The Utah Hockey Club seems to have its groove back.
In back-to-back games, Dylan Guenther potted last-minute overtime goals to seal the deal for Utah HC. He and his teammates look to keep the ball rolling over the weekend, though the challenge just got a bit heavier.
It had success against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are both on the outside of the playoffs looking in at the time of writing. But now it has to do it against the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division.
Utah Hockey Club vs. Carolina Hurricanes
First up are the Carolina Hurricanes. Utah hosted Carolina in November — a game fans will remember as Karel Vejmelka’s most dominant game of the season, stopping 49 of 50 shots en route to a 4-1 win.
What fans may not remember is the reason why 50 shots were able to get through to Vejmelka.
In the third period of the game, shortly after Utah scored three goals in less than three minutes, Michael Carcone threw a hard, clean hit on Tyson Jost.
Jost gave Carcone a tap with his stick as the two were rushing to get back into the play, signifying that he wanted to avenge himself with a fight. Carcone obliged immediately, spinning around, grabbing his guy and throwing punches.
But there was one problem: He grabbed the wrong guy.
Rather than fighting Jost, Carcone put a beating on a completely unsuspecting Jack Drury. It earned Carcone 17 minutes of penalties, seven of which were timed. Utah made matters worse by taking two more minor penalties before the end of the period.
That’s 11 minutes’ worth of shorthanded time in a 20-minute period, and Utah didn’t allow a single goal.
Drury has since been traded to the Colorado Avalanche, so Carcone shouldn’t have to worry about answering the bell on Saturday.
The Hurricanes will look to get back into a rhythm on Saturday. They’ve lost three games in a row and they’ve scored just one goal in their last two games. Superstar Mikko Rantanen, whom they acquired from the Avalanche in January, has just two points in six games with his new club.
If Saturday’s game is even half as eventful as the two teams' last matchup was, fans are in for a treat.
Utah Hockey Club vs. Washington Capitals
Five days after their last game against the Hurricanes, Utah HC played host to the Washington Capitals. This time, it plays the Canes and Caps on back-to-back days.
The game drew league-wide attention when Jack McBain inadvertently collided with Alex Ovechkin, resulting in a fractured fibula for the latter.
The injury paused Ovechkin’s hunt for the all-time goal scoring record, but he was back in action just 40 days later and his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky is alive and well. He’s currently on a four-game goal streak and needs just 16 more to pass the Great One.
That game as a whole was one that Utah would prefer to forget. It struggled to get anything going and ultimately lost 6-2 — tied for their biggest deficit ever.
The Capitals are in first place in the NHL. They have a record of 17-5-4 at home. They’re 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. All that combined with the fact that Utah is playing on back-to-back mornings and traveling to a different state in between gives Washington a huge advantage on paper.
Where to watch
Both games will be available to Utah-based fans on Utah 16 and Utah HC+. Saturday’s game against the Hurricanes starts at 11 a.m. MST and Sunday’s game against the Capitals is at 10:30 a.m.