For the third time this month, the Utah Hockey Club will face the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
The Golden Knights won both previous games. In both instances, Utah HC gained a 2-0 lead, but ultimately let it slip away.
The same thing happened in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, so it’s an area of their game that they clearly need to figure out.
Utah Hockey Club’s key to victory
On Friday against the Oilers and Nov. 15 against the Golden Knights, a pair of power play goals brought Utah’s opponent back into the game. If the penalty kill can be just a little bit better, it would go a long way for this team.
“We’ve got to clean up some things,” said Kevin Stenlund, who plays on Utah’s first penalty kill unit, after Friday’s game. “But the last one was good.”
That last penalty kill to which he was referring came with 3:25 to go in the third period. Mikhail Sergachev — a fixture on Utah’s top penalty-killing unit — got the gate for interference on Leon Draisaitl. Considering the fact that the Oilers were two for two on the power play and now Utah’s top penalty killer was in the box, the home crowd was nervous, to say the least.
But a number of timely sticks and clears — and one major block by Jack McBain — helped Utah kill it off and make it to overtime.
That’s the type of mentality Utah needs to bring on Saturday. If they treat every penalty kill like the one at the end of the third against the Oilers, they will be able to maintain their leads and win more hockey games.
Vejmelka or Stauber?
Head coach André Tourigny said after Friday’s game that he hadn’t yet decided which goalie would play on Saturday.
“We haven’t unpacked that game yet,” he said.
Karel Vejmelka has played in eight consecutive games, dating back to his triumphant win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 13. He has been one of their best players in that stretch, but it might be time for a break.
“It’s not easy in the NHL to play that many minutes on a consistent basis,” Tourigny said of Vejmelka’s workload after morning skate on Friday. “Load management will be important.”
“Until his energy is (not) there, there’s no problem,” he continued. “But at some point, if we run him like that, he will get tired. You don’t want to get there. When you’re tired, it (takes) too long to recover. You need to manage it so he stays as fresh as possible.”
With Connor Ingram sidelined, Jaxson Stauber has accompanied the team as the backup goalie for the latter half of November. He has six games’ worth of NHL experience, having backstopped the Chicago Blackhawks in the early part of 2023. His numbers were quite good: five wins, a .911 save percentage and a 2.81 goal-against average.
“If I do get that opportunity (to play for Utah), I feel confident about it,” Stauber told the Deseret News on Thursday.
He says he’s been working on a number of aspects of his game since he got called up. One of those things is presenting himself bigger to shooters.
Having a less-experienced goalie can sometimes be a catalyst for the team to play better. They get in more shooting lanes, try to keep the puck out of their zone more and tie up more sticks in front of the net because they don’t want to give the goalie more work than that which is necessary.
Where to watch
The Utah-Vegas game starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.