Utah HC's Clayton Keller Records 1 Goal And 3 Assists In 4-2 Win Over St. Louis Blues

It was clear that no one was going to stop Logan Cooley after he the stole the puck from Blues forward Robert Thomas. Not even a trip from Thomas's teammate Jake Neighbours could stop Cooley despite it causing him to fall to ground.

With the puck somehow still on Cooley's stick even after St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko jumped over him, Cooley would quickly stand up and pass it off to Clayton Keller before the Blues could recover.

Keller took care of the rest as he casually got Utah's third goal of the night on a 360 snap shot.

That play was one of many impressive moments Utah (19-19-7) had on route to its 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues (22-21-3).

Utah secured its seventh home win of the year, thanks to the impressive play of Keller and Cooley, who each scored a goal and combined for five assists.

Considering it took Blues forward Tyler Tucker just two minutes to score St. Louis's first goal of the night—thanks to teammate Oskar Sundqvist passing him the puck after winning the faceoff—Utah appeared poised to repeat some of the same mistakes it made in recent losses to the Rangers and Islanders.

But with the game set to resume at center ice, a sudden fight broke out between Tucker and Utah's Liam 'Spicy Tuna' O'Brien.

Seconds after the faceoff, both players began to chirp at one another. As soon as the gloves hit the ice, the fight began as both players suddenly started to throw haymakers at one another.

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"Every time he’s in the lineup, his energy, drive, physicality, predictability, and how he played makes me like his presence,” said head coach André Tourigny.

As the referees started to break up the fight and issue five minute fighting penalties to both players, Spicy Tuna emerged with blood flowing from his forehead all the way down to his vibrant red beard.

With a couple of fist pumps and some shouts, O'Brien invigorated the crowd as they all cheered in support.

It wasn't just the crowd that was inspired by O'Brien's actions; his teammates on the ice were as well.

"OB (Liam O’Brien) had a great fight there. Kind of pumps us up after this and they score one. A lot of credit goes to him,” said Keller.

Playing inspired, Utah would take advantage of a St. Louis tripping penalty as Utah would tie the game on its first power play.

While Cooley and Keller were passing it back and forth to each other as they waited for a lane to open up, Blues defenseman Ryan Sutter would somehow lose his stick as he pushed towards Keller. As a result, all eyes intensely watched Keller and Cooley as the Blues waited for one of the two to take a shot at the goal.

Instead of either of them shooting, they took advantage of the extra attention and passed the puck to Michael Kesselring, who was on the opposite side of the rink and left unguarded. With plenty of space and time, Kesselring took the shot and scored Utah's first goal of the night.

Related: John Marino Making Debut For Utah Hockey Club Against Montreal

The inspired play wouldn't stop there as Utah would score two more unanswered goals to go up 3-1. To make things even sweeter for Utah, John Marino was able to get his first assist since coming back from injury on Utah's second goal.

After Cooley and Keller connected for Utah's fourth goal of the night in the second period, Utah was up 4-2 entering the third. Considering how rough the third period has been recently, Utah couldn't get. too comfortable with its lead.

After a series of chaotic events saw Utah goalie Connor Ingram far out of the blue paint, the two-goal lead was in jeopardy as the puck deflected back to St. Louis with no one in goal.

With Ingram unable to get back quick enough, it was looking like the Blues would cut the lead to 4-3 and get ever so close to a comeback. But it was Marino again who would make the play as his quick thinking saved what seemed to be a surefire goal by the Blues.

Diving and sliding toward the net, Marino put his body on the line to keep Utah up 4-2 in the third period.

That wouldn't be the last of the good defense Utah would feature in the third period as it had three penalty kills over ten minutes of game time and one handed catch from Ingram to prevent a goal.

With a cross-checking penalty called on St. Louis with only 3:19 remaining, the game was effectively decided, and Utah went on to secure the win.

“Yeah, it's awesome. There's no better feeling than winning, and especially on home ice. These fans deserve it, and obviously it's felt like it's been a year since we had a win at home so it's nice," said Cooley.

With one more home game against a strong Winnipeg Jets team, Utah will need to play as it did today—consistent, energized, and tough.

Do you think that Utah can replicate the offensive success it had today? Let me know down below!