‘We’ve got to clean up some things’: Utah Hockey Club penalty kill suffers as Oilers’ superstars shine

Another overtime game, another overtime loss for Utah Hockey Club.

In a roller coaster, Utah HC surrendered a 2-0 lead and then fell behind 3-2 only to tie things up before losing to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 Friday night at Delta Center.

Though Utah gained a point that came from losing in overtime, it is now four games back of the Oilers in the Western Conference standings.

Here’s the full story.

Utah Hockey for dummies

The obstructed sections of the Delta Center are typically only open for games with extremely high ticket demand. Friday was one of those games: Everyone wants to see Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

They introduced themselves to the Utah market in a bold way, scoring a goal and an assist each.

”You do a lot of video on them,” said Lawson Crouse after the game. “You know their tendencies. Obviously McDavid’s the best player in the world. He’s got everything: speed, skill, vision, hockey sense. You’ve just got to do your best to be on top of him.”

Since McDavid entered the league in 2015, nobody has more points than he does. Who has the second most? Draisaitl.

Utah Hockey for casual fans

Penalties — yet again — were the death of Utah HC.

It’s not that they took that many of them — they actually stayed quite disciplined, but if there are two players you never want to face on the power play, they are McDavid and Draisaitl.

“McDrai” scored on two of their three opportunities with the man advantage. Those combined with an even-strength goal from newcomer Vasily Podkolzin turned Utah’s two-goal lead into a one-goal deficit to end the second period before Crouse scored in the third to tie it up.

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A solid penalty kill near the end of the third period earned Utah the overtime point. It certainly could have been worse, but had it been just that much better, they could have walked away with the win.

“We’ve got to clean up some things,” said Kevin Stenlund, who plays on Utah’s first penalty kill unit, “but the last one was good.”

Stenlund said before the game that he doesn’t do anything differently when facing McDavid and Draisaitl with a man down. Stenlund won the Stanley Cup last year as a key member of the Florida Panthers’ penalty kill. Who did he face in the Final? The Oilers.

Utah Hockey for nerds

Defending leads has been a tall task for Utah HC, and Friday was no exception.

They went up 2-0 in the first period. It looked, albeit for a moment, like they might run away with this one, but as described in the previous section, Utah’s penalty kill wasn’t strong enough to hold off the Oilers’ superstars.

Aside from the three times it has been shut out this month, Utah HC has scored first in every game. They’ve managed to win four of those games, but they’ve also lost five.

Head coach André Tourigny said he isn’t concerned about that aspect of his team’s game, saying that 41% of wins in the NHL last year were from comebacks.

Regardless, it’s an area where, if they tighten up just a little bit, Utah HC could snag a lot more wins.

What’s next?

It’s a quick turnaround for the next game, as Utah HC heads to Sin City to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

This is the third and final meeting between these two teams this year. In each of their two previous meetings, the Golden Knights came back from a 2-0 deficit to win.

If there’s anything Utah HC should learn from their previous competitions against the Golden Knights, it’s that complacency is a killer. The Golden Knights’ lineup is riddled with high-scoring forwards and hard-hitting defensemen. They know what it takes to win and they’ll take every opportunity to do so.

The game starts at 8 p.m. MDT and will be televised on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.