Karel Vejmelka posts 49 saves, Utah HC scores 3 goals in 2 minutes to upset Hurricanes

Not one, not two but three goals (and a disallowed goal) in less than three minutes lifted the Utah Hockey Club to a 4-1 win over the heavily favored Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Here’s how they did it.

Nick Bjugstad opened the scoring late in the first period. It was his first chance to play on Utah HC’s first line and he made the most of it. He would also score Utah’s fourth goal.

Martin Necas, the league’s third-highest scorer, followed it up with a power play goal halfway through the second period, but that would be it for the Hurricanes’ offense.

Utah HC’s three goals were immediately followed by a big hit and subsequent fight between Michael Carcone and Jack Drury, but upon review, the referees would determine that Drury did not oblige to the fight and didn’t throw any punches, leaving Carcone with 17 minutes’ worth of penalty time.

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Seven of those minutes were time penalties, meaning Utah HC had to play short-handed. In a lifetime of watching hockey, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that. To make it worse, Utah would take two more minor penalties before the end of the period, raising the total to 11 minutes short-handed.

They killed every last minute.

“Hopefully we don’t get used to defending too much on the (penalty kill),” said head coach André Tourigny after the game.

Utah Hockey for dummies

“Veggie! Veggie!” chanted the crowd at the Delta Center at various points throughout the third period.

That’s in reference to goaltender Karel Vejmelka — “Veggie” for short — who posted a career-high 49 saves and helped his team kill 11 minutes’ worth of penalties in the final frame.

“It’s unreal,” Vejmelka said of how it feels to hear thousands of people chant his name. “This is a moment I’ll remember for sure.”

Time after time after time, Vejmelka made impossible saves to keep his game in an otherwise lopsided game. Utah HC managed just 21 shots, in comparison with the 50 that the Hurricanes registered.

Vejmelka has only started four games for Utah HC. This performance will surely earn him more trust among the team. Giving him more starts would allow Connor Ingram to rest — especially after a few tough games of late.

Tourigny says Vejmelka’s play was “extremely good,” but he also gives a lot of credit to the rest of the team for helping him out.

“Everything’s a chain connector,” Tourigny said. “Veggie was good, the guys were blocking shots, we defended the slot pretty good in our zone.”

Utah Hockey for casual fans

Utah HC had the edge over their opponents in the shot column the previous two games — something they had struggled to do most of the season. But just when things were looking up, the Hurricanes shut them down.

As mentioned, they recorded just 21 shots, as opposed to the Hurricanes’ 50. Shot differential is not the be-all, end-all because not all shots are equal, but every shot has the potential to result in a goal. Think of it like lottery tickets: The more tickets you buy, the better your odds are of scoring.

A shot differential of -29 is not sustainable.

Correcting that in the next game will be key. The Vegas Golden Knights outshot Utah HC 35-19 when they met earlier this month and it resulted in a 4-3 loss for Utah. They can’t afford to allow that again.

Utah Hockey for nerds

In Nick Bjugstad’s first game on the first line, he scored his first and second goals of the season. It was a bold move by Tourigny to put a depth player on the top line, but it paid off. In true hockey player fashion, Bjugstad wasn’t willing to take much credit.

“I don’t know if it was because I was playing good, necessarily,” Bjugstad said after the game. “They were just moving the lines around and I got lucky enough (to get put on the top line).”

Tourigny also put Olli Määttä on the first defense pairing with Mikhail Sergachev, dropping Michael Kesselring down to play with Juuso Välimäki. Tourigny was happy with his first pairing, but he expressed some displeasure with the latter.

“Väli and Kess, they had ups and downs in the game,” he said. “I don’t think they were terrible, I’m just saying they (were) up and down.”

He loved Kesselring’s work to set up Utah HC’s second goal, but he says the shift before that was “not as elegant.”

Tourigny has been known to change his lineup at the drop of a hat, so we didn’t bother to ask if the lines would be the same next game. The team won’t practice on Thursday, so Friday’s lines will remain a mystery until, well, Friday.

What’s next?

Utah HC players and staff will enjoy the comfort of sleeping in their own beds all week. They host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday and the Washington Capitals on Monday.

Fans will be interested to know that Utah HC jerseys will be available for purchase ahead of Friday’s game. For all the details, check out a recent Deseret News article.

As for the on-ice play, it should be a tight rematch of their game from earlier this month. Utah HC lost 4-3 in overtime, meaning it was close. The key for Utah will be to get pucks on net. They managed just 19 shots that game.

Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin was especially dangerous, potting a goal and two assists. Utah HC tends to leave opposing defensemen a lot of space in their zone, which creates a lot of opportunity for them to get quality shots on net. In fact, defensemen have had points on nine of Utah’s 13 goals against since the start of that game.

Tightening that up against the Golden Knights would be in Utah’s best interest.

The game starts at 7 p.m. MDT and will be available on Utah HC+ and Utah 16. Tickets are also available on Ticketmaster for as low as $57 at the time of writing.