For the first time since the first week of the season, the Utah Hockey Club has back-to-back wins.
The latter of the wins came on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Flyers. Logan Cooley was the hero for Utah, scoring a goal that should make fans optimistic for his future, if they weren’t already.
The final score was 4-2 as Utah sweeps their two-game Eastern Conference road trip. They have once again pulled within three points of a wild card spot.
Utah Hockey for dummies
There have been two short-handed goals (goals that are scored while penalized) in Utah HC history — and both were worthy of the all-time blooper reel.
The first came courtesy of Alex Kerfoot against the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 30. He picked off an errant pass in the neutral zone and fired as quickly as he could, getting it past goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
On Sunday, Kevin Stenlund scored a similar goal.
“(It was a) good goal,” Stenlund said after the game. “We needed that one.”
In the half-dozen interviews that I’ve done with Stenlund this year, I’ve learned that he doesn’t say much, but he chooses his words carefully: He means exactly what he says, and he was right.
That goal secured the win for Utah. It ended Philadelphia’s hopes of tying it up on the power play and it added that extra bit of insurance. No, it wasn’t the game-winning goal, but it destroyed any confidence the opponent had. Without it, I might have ended up writing about an overtime game.
Utah Hockey for casual fans
One of the main goals of a team coming out of a rebuild is to learn how to win. It entails dozens of nuances, one of which is holding leads — something Utah HC struggled with all game.
Just 19 seconds after Utah scored the first goal of the game, the Flyers came out and tied it up. Utah got another one shortly thereafter, but that lead lasted less than four minutes. They popped another one in the back of the net before the end of the period, but the Flyers began the third by answering with another goal (which was eventually called back, but the point remains).
All was well for Utah in the end, but you know head coach André Tourigny will want to nip that tendency in the bud.
“When we have the leads, we sometimes tend to back up and give them more space, more time for some reason,” said Utah captain Clayton Keller after the game. “We’re just scared to make a mistake (but) I think we’re learning how to still play offense with the lead.”
Utah Hockey for nerds
Earlier in the season, Juuso Välimäki created a habit of going to the front of the net, seeking rebounds and deflections. When I asked head coach André Tourigny about it after that game, he expressed his displeasure, saying that Välimäki was getting “ahead of himself.”
But with the confidence that comes from being named to the Finnish national team, he found success doing the same thing on Saturday.
Halfway through the second period, Välimäki recognized an opening and headed to the net front. As he arrived, Mikhail Sergachev fired a shot from the point and Välimäki tipped it perfectly past Samuel Ersson to give Utah the 2-1 lead.
“He’s playing good for us lately,” Tourigny said after the game. “He’s making good plays and he’s creating movement in the o-zone. That’s the way he got there and got a stick on that puck.”
It was Välimäki’s first goal in a Utah HC uniform and the 10th of his NHL career.
What’s next?
The road trip is over, but Utah HC doesn’t get much time off before getting back at it. They host the Minnesota Wild at the Delta Center on Tuesday.
The Wild are among the league’s most surprising teams this season. Despite missing the playoffs last year, they currently sit in second place in the league. It’s impossible to credit their success to one guy, but Russian forward Kirill Kaprizov is making a case for the Hart Trophy. He’s tied for the league lead in points with 42, just 26 games into the season.
While most of Utah’s home games start at 7 p.m. MDT, this one is at 7:30. This is a nationally televised game, so it won’t be on the normal channels. Tune in to ESPN+ or Hulu to catch it.