Category: Utah Hockey Club

Alexander The Great Inches Closer To The Great One in 6-2 Capitals Victory over Utah HC

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The Washington Capitals celebrate a goal as the Utah Hockey Club’s defenseman Ian Cole (28) can only skate by in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Mon Nov 18, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in season quest to surpass Wayne Gretzky for most all-time NHL goals.

SALT LAKE CITY–Wayne Gretzky was just 10-years-old when a reporter watching him play youth hockey dubbed him The Great One, a prophetic nickname which he lived up to over the course of an illustrious 20-season NHL career during which he racked up 894 goals and 1,963 assists for a total of 2,857 points.

To put that into perspective, Jaromír Jágr is second on the all-time points list with 1,921. For all intents and purposes, Gretzky’s total points record is untouchable. There was a time that it was assumed that his goals record was also beyond reach.

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is challenging that notion as he continues his pursuit of becoming the NHL’s new goal scoring king. On Monday night in Salt Lake City, Ovechkin notched his 867th and 868th career goals against Utah Hockey Club to bring him to within just 26 of tying Gretzky’s mark, something the 39-year-old winger could potentially achieve this season as the Caps defeated the UHC 6-2 at the Delta Center.

Utah started the game off on the right foot as forward Jack McBain netted his 5th goal of the season just over three minutes into the game, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Ian Cole. Cole’s assist gave him 200 career NHL points.

That lead would be very short-lived when Capitals center Dylan Strome scored an unassisted goal at 7:46, followed with another just ten seconds later by his teammate Nic Dowd, giving Washington a 2-1 lead.

At 11:05 of the opening frame, Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin scored his 14th goal of the season to put Washington ahead by 3-1.

Early in the 2nd period, Utah’s Jack McBain was called for tripping against Andrew Mangiapane. Just four seconds later on the power play, Ovechkin scored his second of the game, his league-leading 15th of the season, and 868th of his career triggering applause not just from Capitals fans, but clearly a fair number of Utah fans witnessing history in the making as Washington increased its lead to 4-1.

The goal sent starting netminder Connor Ingram to the bench, relieved by Karel Vejmelka. Utah center Nick Bjugstad cut the deficit in half with his 3rd goal of the season at 11:44, assisted by Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller, but that turned out to be the end of Utah’s offensive production for the evening.

Washington received a scare at 5:30 of the third period when Alex Ovechkin collided with Jack McBain and was helped to the bench. He would not return to the ice for a shot at his second hat trick in as many games.

The Capitals put the game away for good by the midway point of the final frame with goals by Brandon Duhaime and Aliaksei Protas for a final score of 6-2.

After the game, Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren spoke about Ovechkin whose goals against Connor Ingram tied Jaromír Jágr’s NHL record of 178 different goalies he has scored upon. “I don’t even know if there’s words to describe it.

I mean, honestly, it’s beyond impressive what he does. When it rains, it pours for him. I mean, it truly does. And you know, he finds ways to get to scoring areas and when he does and the puck is on his stick, he usually doesn’t miss. He’s our leader. It’s tough to see him go down. I don’t know what the extent is there, but even last night in Vegas, he scored three goals. He made a big pass break up there in the second period, had a big block. He’s a guy that’s doing it all right now and not just scoring. He’s a captain for a reason.” Capitals Head Coach Spencer Carbery, speaking of Ovechkin’s condition, said “He’s being evaluated as we speak, and we’ll know more tomorrow.”

Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny commented on what made the difference in the loss. “[Washington] was really opportunistic early in the game. We had chances, we hit the post five times on our power play. We had looks, but we could not score the big goal. And then on the other side, they had the killer instinct and they pulled us away when they had the opportunity.” With regard to offensive production, “We’re not getting enough from anybody. We’re getting possession, shots, things like that, but we don’t finish. We missed the net on a lot of great opportunities. What I like about our game in the last week or so, is that we’re generating. We’re back to skating well and generating offense, but we need to finish. We need to make the last play, that play will make the difference. We can possess the puck as much as we want, but if we don’t make the last play that doesn’t count.”

Forward Lawson Crouse addressed the failure to capitalize on the power play. “We have to be way better. It’s easy to sit here and say, we hit cross bars, but that’s no excuse. We have got to find a way to put the puck in the back of the net. We had seven chances tonight, and we were 0-7, that’s not good enough…Maybe you tie the game up and it’s a different story. We’ve talked about a lot, we’re talking about it consistently, in the room in intermission, seeing what we can do. It’s hard to pick one thing, but we have got to be much better.”

Utah will try to turn things around on a four-game road trip beginning Thursday in Boston and then continuing to Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Montreal before returning home to face the Edmonton Oilers the day after Thanksgiving on November 29.

Vegas Forwards Lay Down Two Pair as Golden Knights Defeat Utah HC 4-2 

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Utah Hockey Club Mikhail Sergachev (98) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Nov 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson each score twice in Vegas victory over Utah

SALT LAKE CITY–Coming off of a heart-stopping 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, the Utah Hockey Club faced another stiff challenge on Friday squaring off against the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights.  The two teams had already faced each other in Las Vegas two weeks earlier where Utah found itself losing 4-3 in overtime.

Utah forward Logan Cooley drew first blood at 11:16 of the first period with his third goal of the season, assisted by Matias Maccelli and Dylan Guenther. Utah finished the period besting Vegas 16-9 in shots on goal and winning 86% of faceoffs.

Moving on to the second period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev notched his 4th goal of the season at 6:59 on the power play to make it 2-0, assisted by captain Clayton Keller and Alexander Kerfoot. With the goal, Sergachev extended his home goal-scoring streak to four consecutive games. 

Later in the period, with Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring in the penalty box for hooking against Keegan Kolesar, Tomas Hertl brought the Golden Knights back to within one on a power play goal assisted by Nicolas Roy and Jack Eichel.

Unfortunately for Utah, the third period was all Vegas. At 8:23 Tomas Hertl evened things up with his second power play goal of the game, assisted by William Karlsson and Jack Eichel.  With a minute and eighteen seconds left in regulation, Karlsson gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the game which also turned out to be the game-winner, assisted by Kaedan Korczak and Cole Schwindt.  With Utah netminder 

Karel Vejmelka on the bench to give his squad an extra attacker, Karlsson struck again unassisted into the empty net with 29 seconds left to send fans to the parking lots as Vegas came away with a 4-2 victory. 

Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny addressed the media following the game. “Well, I don’t think we played as good with the puck, but I think it started in the second. I think in the second we were not as urgent defensively giving a few men rush…It’s not like they generate the few man rush we give them, so that started there. I think in the third we…it’s not like we collapsed, and we still had a few chances, but I don’t think we connected really well on our power play, and that cost us momentum.” 

Tourigny, commenting on the difference between the first and third periods, said, “There (was) two teams on the ice, in the first there (was) only one. When they showed up, there started to be a game. I think from there it was 50/50. I don’t think it’s for them or us. I think it was 50/50. It’s a good team, Stanley Cup champion contender. And you know what? One thing you can learn from them in that game is, even when we dominate, they just hang there. They just hang there and hang there. We could not get the big goal. It’s the killer goal, (would) have probably changed everything, but we could not separate ourselves, like you mentioned, after the first period, you know, we had (a) 1-0 lead instead 2-0 or 3-0 lead. And that (would) have separated us. Instead of that, they stayed in it and scored a goal in their power play and scored another goal in their power play, and then they get a tip at the end of the game.”

One highlight for the home team was finishing with a season-high 34 shots after averaging 25.9 shots per game over the previous 16 matches.

Utah still has a chance to wrap up its three game homestand on a winning note on Monday as Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals make their first NHL visit to Salt Lake City for a 7:00pm (MST) matchup.

Utah HC Rocks Carolina Like a Hurricane in 4-1 Victory 

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Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 49 of 50 shots and teammates rain down three goals in the third period to win first game of homestand 4-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Nov 13, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Hockey Club returned home to Delta Center on Wednesday night having completed a two-week, four-game road trip against Las Vegas, Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Nashville in which they finished with a 1-2-1 record. The visiting Carolina Hurricanes entered the night’s play having won 9 of their last 10 games with an 11-3 record overall on the season.

The two teams played physically throughout a first period which seemed like it would end in a scoreless draw until Utah forward Nick Bjugstad found the back of the Carolina net for his first goal of the season, unassisted, with a little more than two minutes remaining in the frame to give Utah HC the first lead of the game.

The Hurricanes came back in a fury in the second period, peppering goaltender Karel Vejmelka with 17 shots. With defenseman Ian Cole in the penalty box for holding against Jordan Staal, Carolina forward Martin Necas capitalized on the ensuing power play with his ninth goal of the season at 10:04 to even things up, assisted by Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho.

At the end of two, Carolina held a whopping edge in shots on goal, 32-13. If not for a defense which was both stingy and lucky, Carolina could have easily taken a commanding lead in the period.

Utah forward Jack McBain gave his squad a 2-1 lead at 5:09 of the third period, assisted by defenseman Michael Kesselring. Before anyone could blink, Utah thought it had its third goal of the game, but upon further review it was ruled that the puck did not cross the goal line.

Two minutes later, however, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev lit the lamp for his third goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Matias Maccelli, chasing Carolina netminder Pyotr Kochetkov in the process. Just 17 seconds later, Nick Bjugstad welcomed Spencer Martin to the game, scoring his second goal of the game and the season to make it 4-1, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Nick Schmaltz.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Utah had a 4-1 lead in the third at home against the Sharks, only to stumble and lose to San Jose in overtime, so when forward Michael Carcone took two minute instigator, five minute fighting, and ten minute game misconduct penalties at 8:03, Utah needed to hunker down to preserve their lead.

Six minutes and 26 seconds into the penalty kill, Maveric Lamoureux was called for hooking, giving the Hurricanes a two man advantage for nearly a minute and a half. Karel Vejmelka stood on his head and his teammates sacrificed their bodies over and over again to keep Carolina off the boards throughout.

In total, the penalty kill lasted eight minutes and 26 seconds. When Lamoureux was sprung from the box, the sellout crowd roared louder than for any of the previous four goals. At 17:09 of the third, Nick Bjugstad was assessed a delay of game penalty which gave Carolina one last chance to come back, but Utah’s defense slammed the door shut and shut the Hurricanes down the rest of the way.

Karel Vejmelka stopped a career high 49 of 50 shots for his first win of the season. His teammates chipped in 26 blocked shot attempts in the winning effort.

In the locker room, Nick Bjugstad spoke of the team’s grit on the third period penalty kill. “Starting with (Karel Vejmelka), all night, unbelievable. We’re thankful for him. He had an amazing night. The PK came up big.

I think (Mikhail Sergachev) took one to the head. He had a few big blocked shots. Unbelievable. We were really feeling the crowd. Everyone was pumped up. (Michael Carcone) had a big fight. Everyone was kind of going.

It was a fun game.” When asked about the third period goals, Bjugstad commented, “It was getting in their zone. We were rolling the lines. Everyone was kind of making plays. We didn’t play the best in the second, I thought. We found a way in the third. It was good. Guys really stepped up tonight, most importantly (Vejmelka). I don’t know that I’ve seen many 50-shot games. We appreciate him.”

Karel Vejmelka was asked about his mindset facing the extended penalty kill in the third. “It didn’t change much. I just tried to focus for another shot and help my team…It was the same mindset all night long.” His reaction to fans shouting his name late in the game, “It was surreal. This is a moment to remember for sure, a night to remember for me and for everybody. This is a huge game for us and a big two points.”

Head Coach André Tourigny was also asked about his team’s penalty kill. “It was amazing. Goaltending for sure is your best (penalty) killer. The blocked shots and the determination in that situation was great. There was adversity in that game for us, and mentally we’re not the most confident team at this point offensively. In the second period, they had a push and we held on. (To) come back in the third the way we came back, we had a lot of confidence with the puck and made big plays. Even when we scored our second goal, we didn’t sit back; we went right back at them right away. We scored two more goals and (Lawson Crouse) could have scored another one, almost…I think we had a good first period, second period was too many bad plays with the puck. (Carolina’s) a good team, they’re tough to contain when you make mistakes–they capitalize. But the way we came back in the third and the confidence we displayed in our game, that was great.”

Tourigny had high praise for his goaltender. “He was extremely good. Everything’s a chain-connector. (Vejmelka) was good, the guys were blocking shots, we defended the slot pretty good in our zone. We’re not as good (lately) as we’ve been on the rush against…We gave up too much of the rush. But in our zone, we’re pretty stingy. I’m really proud of the way the boys fought.”

On shuffling his defensive lines, Tourigny added, “I think Olli (Määttä) and (Mikhail Sergachev) played well together. I was pleased with them playing together. I thought there was some chemistry there…(Juuso Välimäki) and (Michael Kesselring) had ups and downs in the game…I don’t think they were terrible, I’m just saying they had ups and downs. An example, I thought (Kesselring) made a hell of a play on our second goal. That’s a key play in the game. It’s important to be able to make plays, but the timing and making key plays is great. The shift before was not as elegant. I think that showed character; he came back on the next shift and made a big play. It was a key play for us.”

The Utah Hockey Club will play host to the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights on Friday at 7:00pm (MST). Earlier in the day the first batch of official Utah Hockey Club team jerseys with Inaugural Season shoulder patches will go on sale at the team store.

Utah Hockey Club Douses Flames 5-1

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Utah Hockey Club center Nick Schmaltz (8) controls the puck against the Calgary Flames center Justin Kirkland (58) in the first period at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Oct 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

Utah HC Bounces Back Big From Monday Loss With Commanding Win Over Calgary

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–In the aftermath of Utah Hockey Club’s third period collapse and overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday, the team dealt a 2025 third-round draft pick to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday to acquire veteran defenseman Olli Määttä. The Finnish 30-year-old brings much-needed depth to a defense reeling from long-term injuries to John Marino and Sean Durzi.

Määttä joined the lineup on Wednesday night as Utah HC played host to the Calgary Flames. Määttä is reunited with former teammate Ian Cole, both of whom won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017. He entered tonight’s game with 177 points (40g, 137a) in 691 career NHL contests with PIT, CHI, LAK and DET.

Alex Kerfoot gave Utah an early lead at 4:41 of the first period with his first goal of the season, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Mikhail Sergachev. With 61 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Martin Pospisil and Mikhail Sergachev both went to the box for roughing penalties. Utah controlled the puck for much of the final minute, but seemed as if they would run out the clock in their own defensive zone.

As the final seconds counted down on the scoreboard, Utah rushed up the ice and Barrett Hayton found the back of the net with slightly less than two seconds remaining, his fifth of the season, assisted by Nick Schmaltz and Ian Cole. This was the latest goal Utah has scored in any period so far this season.

Calgary cut their deficit in half at 3:53 of the second period on a goal by Anthony Mantha, assisted by Justin Kirkland and MacKenzie Weegar. Utah answered just 17 seconds later when rookie Maveric Lamoureux scored his first NHL goal from near the blue line in his fourth game since being called up from Tucson, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Jack McBain.

Late in the period, Utah went on the power play as Calgary’s Anthony Mantha went to the box for roughing. He was joined forty seconds later in the sin bin by Blake Coleman who committed a boarding penalty against Clayton Keller, giving Utah a 5-on-3 advantage.

With five seconds remaining on the first penalty, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev netted his second goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz, giving the home team a 4-1 lead heading into the locker room.

Utah also had a 4-1 lead entering the third period on Monday night, only to squander it in the final five minutes of the game, so nothing would be taken for granted. Dylan Guenther gave the Flames a chance to get back into the game, committing a holding penalty against Andrei Kuzmenko which Utah was able to kill. At 4:53 of the third, Calgary’s Nazem Kadri gave Utah another power play opportunity, going to the box for cross-checking against Juuso Valimaki.

That was all captain Clayton Keller needed to increase Utah’s lead to 5-1 on his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev. This time the defense held on to deny Calgary a comeback, with goaltender Connor Ingram stopping 30 of 31 shots for the win.

Following the game, Utah HC head coach André Tourigny commented on the team’s response to Monday’s game. “Really (satisfying). I was confident that would happen. There’s a lot of factors that can happen in the game. (If) they get a great scoring chance and score right away at the beginning or whatever, it can shake you a little bit. But I was confident we’d play solid.”

Tourigny had praise for 20-year-old defenseman Maveric Lamoureux who scored his first career NHL goal and point. “Great for Mav; I’m really happy for him. That was great–but the timing of it, it could have been anybody. I was really happy (with the timing). But I’m really happy for Mav. That was great. But the timing of it; (Calgary) got close at 2-1 and we scored on the next shift. That was solid…All of the shift was solid. I liked the reaction after (we gave up) that goal. You needed a solid shift and we had one.”

Lamoureux weighed in on his first goal after the game. “It was amazing. It just felt like it was going in slowly. Then I saw the light go on. I was really happy when I saw it go in.” When asked how many texts he received after his first goal, he responded, “No idea. It’s probably going to be blowing up like it was when I got called up to play my first game. So it’s probably going to take me a few days to answer everyone.”

Newly acquired defenseman Olli Määttä spoke in the locker room about the last 24 hours since being traded from Detroit. “I don’t think you ever get used to it. It was quite the night and quite the morning. But I think the moment I came in here, guys welcomed me really good. I can see this organization is a great one. There’s a great thing going on here, a great group of guys we got. It just feels right.” With regard to his expectations going into Wednesday night’s game, and his first impressions of Salt Lake City and the Delta Center, Määttä commented, “I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest. I just wanted to go out there and play. It wasn’t really a routine game day. But it was fun. … I played here in (the Frozen Fury exhibition) with the Kings against Vegas. But I liked it. The rink’s awesome. The city’s awesome. When you land, you see the mountains and everything. It looks so cool.”

Speaking of the win, captain Clayton Keller said, “It feels good. Obviously, we had a good first two periods. We wanted to learn from our last couple games and our mistakes. I thought we did a good job.” What changed over the last few games? “I thought we were simple. We kept the pucks going North. Before, we kind of backed off and gave (opponents) some space. Tonight, I thought we did a good job staying above (Calgary), not giving them much space and letting them get in the game. I’m proud of the way we responded. … This is the best league in the world. It’s hard to do it consistently and every single night. That’s something that we’re striving for. Even nights when you don’t have your best (night), there’s still ways you can find a way to win or get a point or two.”

Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund commented afterward about playing in his 1000th career game, all in a Flames jersey. “That was great. It was an awesome feeling skating out and doing a solo lap. It’s been a long time since I did that last, that was a special feeling for sure. It sucks that it didn’t carry over into the game.”

According to NHL Stats, Backlund is the second player to skate in 1,000 NHL contests with the Flames, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jarome Iginla having been the first. Jarome’s son, Tij Iginla, was selected sixth overall by Utah in the 2024 NHL Draft and is currently playing for the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL.

Utah now hits the road for a 4-game swing beginning on Saturday in Las Vegas and continuing to Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Nashville before returning home on November 13 to face the Carolina Hurricanes.

Struggling Sharks Stun Utah HC in OT For First Win 5-4 at Delta Center

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San Jose Sharks left wing William Eklund (72) skates around the corner with Utah Hockey Club’s defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (98) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Mon Oct 28, 2024 (AP News photo)

San Jose Mounts Epic 3rd Period Comeback To End 9-Game Losing Streak

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Monday night’s faceoff at Delta Center in Salt Lake City featured two teams badly in need of a victory. The Utah Hockey Club came into the match having lost five of their previous six games, and the visiting San Jose Sharks had lost all nine of their contests so far this season.

The Sharks snapped their nine game losing streak with a 5-4 overtime win at the Delta Center on Monday against the Utah Hockey Club. Utah has now lost six of it’s last seven games.

Inside the arena there were a fair number of teal jerseys adorned with names like Marleau, Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, and Clowe. The fans wearing them, however, might not have recognized too many of the names on the backs of the Sharks players on the ice.

Exactly 11 minutes into the opening frame, Utah forward Dylan Guenther opened the scoring with a blistering shot past San Jose goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, assisted by captain Clayton Keller. The goal was Guenther’s sixth of the season, ending a multiple game drought for the Utah sniper.

At 16:24 of the first, Utah forward Matias Maccelli netted his first goal of the season, assisted by Ian Cole and Nick Schmaltz, extending the lead to 2-0 going into the period break.

About halfway into the second period, San Jose forward Fabian Zetterlund found the back of the net to get the Sharks onto the scoreboard and cut the deficit in half, assisted by Danil Gushchin and Henry Thrun.

Moments later, Utah regained their two-goal lead as Matias Maccelli netted his second of the game, assisted by Ian Cole and Vladislav Kolyachonok. With 24 seconds left in the period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev found a hole through traffic and increased Utah’s lead to 4-1 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Vladislav Kolyachonok and Logan Cooley.

For most of the 3rd period, the two squads exchanged chances as both goaltenders kept opposing offenses at bay. With five minutes remaining in regulation, headlines had already been written about San Jose’s ten game losing streak and how long the agony might continue. On the ice, however, there was time still left on the clock and the Sharks feverishly went to work closing the gap.

Fabian Zetterlund began the comeback at 15:28, narrowing Utah’s lead to 4-2 with his second goal of the night, assisted by Mikael Granlund and Jake Walman. Just 25 seconds later, Mikael Granlund cut the deficit to 4-3, assisted by Jake Walman and William Eklund.

Finally, a minute and twenty five seconds later, Tyler Toffoli tied things up with his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Jake Walman and Alex Wennberg. Altogether the three-goal surge took just one minute and fifty seconds overall, and the 3rd period came to a close with the score tied 4-4.

At 1:19 of the overtime period, Utah’s Michael Kesselring committed a hooking penalty against William Eklund, giving the Sharks a 4-on-3 advantage. Just seven seconds later, Alex Wennberg capitalized on the power play, stunning the Utah crowd and giving San Jose its first victory of the season while Utah has now lost six of their past seven contests.

Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny was asked how to explain the last five minutes of the game. “I can’t. Let’s give them credit, they put pucks in the net, they got their bones. The way we played in the third period, it’s tough to explain. We stopped putting pressure. We let them play with the puck. We let them make plays. We stopped defending like we can do, and the puck ended up in the back of our net.”

When asked whether the breakdown was mental or physical, Tourigny responded, ”No, it’s mental. It’s 100% mental. It started with a turnover in the neutral zone, then they got two scoring chances out of it, and then the faceoff in our zone, they pulled their goalie, they scored off that play, and it’s a snowball effect from there.” So how does Utah HC move on? ”I think first before moving on, I think we need to, we need to unpack that. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we want to be. It’s [not how we want to play] in front of our fans. Give credit to San Jose, but like I said, that’s not who we want to be. You have that kind of a lead, it’s not the way we want to play, it’s not who we want to be.”

In the visitors’ locker room, San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky described his his first NHL win. “Relief, I think, was the biggest thing. Look, I didn’t really do much. The players–credit to them. They stuck with it. There were times we did some really, really good things and just didn’t get rewarded for it. But we stuck with it. We just kept playing. That’s got to be our mindset; we’re never going to give up.”

Speaking of Fabian Zetterlund’s impact in the game, Warsofsky commented, “He does that a lot of the time; he’s vocal on the bench, he’s keeping our guys engaged, he works extremely hard. For him to get rewarded with that goal was nice. That’s how he needs to play every single night. I think he had one of his best games tonight.”

Continuing to comment about Zetterlund’s productivity, Warsofsky added, “He hasn’t complained once. Just puts his head down and goes to work. That’s what we need. He’s done some really good things. I think there’s a whole other level he can get to. And we’re going to keep pushing him. We’re challenging him to get there. He’s been good for us.”

San Jose’s head coach spoke of the team having its faith rewarded. “That’s what we said after the second period: whoever plays the simplest is going to have the most success in the third period. I can’t tell you if we’re going to win or lose the game, but I think we’ll have the most success. I think we kept our game extremely simple, North-South, hard puck plays, we got pucks to the net. We just stuck with it. Credit to the guys.”

Does winning feel good? “(There’s) relief and belief. We got a group of guys (in the locker room) that are going to believe a lot more now. That’s what this is all about. When you go into sporting events, you’ve got to believe that you can win a hockey game. No matter what the situation is, you can believe. And…it’s not just a feeling. It’s in your mind, it’s in your heart, it’s in your soul…We can get that going here.”

Sharks forward Alexander Wennberg also spoke with media after the game. “Obviously, you can’t go too long without winning. It’s been tough for sure. But at the end of the day, this is what we’ve been talking about–show character. We were down 4-1 and found a way to win the game. It was a really great effort. At the end of the day, you don’t say how you win, you’ve just got to win the game. Obviously right now, it’s a good feeling. Amazing. But here’s the thing: there’s a game tomorrow as well. Obviously, we’re going to enjoy this. It’s a lot of good things. But we’re back at it again tomorrow. For the (win-loss) record, you’ve got to win games. But for us, there’s a lot of good things. Obviously, we’re shooting a lot more pucks, creating chances and (won) the game. But there’s a lot of good things, goaltending and everything. A lot of good things to build on. This is what we’ve been talking about. We just have to stay consistent and do that every game.”

Tyler Toffoli, who scored the game-tying goal, commented, “I think that we played a really good game overall. I think we had really good opportunities. Just a couple unfortunate bounces and we were down. I don’t think we needed to, technically, score those goals and the end of the game with how we played. I think we just have to keep building off it. Obviously, it feels great. It’s one of those things that we talk about, even when we weren’t winning games, to be consistent with our game. We play tomorrow.” With regard to his goal, Toffoli added, “Like the other ones, just getting shots through. We have plays drawn up and spots to be. That’s where I was supposed to be and (the puck) came right to me.”

Fabian Zetterlund was asked when he started to believe in the comeback. “Probably after I scored my second goal. We saw a chance. I don’t know how much time was left…We saw an opportunity and we just believed. We went out there, stuck to our plan and had fun. It went real well.”

The Sharks hope to build upon Monday night’s win as they return home to face the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Utah will attempt to get back on track with a home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

Utah Buried By Avalanche 5-1 Defensive woes continue for struggling Utah Hockey Club

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Utah Hockey Club forward Josh Doan (91) shoots the puck against the Colorado Avalanche defensemen Calvin de Haan (44) in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Oct 24, 2024 (AP News photo)

Utah Buried By Avalanche 5-1 Defensive woes continue for struggling Utah Hockey Club

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–On the heels of a perfect 3-0 start to the 2024-2025 NHL season, the Utah Hockey Club has come back down to earth losing four of the next five games including Thursday night’s 5-1 home loss to the visiting Colorado Avalanche, bringing their record to 4-3-1.

Netminder Karel Vejmelka got the start following his two shoutout periods of relief in Tuesday night’s loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Halfway through the first period the Avs took advantage of a tripping penalty against Ian Cole as forward Ross Colton scored his seventh goal on the season, assisted by Mikko Rantanen and Casey Mittelstadt.

Before Utah had a hockey team, many of its residents were followers of the Avalanche which was evidenced by the loud cheers for the power play goal. Colorado defenseman Cale Makar made it 2-0 near the end of the first period, assisted by Mikko Rantanen, his second of the game, and Nikolai Kovalenko.

Utah HC fared no better in the second period of play. At 14:25 of the middle frame, Avs center Casey Mittelstadt put the puck past Vejmelka to make it 3-0, assisted by Sam Malinski and Nikolai Kovalenko, his second of the evening.

Late in the period, Makar drew a hooking penalty from Dylan Guenther which resulted in another Colorado power play goal by Ivan Ivan (yes, that’s his real name), the first goal of his NHL career, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt, the third Avs player to record a second assist, to send Utah to the locker room facing a 4-0 deficit for the second time in two games.

With 4:32 remaining in the third period, Utah forward Lawson Crouse netted his 3rd goal of the season to put an end to his team’s scoring drought, assisted by Matias Maccelli and Ian Cole. Whatever hopes the hometown fans may have had for a late comeback, however, were dashed just 39 seconds later as Avs forward Joel Kiviranta put the game permanently out of reach with an unassisted shot which got past Vejmelka. Colorado goaltender Justus Annunen stopped 25 of 26 shots for the win.

Utah’s defense has struggled all season, surrendering four or more goals in five of their eight games thus far. Two key defensemen, John Marino and Sean Durzi, have undergone surgeries which will keep them out of the lineup until sometime next year.

Rookie defenseman Maveric Lamoureux, a 2022 first round draft pick by the then-Arizona Coyotes, made his NHL debut and was +1 for the night. In four games with the Tucson Roadrunners this season, Lamoureux notched two goals and one assist.

After the game, Lamoureux commented on making his NHL Debut: “Playing in my first NHL game is special. Even though we didn’t win, I’m always going to remember that game, that’s for sure.” On playing his first shift, Lamoureux said “I was kind of stressed.

I didn’t want to fall. But (it) was amazing going out there.” Making his NHL debut extra meaningful, his parents flew in for the game. “I had no idea. That was a big surprise. After morning skate, they were in Ryan Smith’s suite waiting for me. That was a surprise. They landed last night and I had no idea. I was really happy to see them.”

Speaking of the back-to back losses, Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny commented, “They were just two different games. Like I said against Ottawa, it wasn’t our game at all. We worked hard, and we had a lot of good opportunities but we lacked execution. Tonight, the lack of execution kept going, but I did not like our effort, our emotion, our physicality, and our battle level. It’s disappointing.” Speaking of the team’s offensive, Tourigny added, “We tried to switch lines and do different things, but at the end of the day, we have to simplify…If you look at every game, our possession and offensive zones are great, but we don’t have enough volume. At some point, when we have an opportunity to take a shot, we cannot pass on it. We need to be more selfish in those situations and put more pucks on the net that create habits for the non-carrier to go the net…The way we’re playing right now, we’re doing the reverse. We build the habits of our non-carrier to look for the passing option, and then now you don’t have traffic.”

Lawson Crouse, when asked what the team needs to change in order to shift the momentum, responded “We just have to get back to it…I think today was an example of us getting frustrated and trying to make up for it. We just have to get back to simple hockey, playing the right way, covering for each other. The goals will come. Obviously, we’ve got to keep them out of our net and that’s the biggest thing right now. You can’t win hockey games when we keep going down three, four nothing. It’s a tough league to come back in. Like I said, when that happens you feel like you have to make up for a play and it goes sideways quick. Obviously, we’ve got to stop it here, stop it tonight, learn from it, move on and get back to winning hockey.”

Following practice on Friday, Utah HC will fly to Los Angeles for a road game against the Kings on Saturday before returning home again on Monday to face the San Jose Sharks.

Utah goes O 4 Canada, gets blanked by Ottawa 4-0, First Utah home loss and first Ottawa road win for season

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Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot (72) winds up to shoot the puck against forward Alexander Kerfoot (15) and the Utah Hockey Club at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 22, 2024 (AP News photo)

Coming into Tuesday night’s contest between the Ottawa Senators and Utah Hockey Club, fans of the NHL’s newest franchise had every reason for optimism with the team sporting a 4-1-1 record to start the season, just one point out of a tie for first place in the Central Division and undefeated on home ice.

Local recording artist Krispin Banks performed the first-ever rendition of O Canada for an NHL game at Delta Center, followed by a stirring rendition of the American national anthem, and everyone was ready for another great night of hockey. Unfortunately the Utah Hockey Club couldn’t seal the deal and not only that couldn’t score a goal on home ice getting shutout 4-0 at the Delta Center. Utah now with a 4-2-1 record.

The two teams traded chances to no avail throughout the first half of the first period until Noah Gregor and Jack McBain were each sent to the box for roughing penalties. That’s when it all went downhill for Utah HC. During the two-minutes of 4-on-4 play, Ottawa’s Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux each found the back of the Utah net to quickly put the Senators up 2-0.

Five minutes later, with Robert Bortuzzo serving a minor penalty for holding against Tim Stützle, Ridley Greig scored a power play goal to put the Senators up 3-0. Adding insult to injury, Brady Tkachuck made it 4-0 with eight seconds remaining in the opening frame.

Goaltender Karel Vejmelka replaced Connor Ingram to start the second period of play. Vejmelka had appeared in only one previous game so far this season, Utah’s only regulation loss to the New Jersey Devils. He turned away all 5 shots he faced in the second period, but Utah still faced a 4-0 deficit heading into the third period.

Utah HC has scored 5 or more goals in a game three times already this season, but they needed to pull it off all in one period if they were to mount a comeback against Ottawa, but this was not to be their night. Vejmelka stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third period, but the offense was unable to push the puck past Anton Forsberg of the Senators who was perfect against 31 shot attempts to record his first shutout of the season.

Following the game, Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny spoke of a drop-off in his team’s focus. “I think we obviously came out strong, playing well, but we didn’t stay in the moment. We got carried away, a little bit soft, defensively, forced a play turnover, you know, and just we had them where we wanted. We played well. We just need to stay patient, stay humble, go one shift at a time, and we got ahead of ourselves and we paid for it.”

With regard to pulling goalie Connor Ingram after the first period, Tourigny added, “Everybody in life has bad days at the office sometimes. And I think when you’re a goaltender, you’re exposed more than anybody else. So I think you need to make the right decision for the team. It’s nothing personal.”

Karel Vejmelka addressed his mindset entering the game in a relief role. “Obviously it’s not easy, but I try to be prepared to play. Like any other game, just be ready anytime. So just try to focus for the first shot and get into it.”

Team captain Clayton Keller commented on the inevitability of games such as this one. “You know it’s going to happen. It’s a long season. You can’t get frustrated, you got to stay patient. Get better every day and good things happen.”

In the other locker room, winning netminder Anton Forsberg commented on his first visit to Salt Lake City as an NHL city. “It was a nice arena. We had a good day yesterday and went to some nice coffee shops. So I didn’t see a lot but it seems like a good city. I’m happy to be able to come out here. It’s been one of the cities I haven’t visited yet, so that’s great.”

Moving forward, Utah HC hopes that visiting teams enjoy the city while finding Delta Center itself far less hospitable on the ice.

Having lost for the first time at home, Utah now gears up to face division rival Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at the Delta Center.

Utah Endures To The End With Third Overtime Victory, Edge Gritty Bruins 2-1 At Delta Center

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The Utah Hockey Club celebrates a tying goal in the third period that later forced overtime against the Boston Bruins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Oct 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Hockey Club returned home Saturday night to face the Boston Bruins following the franchise’s first road trip which began with overtime victories in New York against the Islanders and Rangers before falling to the New Jersey Devils followed by an overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Utah scored five or more goals in each of their first three games of the season, and entered Saturday night’s contest with a 3-1-1 record placing them 3rd in the Central Division behind the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets.

If you like overtimes Utah is your Hockey Club as they came away with a razor edge victory over the visiting Bruins at the Delta Center 2-1 scoring the game winner in the overtime stanza.

Unlike Utah’s season opener against Chicago, where Blackhawks fans were relatively few and quiet, a noticeable contingent of yellow-clad Boston fans streamed into the Delta Center and within moments of the puck drop broke out into a “Let’s Go Bruins” chant.  The hometown fans would not have it and immediately drowned out the visitors shouting “UTAH!” following every “Let’s Go.”  On the ice, both teams traded chances throughout the opening period but returned to their locker rooms in a scoreless tie.

Boston’s Cole Koepke opened the scoring at 12:49 of the second period with a goal assisted by Brad Marchand as the throng of Bruins fans in attendance roared their approval.  Shortly afterward Utah appeared to tie things up on a blistering shot by Michael Kesselring, with the screaming hometown fans making it clear that they were in the majority, but play continued as if nothing had happened. During the period intermission, multiple angles of the play were displayed on the Jumbotron where one could see that the puck struck the post and flew along the goal line without crossing.

In the third period, Utah thought they had gotten the equalizer at 6:48, but the goal was reversed due to an offsides violation.  The two teams got chippier as the period wore on, with Utah goaltender Connor Ingram repeatedly standing on his head to keep his squad in the game. 

Finally at 14:51, defenseman Vladislalv Kolyachonok received a beautiful stretch pass from Nick Schmaltz and charged to the goal crease where he found the back of the net, with captain Clayton Keller also assisting.  Regulation play ended tied at one apiece, with Utah going to overtime for the fourth time in six games of the young season.

David Pastrnak of the Bruins gave Utah a gift 42 seconds into overtime, going to the sin bin with a tripping penalty against Clayton Keller.  Utah kept the pressure on Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman during their 4-on-3 power play, and as the penalty expired and Pastrnak came out of the box, Michael Kesselring knocked in the game-winner unassisted to give UHC the 2-1 victory, keeping them perfect at home and 4-1-1 overall.  

After the game, Vladislav Kolyachonok talked about scoring his first Utah Hockey Club goal. “Yeah, it feels good. It’s a good team effort and a good pass. I think all the guys did a great job, so I appreciate the effort and work. It’s nice to get a nice result.” With regard to the team’s resiliency and coming back to win, Kolyachonok added, “I think it shows team character. We have lots of individuals on our team, lots of great players, and everybody supports each other on the bench. That’s what helped us to get a win.”

Michael Kesselring felt great about the game-winning goal, but offered particular praise of his teammates. “I thought everybody, all six defensemen, all forwards, we all bought in tonight. We managed the puck pretty well, and just bought in and got it done.”

Head coach André Tourigny commented on Kesselring’s overtime goal after having hit the post earlier in the game. “Yeah, he has a great shot. The big thing with Kesselring is to take that shot. I think he passed on two or three shots tonight. I think at some point he will understand that with a shot like that you don’t pass. You find a way to have more. He has a really good shot.”

With Saturday night’s win, Utah has beaten two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams over the past week. Their next game is Tuesday Oct 22 at the Delta Center against the Ottawa Senators.

Utah Hockey Club Roars in NHL Debut defeat Blackhawks 5-3 in opener

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Utah Hockey defenseman Michael Kesselring (7) moves the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks left wing Patrick Maroon (77) during the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 8, 2024 (AP New photo)

Utah Hockey Club Roars in NHL Debut

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–In an early afternoon press conference outside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Utah Hockey Club co-owner Ashley Smith praised the herculean efforts of staff and government officials in the rapid transformation of the Arizona Coyotes into the NHL’s newest franchise, still awaiting a permanent name pending the outcome of fan voting.

No sooner was the ink on the transfer of the team dry, work began on relocating players and team administration to their new home, modifying Delta Center to accommodate both NBA and NHL requirements, and generating over 30,000 season ticket deposits for the 2024-2025 season.

Last season, the Coyotes played at Mullett Arena at Arizona State University where NHL attendance was capped at 4,600 seats. Utah had 172 days to completely transform a franchise and begin the new season where it will likely sell out every game.

Co-owner Ryan Smith also praised the efforts of the staffs of the Smith Entertainment Group and Utah Jazz who sacrificed their usual summer vacations and worked up to 18 hours a day during the offseason to bring the Utah Hockey Club into the SEG family.

Newly relocated players and administration were blown away as new neighbors throughout the region showed up at their doors with food and offers to help become acquainted with schools and any kind of information they might need as they settled into their homes.

Commissioner Gary Bettman, long accustomed to boos wherever he makes an appearance, received rare cheers from the assembled gathering of fans who endured scorching heat to witness history being made.

As the afternoon wore on, tens of thousands of hockey fans including children holding up homemade signs thronged the entry to Delta Center to welcome and cheer the arrival of the players.

Thousands of those who were unable to get seats for the sold out home opener remained outside for a massive watch party where they viewed the game on large monitors.

Those inside the arena stood and screamed loudly, waving white rally towels, as players skated onto the ice one by one for opening game introductions. Finnish defenseman Juuso Valimaki had the honor of being the first player introduced. The crowd crescendoed with each introduction, coming to a climax as captain Clayton Keller took to the ice.

Following a stirring performance of the national anthem by Kaylee Bucio, fans erupted as Utah Jazz power forward Lauri Markkanen, adorned in UHC attire, skated onto the ice for the ceremonial puck drop together with Ashley and Ryan Smith, captain Clayton Keller, and Chicago Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno. Markkanen, a 7-foot tall power forward from Finland, demonstrated tremendous skating ability of his own, making one wonder how far he might have gone had he pursued hockey over basketball.

At long last the game began and the Utah Hockey Club got off to a quick start. At 4:56 of the first period, right wing Dylan Guenther netted the first goal for the new franchise, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Logan Cooley.

The roar of the crowd was so deafening as to trigger decibel lever warnings on Apple watches. The jumbotron showed thousands of fans at the watch party outside joining in the first goal celebration. At 13:35 of the first period, captain Clayton Keller put UHC up 2-0 with a goal assisted by Nick Schmaltz and Barrett Hayton, which is how things stood at the end of the first period much to the approval of the sold out crowd.

Utah picked up where they left off at 8:46 of the second period, going up 3-0 on a goal by Barrett Hayton, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev, recently acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning where he won two Stanley Cups, and Nick Schmaltz. The three goal lead turned out to be short-lived as Teuvo Teravainen put Chicago on the board at 14:25, assisted by Connor Bedard and Seth Jones. One could hear the cheers of a small but happy number of Blackhawks fans among the crowd as the shutout was broken.

The Blackhawks clamped down defensively in the last half of the second period and put additional pressure on UHC in the third period when captain Nick Foligno, assisted by Alex Vlasic and Connor Bedard narrowed the score to 3-2 with a little more than 15 minutes remaining in the game.

With 44 seconds remaining in the game, Dylan Guenther scored his second goal of the game into an empty net, assisted by Logan Cooley and Sean Durzi, giving Utah a little breathing room and a 4-2 lead. Earlier in the game, Durzi entered UHC’s record books with the squad’s first fighting major in the second period along with Connor Murphy of the Blackhawks.

With both teams at even strength, center Logan Cooley found the back of the net one more time with 22 seconds to go, assisted by Ian Cole, to put a punctuation mark on a thrilling 5-2 opening night victory for the NHL’s newest franchise. Goaltender Connor Ingram stopped 26 of 28 shots for the win.

After the game, Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny commented on playing the first game in a new environment:

“Well, I think what I did like is the maturity we showed during the game. I think there were a lot of emotion, there’s a lot of stress, lot of wanting to win and wanting to deliver. And when Chicago pushed back, I really liked the leadership on the bench, the experience we have. Our leader did a great job to make sure we stay level as much as possible.”

When asked what he would remember about the inaugural game, Tourigny, who goes by “Bear,” responded, ”We won. That’s what I will remember. But what I will remember, I think, it’s been a hell of a journey. It’s been fabulous every step. It’s been a huge boost of energy for our team, for our players. And to hear the crowd to start the game, the presentation of the players, when we score our first goal, and when the thing get a little bit scrappy, that was just phenomenal.”

Captain Clayton Keller, also commenting on the inaugural game, said, “The first preseason game we had was pretty crazy. And I think this was a whole ‘nother level. Super fun game to be a part of, the fans were awesome…We couldn’t be more excited to play in front of them for the rest of the year.”

Forward Dylan Guenther, who scored the first goal in franchise history along with netting the team’s fourth goal to lock up the victory in the final minute added, “That building was special, so it was a ton of fun to play in front of that crowd.”

In speaking of the environment of the inaugural game, Guenther responded, “I mean, an intense one. I think like a playoff game, almost with that atmosphere. If the building stays like that all year, it’s a huge advantage for us.”

Chicago Blackhawks Head Coach Luke Richardson had this to say about playing in Utah:

“It was a great crowd and a very lively building. I think with the first period they had, they fed off the crowd, but the crowd got lots to cheer about which was unfortunate for us. We’re excited to be here playing Utah, and we’re looking forward to coming back and putting on a better show next time on.”

Chicago Blackhawks Forward Nick Foligno added, “I didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, I heard great things, and it’s lived up to the hype. They were loud, they were energetic, and you could tell they’re excited to have hockey here. As far as a fan standpoint, it was a great night for hockey in Utah. We’re thrilled as a league to have [Utah] here. It was definitely loud, and they’re avid fans, so I’d give them a ton of credit. They were definitely into it tonight, and hopefully that sustains all year long.”

There will be no rest for Utah after their historic opening night victory. The team now hits the road for four games, traveling east to play the New York Islanders on Thursday followed by the New York Rangers on Saturday and the New Jersey Devils on Monday before flying to the west coast to play the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday. The next home game will be on Saturday, October 19, against the Boston Bruins.