Utah Hockey Club center Kevin Stenlund (82) shoots and scores past Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf (32) in the first period at the Delta Center on Tue Apr 1, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Goaltender Karel Vejmelka limited Calgary to one goal in his 18th consecutive start as Utah Hockey Club begins final regular season homestand with a win.

Nearly six months after kicking off their first season in Salt Lake City, the Utah Hockey Club hosted the Calgary Flames on Tuesday for the first of five games in the final regular season homestand of the year. Fans arrived to a Delta Center surrounded by trees popping with white blossoms heralding the arrival of Spring, even as the local mountains received a fresh blanket of April snow earlier in the day. Mathematically still engaged in the Wild Card hunt, Utah continues to treat every game as a playoff game. Tuesday night was no different as the Utah battled and defeated the visiting Flames 3-1.

Late in the first period, Utah forward Kevin Stenlund broke the scoreless tie with a snap shot past Calgary netminder Dustin Wolf, his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Alexander Kerfoot and Ian Cole. Karel Vejmelka, starting his 18th consecutive game in goal, turned away all 12 Flames shots in the frame.

At 2:25 of the second period, Barrett Hayton put Utah up 2-0 with a backhand shot, his 18th of the season, assisted by Sean Durzi and Nick Schmaltz. Later in the period, Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson cut the lead in half with an unassisted goal, his 11th of the season.

Karel Vejmelka stood tall in net, stopping 32 of 33 shots, and his teammates sacrificed their bodies to hold off Calgary’s attempt to send the game into overtime late in the third. With 18 seconds remaining, Utah captain Clayton Keller sealed the victory scoring into an empty net for his 25th of the season, assisted by Logal Cooley and Dylan Guenther who returned to the ice after receiving stitches for a puck to the face.

In the locker room, Forward Barrett Hayton was asked about the most important component of tonight’s game. “I think sticking with it. Obviously this is a playoff game for both teams.. you knew it was gonna be a war till the end. Their last seven games have been unreal… a lot of comeback wins in that so we knew we had to have that urgency the whole time and stick with it.” Talking about Vejmelka, Hayton remarked, “It’s just a lot of fun to play in front of him. He’s a competitor, he loves doing it. It’s a lot of confidence in a guy like that, and you see it every day. We know he kicks, but still, he makes some saves out there that are just crazy.”

Vejmelka also addressed the media. “It’s fun to play every night in front of our home crowd. They give us some special energy and it’s kind of cool to play, especially in those kinds of games where we are still in the hunt, so we need every point. It was fun.” How does he feel physically after starting 18 consecutive games? “Actually, pretty normal. I don’t really feel like I played that long. It’s fun to play and I’m playing better and better, which is great. It’s fun to play those kinds of games. I like to play under pressure, so it’s part of it, and I really enjoyed it.” When asked what he has learned about himself during that stretch, Veggie responded, “I don’t really think about it. I don’t really overthink because it doesn’t help you. I just try to focus on another game, another shift, and another shot. That’s kind of the mindset that I’ve had and we just need to keep going and keep rolling and play a style of hockey where we block shots. Being resilient is huge for us.”

Head coach André Tourigny began his post-game briefing by saying, “First, great game by Vej. I think he was elite with that key moment. I think the first two periods we were really stingy defensively, we had a lot of chances as well offensively. We could have closed the game, separated ourselves. We didn’t, but we stayed with it. In the third, I liked our mindset in terms of urgency defensively… I think we backed up a little bit too much, but other than that, I think we found a way, we had big kills as well, so that’s what I think.” Tourigny elaborated on the play of Vejmelka. “Vej in the past has been known for.. when he gets tired… he had kind of a difficult time, and that was important for us to go through them and learn to battle through. Like I said this morning, at some point, if we’re in a 15, 16, 20, 24 game run in the playoffs, he needs to be able to sustain, and it’s not easy, it’s tough. It’s tough mentally and physically, and what he’s going through now will help when that will happen because he will have been through it. He will have a situation and will say, okay, I’ve been through that and I learned from it, so I think it’s good for him to go through that. As a goalie, there’s a different vibe when, okay, I had a bad game, that’s over, now I need to be good tonight. And that’s exactly what happens when you’re in the playoffs.. you can lose eight nothing yesterday.. doesn’t matter next game. You need to be ready and move on, and so I think that stretch will make him go through it and learn from it, so I think it’s good for him.

With regard to the Wild Card race, Tourigny continued, “The point is, we’ll never quit. That’s what you want to raise, that’s what you want to be as a team… a team who will never quit. There’s no quitting in that room. There’s no quitting in those players. There’s only one thing we want to do, and we want to pursue our objective. We won’t quit until they pull the plug, and if they do, it is what it is… but we won’t give them any reason to do it. We have a bunch of players who are so competitive and they’re so proud to play in that season, the way we’ve been supported by the fans and we’re so fortunate, so I think we want to give it back.”

Utah remains 8 points back of the final Wild Card slot with 7 games to go. The Los Angeles Kings arrive on Thursday night for the second game of the homestand.