the puck and kept the defensive slot clean for most of the game.
"They (the Devils) knew what kind of a threat we are offensively," Tourigny said. "If you don't get inside, they sit on your passing options."
It showed through in the stats; Dylan Guenther, who scored five goals in the first three games to earn NHL First Star of the Week honors, was held to just one shot on goal.
Despite the loss, Utah still came away with 4 points out of a possible 6 on a difficult road trip through the East Coast metro area that included Saturday's huge upset of the New York Rangers.
But Tourigny isn't focused on what happened then or in the future; he, like the team, is solely locked in on what happens in the present.
"It's not about just sitting on the results," he added. "It's a race for improvement, so the race is on."