Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist, and Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves for Utah (33-29-12), which had lost three straight. John Marino had two assists. Utah is nine points out of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
“Obviously we had a pretty embarrassing effort in Tampa, to say the least,” Kerfoot said of an 8-0 loss on Thursday. Utah lost 2-1 in overtime at Florida on Friday. “Given where we’re at in the season and looking at what we’re trying to accomplish, it was unacceptable. I thought that flying to Florida against a team like that at home, competing the way we did, was a step in the right direction. You’re not going to win every game. And just because you go out there and compete doesn’t mean results are going to follow you, but that was a great response.
“Coming here, to start the game wasn’t what we wanted, but we found a way to get two points. Now we’re (going) home. All we can do is control what we can control.”
Ryan Donato and Joe Veleno each scored for the Blackhawks (21-44-9), who have lost three straight. Forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel made their NHL debuts. Arvid Soderblom made 26 saves.
“It felt good, honorable,” said Rinzel, who had four shots on goal in 20:15 of ice time. “It was so fun. Guys were great. Like ‘Ollie’ said, as a hockey player, you want to win, so that stings. But overall it was an unbelievable first game.”
Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen praised both rookies.
“A good example today is if you watch Rinzel,” Sorensen said. “His mentality of attack off the blue line or just advancing pucks with his feet, those are attributes that at this level are really positive. To see that for a first game, that was pretty impressive to watch. So just keep building off that. But those attributes, both of them that came in today have them, for sure.
“I thought Rinzel really (had an) attack mindset. I think he had three or four Grade-A chances offensively, did a lot of good things. Oliver, too. Under pressure, made a lot of plays. They were good. I liked their game.”
Nick DeSimone’s first goal of the season gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 8:21 of the second period. DeSimone’s shot from the left point got past Soderblom through traffic in front of the net.
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