The scoreboard doesn’t suggest it, but the Utah Hockey Club’s 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday wasn’t their best game by any stretch of the imagination.
They allowed 40 shots on net, managing just 19 of their own. They were successful in getting on the board early, but they quickly allowed the Red Wings to pop a pair of pucks between the pipes, giving them a 2-1 deficit by the end of the first period.
But good teams don’t let adversity get them down — and Utah is showing, time and time again, that they’re a good team.
“We got better during the game,” said head coach André Tourigny. We’re resilient. We stick together."
Utah Hockey for dummies
Just hours after signing a life-changing contract that will keep him in Utah the next five seasons, Karel Vejmelka had one of his best performances of the year.
The two goals that got by him were forgivable, and he stopped at least two or three that would have gone in eight times out of 10 — including a point-blank chance by two-time 40-goal-scorer Alex DeBrincat.
“We had a kind of slow start today, but after the first period, we played pretty good to the second and even better in the third,” Vejmelka said. “It’s a big team win tonight.”
“We got an elite performance from Veggie,” Tourigny said. “He was really, really good. (He) tuned in, made key saves at key moments.”
Utah Hockey for casual fans
Alexander Kerfoot, Olli Määttä and Ian Cole also earned contract extensions this week. And, like Vejmelka, they all showed on Thursday why they deserve them.
Kerfoot’s confidence was apparent from the get-go. He found himself in the slot with the puck on his stick two minutes into the game. But rather than shooting from the high-percentage location, he threw a no-look backhand pass to Dylan Guenther at the back door, who made no mistake firing it in.
Määttä and Cole played nearly perfect games, though their version of perfect has more to do with stabilizing the team and preventing the opponents' scoring chances.
Määttä‘s best play came with four and a half minutes left in the third. The Red Wings were applying pressure and UHC was starting to cave in terms of scoring chances. Sensing this, Määttä stepped up, reached around future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane at the blue line and poked the puck to the neutral zone. In the same motion, he enticed Kane to grab onto him, drawing a holding the stick call.
It allowed Utah to almost automatically kill two minutes off the clock — nearly half the remaining time.
Cole was solid all game, but his most noteworthy play came with 32 seconds left. After a long shift of being pressed in the defensive zone, he found himself facing DeBrincat in tight. Cole got down on his belly to block the shot, catching a piece of it as it flew toward the open cage.
“Those guys are not the guys who make the highlights every night, but they’re guys who keep us away from the highlights the other way,” Tourigny said of the four recently extended players after morning skate on Thursday.
Utah Hockey for nerds
Utah HC spent considerably longer practicing special teams at practice on Tuesday than they normally do — and it paid off on Thursday.
UHC’s penalty kill was deployed three times (including once where their top penalty killer, Kevin Stenlund, had to sit), but they hardly even let their opponents set up in the offensive zone with the man advantage.
“Our PK came up big,” Tourigny said. “The other side (has) the second-best power play in the league, so there’s a lot of goodness in that.”
They were also decent on the power play — which should come relatively easily, considering Detroit has the worst penalty-kill record in the league.
Nick Schmaltz tallied the game’s lone power play goal, bringing UHC’s totals to 33% on the power play and 100% on the penalty kill. It’s a small sample size, but it showcases a trend: Utah is getting better at special teams.
Since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, Utah has operated at 30% with the man advantage and 80% when it’s against them. That’s the 10th-best record in the league on both fronts. If they’re serious about this playoff push, every goal matters — and special teams will play a massive role.
What’s next?
Utah has a post-deadline rematch with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Fans will remember the two teams' matchup on Feb. 25 — not a blowout, but a dominant UHC win that caused Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones to drop some bold criticism in his post-game interview. Jones has since been shipped to the Florida Panthers.
If Utah manages to secure the victory (and a few other dominoes fall in their favor), they could find themselves tied with the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames in terms of points. Needless to say, it’s a big game for the boys in blue.
The game will be available on Utah HC+ and Utah 16, with puck drop at 6:30 p.m. MST.