At first glance, the Utah Hockey Club played a perfect game on Thursday. But the stats suggest there was lots of room for improvement.

Don’t look now, but the Utah Hockey Club is on a three-game winning streak.
That’s thanks, in large part, to a 26-save shutout from Karel Vejmelka against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Vejmelka has been one of Utah’s biggest difference-makers this season. It was highlighted by a post-to-post save on Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who doesn’t miss from that spot often. But when a goalie is hot, it takes a lot to get pucks past him.
Barrett Hayton tallied two goals, bringing his totals to five points in his last two games and seven in his last four. Nick DeSimone had a pair of assists, marking his first two-point night since Nov. 7, 2023.
“I really liked our pace starting the game,” said head coach André Tourigny. “I liked our composure as well, during the game.”
Utah is now four points shy of a playoff spot. They still have to jump ahead of the Calgary Flames, the Vancouver Canucks and the St. Louis Blues, but that seems more manageable this week than it did last week.
Utah Hockey for dummies
I’ve written about this a few times already, but I’ll say it again for the people in the back: Clayton Keller seems to have a chip on his shoulder after being excluded from the Team USA 4 Nations Face-Off roster.
In three games this year against the Wild, who are managed by USA GM Bill Guerin, Keller now has three goals and four points. That’s a goal per game — much higher than his season average of 0.37 goals per game.
Keller talked about how it feels to be left off the squad after Utah’s first game against the Wild, a 5-4 shootout loss at the Delta Center on Dec. 10 — six days after the rosters were announced.
“That’s a team that everyone wants to be a part of and when you’re not selected, you look yourself in the mirror and you go to work the next day with a little extra jump,” he said.
Utah Hockey for casual fans
As mentioned, Vejmelka recorded his first shutout since Dec. 16, 2023, and his first in blue, black and white. “The boys played well in front of me and they helped me a lot,” Vejmelka said after the game. “It’s a big team win tonight.” His excellence was enough to earn him the game ball, UHC’s award for the player of the game, as chosen by the previous player of the game (Josh Doan, in this case).
Tending the other net was Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson. It was his first game since Jan. 15, having missed the last two with an illness. Allowing two goals (and one that was eventually overturned) in the first period is not the way he wanted to return. He gained his rhythm by the time the second period rolled around, but the bulk of the damage was already done.
Utah Hockey for nerds
As good as Utah has been in second periods recently in terms of the score sheet, their second period on Thursday was not sustainable. The second period has plagued Utah all season, so it’s been a central focus of the coaching staff for some time now.
Per Natural Stat Trick, Utah’s second period consisted of the following:
- 20% of the shots
- 8.33% of the scoring chances
- 20% of the high-danger scoring chances
- An expected goal differential of -1.44
- 22.58% of the shot attempts
- 18.18% of the face-off wins
Utah has managed a net-positive goal differential in the second period during its current winning streak, but these numbers should scare the coaching staff.
“We knew, starting the second, they (would) have a push,” Tourigny said. “They had a push, but we kept them on the outside pretty good.”
Tourigny called a team meeting just after the new year to talk about their second period play. Among his solutions was taking shorter shifts — especially when a player is deciding whether to participate in an offensive rush.
What’s next?
They’re back at it tomorrow for a rematch with the Winnipeg Jets.
Utah HC beat the Jets 5-2 on Monday at the Delta Center. It’s no easy task to beat the best team in the Western Conference, so don’t expect it to be easy — but they proved on Monday that it’s possible.
The game starts at 6 p.m. MST and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.
Source: Utah News