SALT LAKE CITY – The first game. The first goal. The first battle. Those moments led to another first for the Utah Hockey Club: the first victory in franchise history, a 5-2 victory Tuesday night over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Although it took months to reach this point, Utah’s introduction to the NHL was swift. Dylan Guenther needed less than five minutes to score the first goal in team history. Nearly ten minutes later, Utah captain Clayton Keller scored to give the club a 2-0 lead.

“That was pretty cool,” Guenther said. “That building was special. That was a lot of fun. A lot of fun to play in front of that crowd.”

Utah tripled its lead midway through the second period when prized offseason signing Mikhail Sergachev put Barrett Hayton ahead 3-0.

A three-goal lead in front of a capacity crowd created the belief that at least the first match in team history would be successful. And it was, but it almost wasn’t.

“I think we were good from the start, after we settled in a little bit and we got back to our style of hockey and played the right way,” Keller said. “We had a little bit of a lull in the third period, but (Connor Ingram) was great there and he put us in the right place. It doesn’t matter how you get the win, (the win itself), that’s all that matters .

Chicago’s Teuvo Teravainen, returning to the club that drafted him in the offseason, broke through to cut the lead to 3-1 with less than five minutes remaining in what ended up being a fairly active second period.

Seconds after the goal, there was a scrum against the boards, with Keller receiving a two-minute minor for removing Connor Murphy’s helmet, while Murphy and Utah defenseman Sean Durzi each received five minutes for fighting.

Once Durzi and Murphy were separated, cameras captured Durzi looking at Murphy, leading to the Utah crowd chanting “Durzi! Durzi! Durzi!”

That high later turned to terror when Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno scored just 4:48 into the third period to cut the UHC lead to 3-2.

In doing so, Foligno gave Utah fans another first: the feeling of potentially watching your team give up a three-goal lead at home on opening night.

Utah fans watched as reigning Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard attempted to score a lacrosse goal at “The Michigan” but fell short. With around nine minutes to go, they watched as Bedard created isolation and launched a straight chance. Then, with 7:54 to go, they witnessed former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall get behind three Utah players for a breakaway.

All those tense moments were captured as Utah goaltender Ingram made a save each time.

Ingram would finish with 24 saves while his teammates combined to block 23 shots in a game that once seemed to be on cruise control. The game ended when Guenther scored his second goal on an empty-netter with 42 seconds left, while Crouse scored 10 seconds later for a 5–2 lead.

“I think this is what this team needs to learn right now: We need to learn how to win and close games,” Ingram said. “It’s a good learning step for us. Obviously there were a few opportunities, but that’s learning.”

Achieving the first victory in team history capped an active day. As the team held its first morning skate, construction crews were still working. As players came off the ice, arena employees rushed to take care of everything from adding more monitors to other last-minute details.

Hours later, the team arrived at the Delta Center and walked the blue carpet as fans cheered around them.

Many fans filled the Delta Center in the blue and white of the Utah club, while there was also a strong contingent of Blackhawks fans. There were even a few fans wearing Arizona Coyotes jerseys.

Utah’s Andre Tourigny, who also coached that Coyotes team, said there was quite a bit on Tuesday that will be remembered for years to come.

But at the same time, he admitted he couldn’t wait to get back to the normalcy that comes with a regular season schedule.

“Today was special, there’s no doubt about that,” Tourigny said. “One day we’ll look back. I got texts today from about half the head coaches in the league. That means something and that’s because it’s special.”