3 Takeaways From Utah’s 2-1 Win Over Wild – The Hockey Writers Utah Hockey Club Latest News, Analysis & More

Make it four for the Utah Hockey Club. The team picked up their fourth straight win on Friday as they took down their division rivals: the Minnesota Wild 2-1. It was also Utah’s seventh straight win on the road as they inch closer to a playoff spot. Here are some takeaways from their big game on Friday night.

Another Big Night for Dylan Guenther

The best players in the NHL have big performances on a consistent basis. There rarely goes a day where you don’t hear about Connor McDavid or Sidney Crosby doing something ridiculous. Most championship-caliber teams in the league have a star player on their roster. 

For Utah, Dylan Guenther has quickly broken out as one of their best players and perhaps a future star in the league. The forward had another multi-goal performance against the Wild, scoring the two goals that gave Utah the win. This is only a couple of days removed from his multi-goal night against the Colorado Avalanche.

Guenther now has 16 goals in the season, good enough to lead Utah and be 11th in scoring in the whole league. In just his past four games, he has six goals. Guenther is also riding a seven-game point streak.

Related: Analyzing the Utah HC’s Underperforming Third Line

It was Guenther’s third-period goal on the power play that ended up being the game-winning goal. In recent games, the third period has been the team’s best friend. It happened in Wednesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks when Utah scored two unanswered goals to tie the game and it happened on Friday with Guenther’s goal. Closing out games is something teams need to learn to do to win and during their recent stretch of success, Utah has thrived at doing it.

“Good teams find ways to win,” Guenther said. “We don’t play our best and we just kind of grind it out and found a way to win. So, it’s nice to get those ones.”

Big players like Guenther have led Utah to success in the past couple of weeks. General manager Bill Armstrong really got a steal this offseason when he signed Guenther to an eight-year, $57.14 million extension. Now, he’s lighting up the league and helping take Utah on the best stretch of hockey they’ve ever played.

Karel Vejmelka Continues Dominant Stretch

Another player that looks like a steal for Armstrong is Karel Vejmelka. While we’ve known that for a while, dating back to his first season with the Arizona Coyotes, the goaltender has been playing some of the best hockey of his career as of late while basically playing every game.

Vejmelka has played the past five games for Utah, recording wins in four of those five games. He has also played 19 of Utah’s 32 games. In those 19 appearances, Vejmelka has a 2.29 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.

Vejmelka came up big throughout most of Friday’s game. From the opening minutes where he faced a slew of shots from the Wild to the very end when he had to shut down his opponent’s power play and eventually the extra attacker as well.

“I am just trying to focus for another shot,” Vejmelka said. “Obviously, a great win tonight. We deserve it. It’s all about focus to be ready. It doesn’t matter. Just be ready for another shot. Try to find the puck early.”

We’re getting to the point where Vejmelka should get some honest consideration for being in the Vezina Trophy conversation. While winning the whole thing would be a stretch, there’s a valid argument to be made. In front of a Utah team that doesn’t have two of their best defensemen and has allowed quite a bit of shots in most of their games, Vejmelka has thrived and is top 10 in most goalie stats across the league.

“He’s playing unreal,” Guenther said. “Our PK has been good and he’s a big part of that. I’m happy for him. It’s a lot of fun to watch him back there.”

Jaxson Stauber is expected to play one of the upcoming games before Christmas. However, outside of that, it wouldn’t be surprising if Utah rides the hot hand and starts Vejmelka for a large portion of their upcoming games. He’s been fantastic and it’s shown with Utah’s record.

Utah Stays Red Hot

It’s no secret that Utah is one of the hottest teams currently in the NHL. They are on a four-game winning streak and a seven-game road winning streak. They have rebounded from being near the bottom of the Central Division to being within striking distance of a playoff spot. Beating a team like the Wild who are near the top of the standings shows that Utah has become a force to be reckoned with.

“They’re a tough team to play,” said head coach André Tourigny. “They have elite players, but (I’m) really happy about the way we played against their top players in the second part of the game.”

Prior to the middle of November, Utah didn’t look great at all. This season looked like it would be another rebuilding one, especially with the injuries to Sean Durzi, John Marino, and Connor Ingram. However, ever since the four-game road trip out east, Utah has managed to collect points in all but one of their games. A stretch that has helped them come within three points of the Avalanche for the second wild card spot in the west.

“Since mid-November, we are playing good hockey,” Tourigny said. “You don’t go from struggling a little bit to start winning on a consistent basis. It climbs slowly. We start to play better defensively and then even if we aren’t winning a lot, we’re playing better. It was coming. Then we start winning a little bit and now we’re there.”

December has been the best month to be a fan of Utah. The team has won six of its eight games, their power play has been near the top of the league, and players like Guenther and Vejmelka have played their best hockey not just in the season but potentially in their careers so far. Utah also won its first home game in nearly a month. That’s something they’re going to have to start doing consistently as 10 of their next 15 games are at the Delta Center.

Utah is now 16-11-5. Before taking some time off to celebrate Christmas, they’ll have to trudge through a back-to-back. They’ll first take on the Anaheim Ducks who are currently 12-15-4. While the Ducks are under .500, they are a feisty team. They are most recently coming off of a 4-2 loss to the Avalanche but did take down the Winnipeg Jets prior to that game.