Dylan Guenther, seemingly, cannot be stopped.

The 21-year-old forward scored twice in Utah Hockey Club’s 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

Guenther extended his point streak to seven games and logged his ninth multi-point performance of the season in his team’s fourth consecutive victory. What’s more, Utah has won seven straight games on the road — this time against a divisional opponent.

“Big one. Every point is important for us going down the stretch. We’re playing well right now and just try to keep it going,” Guenther said. “I think when the team has success, so do the individuals. I’m just kind of the beneficiary of it.”

Much of Guenther’s success has come on the power play and it remained a difference-maker in Minnesota.

With the game tied 1-1 in the third period, Utah was put on the man advantage as Jared Spurgeon sat in the box for tripping at 9:56. Guenther was stationed at his regular left-circle spot and threw the puck on net where it hit off a Wild player and in. Guenther’s 16th goal of the season earned the final 2-1 scoreline.

Guenther leads Utah with seven power-play goals and has been a big part of the first unit’s hot streak this month. The team has scored eight times on the man advantage in the last six games — all of which was produced by the first unit of Guenther, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley and Mikhail Sergachev.

Of those eight goals, five have been scored in the third period. Not only has the power play found consistency, but at critical moments of the game. Those five players have embraced the pressure and converted when it matters.

“I think we are building chemistry a bit,” Guenther said. “Just being able to reset and bear down when the time matters. I thought we’ve been doing that.”

The other side of special teams cannot be ignored. Utah’s penalty kill went 5-for-5 against the Wild, including a shut-down showing at the end of the second period which prevented Minnesota from taking a lead into the third. Utah has allowed just two power-play goals against in the last six games.

“I think we made some adjustments on the penalty kill and it worked well,” head coach André Tourigny said.

Karel Vejmelka has been one of Utah’s best penalty killers — and overall players — through that stretch. The goaltender made four saves on the Wild’s third power play and finished the night with 28 stops.

With his numbers — 2.29 goals against average and .918 save percentage — Vejmelka has put the question of whether he can handle a starter’s workload to rest. The answer is yes and he is doing it well.

“I’m just trying to focus for another shot,” Vejmelka said. “It’s all about focus to be ready. Doesn’t matter what’s going to happen, just be ready for another shot and try to find the puck early.”

The Wild’s only goal of the night came from Mats Zuccarello at 10:20 of the first period. The forward broke out on a 3-on-2 rush and one-timed a pass from Kirill Kaprizov past Vejmelka from the right side. Utah was quick to respond, though, and scored a minute later.

Guenther deflected Jack McBain’s initial shot in after driving the net. The goal made it 1-1 at 11:20 and marked Guenther’s fifth goal in four games.

Logan Cooley orchestrated the play and picked up his 22nd assist of the year. The second-line center powered through the neutral zone on entry and weaved around Minnesota players to get the puck to McBain by the left circle. Cooley tops Utah with assists and is three away from breaking his total (24) from his rookie season.

“I think it was a huge moment when we were able to tie the game pretty quick after they scored,” Vejmelka said. “Then we just got better every period and had a strong finish.”

Following Guenther’s second tally of the night in the final frame, Utah had 10 minutes to defend its one-goal advantage.

Just over a week ago, Utah led Minnesota by a goal with less than a minute remaining on the clock. The Wild tied the game in the dwindling seconds of regulation and grabbed the win in a shootout.

Utah locked it down in Friday’s rematch, however, and came away with the two points.

“Just really good composure. We’ve been in that situation a lot so I think we are getting better at it. Just another greasy win,” Guenther said. “Just trying to finish out games. We talk, good teams find ways to win. We don’t play our best and then we grind it out and find a way to win. Nice to get those ones.”

A 66-year-old American citizen has been in the DC jail for almost 10 months awaiting extradition to the Philippines for a crime her attorneys say there’s no evidence she committed.

Air Force veteran Grace Lourenco earned commendations for her service. In 1981, she was part of the flight crew aboard the Air Force plane that returned 53 U.S. diplomats and citizens who had been held hostage in Iran, her family said – a moment seen around the world.

She went on to earn a business degree, get married and have a daughter.

Court filings from a 2023 divorce proceeding between Lourenco and her husband, Hans Brunner, show a D.C. judge believed her statements that she had suffered physical abuse in the marriage.

The decree of divorce also contains the judge’s assessment of the alleged crime for which Lourenco was arrested at her Georgetown home earlier this year. It describes an incident in October 2018 at a home the couple owned in the Philippines, where Brunner worked.

“After lunch, on the ride back to their Manila home, Mr. Brunner told Ms. Lourenco he wanted to have an open relationship with [a German woman he’d met] and that he wanted to open a trust fund for her.”

“[Lourenco] remembers waking up in a hospital a couple days later,” said her attorney, William Zapf. “She had been unconscious, and it is believed that she had taken some medication that made her unconscious.”

The judge’s conclusions went on to say: “Later … while standing on the balcony, Mr. Brunner was attacked from behind. The perpetrator hit Mr. Brunner on the back of the head with a sharp, hard weapon. He did not see who attacked him.

“He was in a coma for two days.

“He asserts Ms. Lourenco was the perpetrator. Not only did Mr. Brunner fail to present evidence that Ms. Lourenco was the perpetrator, but he also failed to present evidence that (she) had wanted to kill him to get his pension.”

The judge concluded: “Both parties have committed intrafamily offenses against the other, but Mr. Brunner committed more offenses against Ms. Lourenco, and the Court finds (him) to have been the primary aggressor.”

Lourenco’s attorneys say her future is in the hands of the U.S. State Department.

“In cases like this where there are very serious humanitarian concerns about our client, Grace, this is the type of case where the Secretary of State can say no and should say no,” Zapf said.

Several people she served with in the Air Force have written letters supporting Lourenco.

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It was a tragic day that many in Sheridan, Wyoming, won’t soon forget—and that certainly includes Caro Hamilton.

“It was very frightening and there were a lot of people that were affected,” Hamilton says.

On Feb. 13, 2024,Sheridan police officer Nevada Krinkee was shot and killed in the line of duty while serving a trespassing notice, a shocking crime that left Sheridan heartbroken.

The man who killed Krinkee, William Lowery, found his way to Hamilton’s home, where a 30-hour standoff ensued.

For Hamilton, the ordeal began with a phone call from her daughter.

“She said that there were police surrounding my house and that they told her to tell me not to come home and I went to ask her what was going on and the phone went dead,” she recalls.

She had no idea that a police officer had been shot nearby and no idea that the suspect was in her basement, but she knew one thing.

“We were freaking out. We knew that my mom was in the house.”

Her 80- year-old mother was upstairs in the house. Hamilton says it took two frantic calls to police before they finally called for her mother to come out—something that still frustrates her.

“And so finally we did get my mother out, but yes, we were very terrified because obviously this guy wasn’t in his right mind at the time after what had happened and we didn’t know what could happen to her,” Hamilton says.

By then, she was learning more about why police had surrounded the home and were keeping her, and everyone else, two blocks away.

She says didn’t know Lowery personally but says that he was an acquaintance of a man who was boarding in her basement and that the boarder was supposed to help Lowery move that day.

While her mother was out safely, she had other worries about other occupants inside.

“I was concerned about my dogs and really wanted to get them out of there,” she says.

Police used water, tear gas, and finally brought the standoff to an end when they used an excavator to tear down part of the house. Lowery was shot and killed by police after he fired at them while attempting to flee.

And while her home was left in ruins, there was one bright spot.

“The little dog was found under rubble where the living room used to be. And then my big dog, she was in the basement. They found her, she kind of wading in the water and it was kind of freezing around her. But they got him out and that was the best thing. So I was really super grateful for that,” she says.

Her cat, who was also in the house, has not been found.

Caro says she is thankful for the new house that been built in place of her old one thanks to insurance and a settlement with the city. She hopes to move in next month.

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And while the tragic ordeal is something she and many others in Sheridan will probably never forget, she also says she will forever remember the support many in the community.

“It was overwhelming. It was amazing the amount of community support that was shown to me,” she says.