Behind Connor Ingram’s 21 saves, Utah Hockey Club beat the New York Islanders 5-4 in overtime Thursday night.
| Oct. 11, 2024, 4:30 a.m.
| Updated: 5:43 p.m.
Elmont, N.Y. • To Connor Ingram, being Utah Hockey Club’s goaltender is simply a job.
Playing in the NHL is nice, yes, but it’s not all that he is nor all that he uses to define his success.
“Somebody asked me today what goes through my head before games,” Ingram said after a frenzied finish on the ice Thursday night. “I was thinking, there have been a lot of bad days in my life, none of them were hockey-related. Whatever happened today wasn’t going to be the worst thing that ever happened, and it was going to go away a lot faster than a lot of other things. It’s just hockey, that’s always what I’ve told myself.”
That mindset helps Ingram keep cool amid the chaos in the crease. His workman-like approach helped him earn the starting position in net for Utah Hockey Club after making a name for himself around the league the last two seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. And after punching in for his shift Thursday, Ingram helped lead his team to a 5-4 overtime win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.
“He’s really good. I don’t know what else to say. He’s unbelievable,” Utah head coach André Tourigny said. “He’s a laid-back personality, he’s a low-profile guy, but he’s really smart and he’s really good.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club goaltender Connor Ingram (39) as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Los Angeles Kings, NHL pre-season hockey in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
Ingram made 21 saves against the Islanders, including a first-period sprawling stop that will live on 2024-25 season highlight reels. New York dumped the puck into the offensive zone, Ingram went behind the boards to retrieve it, but the rubber bounced out to the slot and onto Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s stick. With a seemingly wide-open target to shoot at, Ingram threw his body across the crease and made the block.
Look at this save from Connor Ingram. My jaw dropped#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/2j3R6zGrF0
— Cap’n Cook (@JazzePinkman) October 11, 2024
“It is the most lonely feeling in the world being behind that net, looking through the net and seeing that wide open net,” Ingram said. “I don’t think I even turned the corner by the time I dove. There’s nothing you can say about it — it’s just pure desperation.”
But, as Ingram pointed out, it’s nothing compared to the journey he’s taken to get to this point in his career.
It was not an easy path to stardom for Ingram. The 27-year-old spent seven seasons bouncing between the AHL and ECHL before getting a real chance with the Coyotes in the 2023-24 campaign.
Ingram opened up last season about his struggle with undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder and how it made him turn to alcohol to deal with his anxiety.
After posting a 2.91 goals against average and .907 save percentage through 50 games in 2023-24, he won the league’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
That’s given Ingram an incredible perspective.
“If you took [hockey] away from me today, I’m going to be alright as an adult,” he said. “I love doing it, but that’s just the way I look at it.”
Forwards Lawson Crouse and Barrett Hayton both scored in the opening 40 minutes to give Utah a 2-1 lead after Anthony Duclair scored first for the Islanders. Ingram had another sliding stop in the second period when he jolted over to the left post to keep Brock Nelson’s shot out of the net.
Utah didn’t make Ingram’s job particularly easy on Thursday; the team took six penalties and was on the 5-on-4 kill for a cumulative 12 minutes of the game. However, with the help of veterans like Alex Kerfoot and Kevin Stenlund, the team’s penalty kill went 5-for-6 on the night.
“I think our PK was probably the best part of our game,” Tourigny said. “I cannot say one guy because I will have to name all of them.”
Ingram maintained a calm demeanor through a chaotic third period.
Utah entered the final frame leading 2-1, but goals from Bo Horvat and Pageau put the Islanders up 3-2 by 6:52. Dylan Guenther tied things on the power play before Islanders’ forward Maxin Tsyplakov gave New York a 4-3 advantage with less than three minutes left in regulation. Josh Doan scored his first goal with Utah to knot it 4-4 at 18:06 of the third and force overtime. Guenther secured the 5-4 victory with his second goal of the game — and fourth of the season — in the 3-on-3, five-minute period.
Utah Hockey Club's Dylan Guenther (11) celebrates after scoring the game winning goal during the overtime period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
“It’s one of those things where we have belief inside that room so when we go down it’s pretty easy to come back,” Doan said. “When you have trust in your goalie like that, it makes the game a little easier.”
While it is only a two-game sample size, Ingram has gotten off to a sturdy start for Utah Hockey Club in its inaugural season. He has claimed the net as his, and for good reason.
The success on the ice, though, is just a bonus to the rest of his life.
It’s a position Ingram couldn’t have imagined three years ago.
“I don’t think he would believe it,” the goalie said.