Sidney Crosby scored his 600th goal on Saturday night, but it would have taken six more to beat the Utah Hockey Club.
Utah HC snapped its three-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was one of those games wherein everything just seemed to go right for Utah.
The power play was excellent; The penalty kill allowed just one goal, which came during a two-minute 5-on-3; The goaltending was top-tier; Eight Utah forwards scored points, in addition to two defensemen.
It was an all-hands-on-deck type of win.
“I liked the way we played offensively,” said head coach André Tourigny after the game. “It’s not just the goals we scored. It’s the attention, the intensity around the net, supporting the puck carrier on the entries. ... Offensively, there’s a lot of positives.”
It’s just one game, but it’s a huge step in the right direction for a team that had struggled recently. Utah HC will look to follow it up with another win in Sunday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Utah Hockey for dummies
These articles typically focus on Utah HC, but some things from the opponent are so remarkable that they demand extra attention. Sidney Crosby is that remarkable thing. Crosby scored the 600th goal of his NHL career on Saturday, becoming the 21st player in NHL history to hit that milestone.
Crosby’s impact on the game should not be understated. It seems like he’s won a major trophy or tournament every other year, whether it be the Stanley Cup or gold medals at the Olympics, the World Championships or the World Cup of Hockey — not to mention his plethora of individual awards.
Like many kids of the 2000s and 2010s, I grew up idolizing No. 87. I spent many hours pretending to be Crosby while playing street hockey and mini sticks. I tried to copy his moves, I developed a large collection of Crosby hockey cards and I traded for him on all my NHL video games.
He has impacted thousands of kids, including Utah HC forward Logan Cooley, who first played hockey at Crosby’s “Little Penguins” program and was instantly hooked.
The Pittsburgh native recorded a pair of assists against Crosby and the Penguins on Saturday.
The Penguins drafted Crosby first overall in 2005. He has never scored less than a point per game in his entire career over a season, despite the fact that he’s now 37 years old.
Utah Hockey for casual fans
This team would be much worse off without Jack McBain in the lineup.
He’s not a big-name star like Clayton Keller or Mikhail Sergachev, and he gets paid a fraction of what those guys make, but his value to the team is on the same level as theirs.
McBain scored his sixth goal of the season on Saturday. That brings him halfway to his career high in goals for a season, and it’s less than a quarter of the way through the season.
He’s also on pace to beat his career high in points by 11.
In addition to McBain’s offensive success, he has found a role as one of the team’s emotional leaders. He has fought three times this season, he’s had some timely hits and he kills the occasional penalty. His teammates also describe him as one of the funniest players on the team.
If McBain can keep it up, it will pay off for him this summer. He’s due for a new contract, which would likely come with a raise from the $1.6 million he currently makes.
Utah Hockey for nerds
The power play had been a struggle for Utah HC all month. It’s still not perfect, but it struck three times on Saturday.
Nick Bjugstad, who had played just 9:12 on the power play previous to this game, scored the first goal. It was one of several changes to the lines this game, and one of many changes made in the last few weeks.
The second power play goal came from the top power play unit off the stick of Dylan Guenther, with big credit to Nick Schmaltz, who set the goal up.
Guenther went on to score another power play goal, courtesy of PP1 newcomer Logan Cooley.
“It’s huge for us, just for a confidence booster,” Guenther said after the game. “We’ve actually done some good things, I think. (We) just haven’t really gotten rewarded. ... (It was) nice for us to get a few there.”
Again, a trio of power play goals in one game is no indication that all the special teams’ problems are solved, but it’s a step in the right direction. If Utah HC can continue making little steps in the right direction in all areas of the game, they will start to win more games.
The key now becomes consistency. If they can find a way to score one or two power play goals every game, keep the puck out of their own net and do all the little things right, the playoffs won’t be out of the question.
What’s next?
Utah HC makes the hour-long flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto, where they’ll face the Maple Leafs on Sunday.
There will be lots of extra eyes on the game, as it’s the only one in the NHL on Sunday. It’s also against the one of the most viewed teams in the league, which also helps. Utah would like to show well with so many people watching.
The Maple Leafs sit in first place in the Atlantic Division. They’re on an eight-year streak of making the playoffs, though they get lots of heat for having won just one series since 2004. They hope to change that this year, and a good regular season is a necessary step toward that goal.
Utah HC has not won back-to-back games since their New York road trip at the beginning of the season. It will be a tall task to get it done on Sunday as they’ll either have to rely on a tired Karel Vejmelka at goaltender or turn to Jaxson Stauber, who has just six games of NHL experience on his résumé.
The game starts at 5 p.m. MDT and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.