Clayton Keller’s 5 points lead to Utah Hockey Club’s 6-1 win

The playoff race is heating up. With its 6-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, the Utah Hockey Club is now two points shy of the playoffs.

Much like Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Utah dictated the game from the get-go. But unlike Tuesday’s game, the scoreboard reflected that.

“I felt we were really consistent in (this) game,” said head coach André Tourigny. ”Maybe after they scored their goal, we had one or two shifts where we were just OK, but the rest, I think we were really engaged and really connected all game long. I really liked the way we played."

There’s a ton to unpack here, so let’s get started.

Utah Hockey for dummies

Don’t look now, but Utah HC is 4-0 at the Delta Center when Sean Durzi is in the lineup.

He scored his first goal as a Utah Hockey Clubber on Thursday after spending the majority of the season on the injured reserve due to a shoulder injury.

“It was special,” he said of his goal.

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He explained that he’d told his grandparents before Tuesday’s game that he’d score a goal for them. It didn’t happen, but he made right on his promise on Thursday.

“I got them one tonight, so it was huge,” he said.

Durzi has done a few key things for Utah since his return: He‘s played well offensively (two points in four games), he’s played well defensively (aside from his miscue on the Wild’s only goal) and he’s injected energy into the team.

“He’s an awesome teammate,” said team captain Clayton Keller. “Everyone in this room loves him. It’s so great to have him back.”

Utah Hockey for casual fans

For the first time in his NHL career, Keller scored five points on Thursday.

The WWE couldn’t have scripted it better. It came on the one-week anniversary of Team USA losing in the gold medal game of the 4 Nations Face-Off — a team from which Keller was excluded.

That’s significant because Team USA general manager Bill Guerin is the GM of the Wild. In four games against the Wild this season, Keller now has nine points. He’s on a six-game point streak and has a total of 69 points in 59 games.

Despite their long list of elite talent at the tournament, Team USA could have used another scorer. I’d give Keller good odds at being named to the Olympic roster next year.

But that’s not his focus at the moment.

“I’m just doing everything I can to help this team win,” he said after the game. “That’s my main focus right now. The other stuff will take care of itself.”

Utah Hockey for nerds

In a game with six different UHC goal scorers and nine different point-getters, where I could have chosen from half a dozen topics or more, I want to give credit to someone who contributed without scoring: Lawson Crouse.

It’s no secret that this season hasn’t been Crouse’s best, but he seems to be turning a corner. After scoring the game-winning goal in Utah’s 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, he told us that he spent the break reviewing his goals from years past to try to figure out what he needed to change.

The result? He realized he needed to shoot more.

“When I take a look at the goals that I’ve scored in previous years, it’s on and off my stick, so just trying to shoot more, be ready to shoot more and when I get the puck, be ready to shoot it,” he said.

That was evident in Thursday’s game against the Wild.

He had three shot attempts, two of which made it to the net. One of them was a high-confidence backhander that he probably would have tried to pass earlier in the season — and it was a legitimate scoring chance.

He also used his size to his advantage more than he ever had this season.

At one point in the first period, he cut hard to the net, fending a defenseman off with one hand while controlling the puck with the other. A little while later, he knocked down Devin Shore in the neutral zone, stripped him of the puck and created a 2-on-1 for himself and a teammate.

He also threw four hits — nearly twice his average on the season. One of them was a hard, punishing check on Zach Bogosian. There aren’t a lot of people in this world that can physically impose their wills on the 6-foot-3, 230-pound defenseman, but Crouse made it look easy.

It’s a small sample size, but it’s two games in a row where Crouse has had a major impact. The same can’t be said about too many of his previous games this season. If he can keep it up, both he and the team will be in a better situation as they inch toward the playoffs.

What’s next?

Utah is back in action on Saturday, as Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils come to town.

It’s the second meeting between the two teams, the first being Utah HC’s first-ever loss. In was in that game that Durzi injured his shoulder. Needless to say, Utah will want a much different result in every sense this time around.

The game starts at 7 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on Utah 16 and Utah HC+.