Guenther returns from bloody injury, Utah Hockey Club sweeps another season series

Add the Flames to the list of teams the Utah HC has swept in a season series this year — bragging rights that come with their 3-1 win on Tuesday.

The list isn’t particularly long, but it includes two teams with whom Utah HC has battled for a playoff spot all season long: the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks. Additionally, they’re 3-0-1 against the Minnesota Wild and 2-1-0 against the St. Louis Blues (with another game to play).

Utah’s odds of making the playoffs aren’t promising, but they’re determined to make every game count — regardless of how well their competitors play.

“We’re just worried about our own business,” said Barrett Hayton, who scored the game-winning goal against the Flames on Tuesday. “That’s all we can control. Each and every night’s a war for us, so that’s all we’re focused on.”

“I think (this) group likes big games,” said head coach André Tourigny. “They like the stage, from the season opener to the way we played against Tampa here, so on and so forth. (There are) a lot of key games where the group stepped up."

The ability to pull it together in especially meaningful games is paramount — you can’t win the Stanley Cup without it. It would take nothing short of a miracle for Utah to pull that off this season, but it’s these winning habits that will eventually move them from the rebuild to contender status.

Utah Hockey for dummies

When Dylan Guenther took a deflected puck to the face halfway through the first period, many fans probably wondered whether he’d be back this season. To the surprise of many, he was back before the end of the period.

Team captain Clayton Keller set the precedent for such injuries earlier in the season, when he took a puck to the eye, got stitched up, came back and scored a pair of goals. When he was asked to recall the incident Tuesday morning, he didn’t mince words.

“Every single guy in here, if that were to happen to them, they would’ve done the same exact thing — I can guarantee that," he said.

Nine hours later, Guenther proved him right.

“Each guy in this room is going to do whatever they can to play,” Hayton said. “I think Gunner did a good job of not being hesitant. When something like that happens, maybe you have a tendency to, kind of, ease into it and that wasn’t what he did. He jumped right back into it and that’s huge for us.”

Guenther’s return wasn’t punctuated by two goals the way Keller’s was, but he did set Keller up for an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game.

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Utah Hockey for casual fans

Remember this name: Dustin Wolf. If he continues on his current trajectory, he’ll be a household name in no time.

Wolf is the second-youngest goalie to play 20 games or more in the NHL this season. He’s in the Calder Trophy race for rookie of the year and, to be honest, he should probably get some Hart Trophy votes as the most valuable player to his team. His play is a major reason why the Flames are even in the playoff conversation.

Tuesday was no exception. In the first two periods, UHC had 26 scoring chances — and Wolf stopped all but two of them. With any other goalie in net, the final score may have been closer to that of the Flames’ first visit to the Delta Center.

“He’s been great all year,” Hayton said. “We knew we were going to have to bring our best against him and try to have a lot of traffic. He’s a heck of a goalie.”

Utah Hockey for nerds

The hockey nerds will be familiar with Martin Gelinas’ would-be Stanley Cup-winning goal that was disallowed in game six of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final. The officials determined that the puck didn’t fully cross the goal line, though the court of public opinion often says otherwise.

The Flames, of course, went on to lose that game in overtime and then lose the series in game seven.

Tuesday’s game didn’t have nearly the same stakes, but Flames fans were having flashbacks to that incident when video review showed the puck in nearly the exact same spot.

Tuesday’s officials took the same position as those that worked that game 21 years ago: no goal. Had the call gone the other way and nothing else changed, the game would have gone to overtime.

What’s next?

Utah’s final home stand of the season continues with a tilt against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

It’s Salt Lake City native Trevor Lewis’ homecoming. He played at the Delta Center in a handful of preseason games over the years, but assuming he plays, it will be his first time suiting up in the regular season in his hometown.

The Kings are comfortably in a playoff spot and it’s almost certain that they’ll face the Edmonton Oilers for the fourth season in a row. What they’re now battling for is home-ice advantage during the playoffs. They currently sit two points above the Oilers with the same number of games played.

Thursday’s game, which starts at 7 p.m. MDT, will be available on both Utah HC+ and Utah 16.