You wouldn’t believe it by looking at the score of the Utah Hockey Club’s 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, but it was one of their better games of the season.
The first-place Jets were the heavy favorites going into the night, having lost just one game. If Utah HC couldn’t pull off the upset, the next-best thing was to be in it until the very end — and they were.
The game remained 0-0 until the final two minutes of the second period, when Gabe Vilardi scored a power play goal to give the Jets an edge. Nino Niederreiter added a pair of goals — one of them an empty-netter — in the third period to seal the deal.
“We had our game plan, we tried our best to stick to it,” said Utah HC associate captain Lawson Crouse after the game. “I think we improved a lot in the second period. I think we could be a little bit more selfish at times and shoot the puck a little bit more, but it ultimately came down to a special teams battle and we lost that one tonight.”
Utah HC will take pride in the fact that they were the first team to hold Kyle Connor off the score sheet this season. Connor was on a 12-game point streak heading into the game.
Utah Hockey for dummies
All you can ask from a goaltender is that he gives the team the best chance to win. There’s only so much he can do — he is in no way responsible for creating offense.
That’s why it’s so strange that Utah HC has not been able to score with Karel Vejmelka on the ice. He has played 11 full periods this season, but has only been able to celebrate one Utah goal while he was on the ice.
One X user posed a valid question: Is there some behind-the-scenes reason why they can’t score with Vejmelka on the ice? The short answer is no, but the over-thought answer is that if a team is extremely under-confident in its goaltender, they might play with such a defensive focus that they don’t create scoring chances. But that’s not the case here.
“I feel bad for him — he was really good,” said Utah HC head coach André Tourigny after the game. “Now it’s the third time he goes in and we don’t support him offensively. I feel really bad for him because he played really solid.”
Utah Hockey for casual fans
Tourigny liked his team’s game — especially the defensive side of it. They simply didn’t capitalize on their offensive chances.
“We played well defensively,” Tourigny said. “Offensively, we had grade-A chances where we didn’t connect. We didn’t hit the net, we tried to do a little bit too much. I think offensively, early in the game, we’re forcing it a little. I think we adjusted well, the boys reacted well. (In the) second and third period, I think we had good looks. Our execution could have been a little bit better, but ... defensively, we did a lot of good things today against a really good team.”
The key to generating more offense, he says, is to have more clean zone entries and to win more puck battles.
Utah Hockey for nerds
As Crouse mentioned, it’s hard to score when you hardly shoot. It was one of Utah HC’s downfalls on Saturday in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and it hurt them again on Tuesday.
That being said, Utah’s shooting percentage is excellent. Coming into this game, they were 10th in the league in that category with a success rate of 11.78%. They tend to only shoot when they have good chances to score. The problem, however, is that many goals in hockey come from fortunate bounces. You don’t get fortunate bounces if you don’t put shots on net.
This was the third time Utah HC has been shut out this season. If they want to score more goals, putting more puck on net is the very first step.
What’s next?
Utah HC gets a day to rest and travel to Missouri in preparation for their date Thursday with the St. Louis Blues.
It’s an important game for both teams, being so close in the Central Division standings. The Blues’ 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday allowed them to pass Utah HC in the standings, but Utah has the chance to reclaim that spot on Thursday.
The Blues added a number of players in free agency over the summer, but the two that made the biggest headlines were Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. They stole both guys via offer sheets from the Edmonton Oilers on the same day.
Broberg will not play on Thursday, as he is projected to miss four to six weeks with a leg injury. Holloway left Tuesday’s game after taking a shot directly to the throat. Per the Blues communication staff, it’s yet to be determined whether he’ll play on Thursday.
Star center Robert Thomas is also out with an injury after suffering a fractured ankle against the Jets in October. He is not expected to return until December.
Jordan Kyrou leads the Blues with four goals and 11 points through 13 games so far this season.
It’s also worth mentioning that it will be the 700th game of Nick Bjugstad’s NHL career. The 32-year-old forward is also one goal shy of 150 in his career. Who knows? Maybe he’ll hit both milestones in the same game.
The game starts at 6 p.m. MDT and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and televised on Utah 16.
Also, don’t forget about the USA versus Canada Rivalry Series. They play at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Friday.