Michael Kesselring scores Utah’s first Gordie Howe hat trick in a 5-2 win over Buffalo

SALT LAKE CITY — Michael Kesselring woke up Saturday morning knowing Utah’s trip to Buffalo would mark a special moment in his NHL career.

The third-year defenseman was already close to playing his 100th career game in the league.

The honors didn’t stop there, however.

Kesselring scored Gordie Howe’s first hat trick in Utah Hockey Club history, and Nick Schmaltz scored his fourth goal in the last three games as Utah extended Buffalo’s winning streak to six with a 5-2 victory over the Sabers at KeyBank Center in Buffalo Consecutive victories extended, New York.

With a goal, an assist and a five-minute penalty for fighting, Kesselring, who signed a two-year, $1.4 million contract in June, scored Gordie Howe’s first hat trick in Utah Hockey Club history.

Only two players in NHL history achieved the feat of scoring in a contest in their 100th career game: Kesselring and Utah teammate Jack McBain, who also scored on Saturday to help the hockey club win 2-1 -loss to Dallas on Monday to bounce back.

“This is fun,” McBain said after the Hockey Club’s victory in the first of two road trip games that ended Sunday in Philadelphia. “It’s a funny statistic and Kess had a great second half. It’s really good for him… but I’m like, I don’t know, do it again.”

Kevin Stenlund also scored for Utah, which drew 23 saves from Karel Vejmelka to earn head coach André Tourigny’s 100th win as head coach of the former Arizona Coyotes-now Utah-HC.

It is the first time this season that Utah has won a game despite trailing after the first period (1-4-0).

“I liked the way we played offensively and defensively,” Tourigny said. “We had a lot of pace in the second third.”

After Schmaltz’s opening goal was called back for goaltender interference, Buffalo broke the ice when Tyson Kozak scored his first NHL goal on a tip from Beck Malenstyn, giving the Sabers a 1-0 lead with 10:14 left in the first period.

Utah outscored Buffalo 10-7 before the first intermission and also converted a penalty and all but 39 seconds when Mikhail Sergachev was called for interference with 1:21 left.

But Kesselring scored the equalizer just over three minutes into the second period in his 100th game, and Sergachev gave the Hockey Club a 2-1 lead when he put the cookie in the basket just 22 seconds later.

Jason Zucker tried to equalize with 4:44 left, but his backhand shot was parried by Vejmelka. Instead, it was Kesselring who scored Gordie Howe’s hat trick in the closing stages of the quarter.

In the final minute of the same period, in which the 6-foot-1, 220-pound defender dropped the gloves from Beck Malenstyn before both were sent to the basket, Kesselring Schmaltz scored across the net with 52 seconds left in the second period Goal gives the Hockey Club a 3-1 lead.

“It’s nice to be in the game,” said Kesselring dryly when asked about the unique hat trick in the second break. “I think we had a good start and just took it and stuck to the game plan.”

But Utah wasn’t done yet. McBain opened the third period with his ninth goal, ending a Logan Cooley attack just over two minutes into the period to give the Hockey Club a 4-1 lead. Stenlund added another goal midway through the third period, finishing his second with 7:53 left to extend the lead to 5-1.

Vejmelka stopped 23 of 24 shots until Jiri Kulich slipped a wrist shot on a rebound with just under two minutes left for Buffalo (11-12-3), its longest losing streak since eight straight games in November 2022.

“I feel like we played well the last five to six games. We’re keeping the momentum going,” said Kesselring about his club, which has outscored opponents 14-4 in its last three away games. “We monitor the situation better, we manage the puck better. We can still clean it up a little bit, but we did a good job tonight.”