Utah Hockey Club falters in the 3rd period, loses to New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils spoiled the Utah Hockey Club’s perfect home stand, beating them 3-1 on Saturday.

UHC finished the stint with a 3-1-0 record, which was good enough to put them back into playoff contention.

Utah was fortunate that both the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames lost in regulation on Saturday, too. That being said, the St. Louis Blues' victory launched them slightly ahead of UHC in the standings.

With Friday’s trade deadline inching closer and closer, Utah is glad to be in the playoff race. Whether they make it or not, it’s good for the young players' development to be playing meaningful games at this time of the year.

Here’s an analysis of Utah HC’s game on Saturday — including the good, the bad and the necessary improvements that arose against the Devils.

Utah Hockey for dummies

Whether their opponents are contending for the Stanley Cup or the draft lottery, Utah HC can always count on Liam “Spicy Tuna” O’Brien to inject energy into the lineup — and that’s exactly what he did on Saturday.

It started with a first-period fight in which O’Brien challenged Brenden Dillon, who stands three inches taller than him. O’Brien arguably got the better of his opponent, and then fired the crowd up with his hand gestures.

But it didn’t stop there.

In the second period, O’Brien was on the receiving end of a hard hit from Curtis Lazar. Rather than taking a second to collect himself, he popped right back up, scooped up the puck that was now lying at his feet and sent it over to Mikhail Sergachev, who made no mistake popping it into the net.

“Helluva pass by Tuna,” Sergachev said.

Had he managed to score a goal, he would have had a Gordie Howe hat trick.

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Utah Hockey for casual fans

Could Karel Vejmelka have been better on the Devils’ latter two goals? Absolutely, but was he the reason the score wasn’t 7-1? You can bet your bottom dollar he was.

Time after time after time, the Devils found themselves with the puck in the slot, often with nobody home to cover them. But Vejmelka was almost always there to shut them down.

His heroics earned him “VEG-GIE!” chants on three occasions on Saturday.

“He’s been unreal all season long,” Sergachev said of goalie. “He’s been a rock back there for us. (He’s) an unbelievable goalie, and obviously it gives you confidence to play when you have a great goalie back there.”

Utah Hockey for nerds

Seven of Utah’s last eight games have been against teams that currently hold playoff spots. Their 4-3-0 record in those games proves that they can keep up with the best of them, but they learned on Saturday what they must do to get to the next level.

Transition and gap control were New Jersey’s biggest strengths — and, by default, Utah’s greatest weaknesses.

Strong transitional play resulted in a pair of Devils breakaways, just seconds apart, late in the first period. Early in the second, Erik Haula failed to control a breakaway pass — but it would have been a third had he done so.

None of them resulted in goals, but that’s only because of puck luck and solid goaltending.

All three Devils goals came because Utah HC allowed the puck carrier too much space. UHC failed to score more than they did because the Devils weren’t allowing them enough space.

Head coach André Tourigny mentioned in his postgame interview that the Devils have the second-best gap in the league. I don’t have access to stats that would back him up, but I believe it based on what my eyes have told me in the handful of Devils games I’ve watched this season.

“You won’t enter (the offensive zone) with the puck,” Tourigny said. “So what do you have to do with the puck? You need to put it behind (the defense) and go to work.”

What’s next?

Utah gets a four-day break before a back-to-back on the road on Thursday and Friday.

First up are the Detroit Red Wings, whom UHC has yet to play. Fans can catch Thursday’s game on Utah HC+ and Utah 16, starting at 5 p.m. MST.