For the third time this month and fifth time this season, the Utah Hockey Club failed to score a single goal in a game. This time they fell 1-0 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.
The band 4 Non Blondes said it best: What’s going on?
“In the first period we had good momentum, we created good offense and then we started to get in the box way too much,” said head coach André Tourigny after the game. “That cost us momentum.”
The third period was full of chances for Utah HC, but they just couldn’t capitalize.
At one point, a give-and-go created a perfect opportunity for Maveric Lamoureux at the top of the crease, but his shot went off the underside of the crossbar and out.
On another occasion, a power play bid from Nick Schmaltz hit a body in front of the net and bounced just wide. UHC just couldn’t buy a goal.
The Bruins are glad to get a win in their first game under interim head coach Joe Sacco. Additionally, Elias Lindholm scored the game’s lone goal, breaking a 17-game personal goal drought.
It was a big step in the right direction for the Bruins.
How this works
This is a three-part article geared toward three different audiences.
- First, we’ll have “Utah hockey for dummies” for all you new hockey fans. Welcome, by the way — we’re glad you’ve taken an interest in the greatest sport in the world.
- Next, we’ll have a section titled “Utah hockey for casual fans,” aimed at those who have a basic understanding of the sport.
- Finally, we’ll have “Utah hockey for nerds.” That will be for those of you who, like me, think about nothing but hockey all day, every day.
Feedback is welcome, so let me know what you think in the comments of this article or the comments section on “X.”
Utah hockey for dummies
Before we get into the nitty gritty details of the game, let’s take a moment to appreciate Robert Bortuzzo and Mark Kastelic. You’d think a game with only one goal would be relatively boring, but these two ensured that was not the case.
Bortuzzo and Kastelic fought each other twice. They had been engaged in some confrontation in the previous game between the two teams on Oct. 19 and they got their opportunity to finish their business a month later.
On the first bout, Bortuzzo left the bench for the purpose of fighting. As Conor Geekie learned in the preseason, that’s not allowed. Geekie got a one-game suspension and I’d expect the same for Bortuzzo.
Utah hockey for casual fans
Karel Vejmelka was Utah HC’s best player Thursday, and it wasn’t even close. That’s a major positive point for Utah as Connor Ingram did not accompany the team on this road trip due to an upper-body injury.
Vejmelka will guard the net for the immediate future with Jaxson Stauber backing him up. Tourigny is not worried about giving Vejmelka the net.
“He’s played 50 games twice in his career, so it’s not like he’s a rookie goalie,” Tourigny said before the game. “He did it in the past and he’s capable of doing it again.”
It’s clear that Vejmelka thrives on high shot volume. He stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first period on Thursday, and then stopped 15 of the 16 that came in the ensuing periods.
Thursday’s performance comes after he made headlines against the Carolina Hurricanes last week when he stopped 49 of 50 shots.
Ingram’s injury is considered day-to-day. He should be back soon, but the net may belong to Vejmelka anyway. Vejmelka has been the much better goalie over the last handful of games.
Utah hockey for nerds
On their last 25 power plays, Utah HC has scored just one goal, and with the amount of penalties they’ve been taking, they’re not putting themselves in a position to succeed.
Let’s break this down, piece by piece, starting with the power play.
Utah HC seems to have no problem setting up in the zone on the power play. They move the puck well and they even get lots of high-quality shots. Why isn’t the puck going in?
Tourigny believes it’s a question of urgency.
“The guys have to realize (that) if we want to score goals, we have to get in the dirty areas,” he said. “We need to get there with passion. Not just get there — get there with burning desire to score goals.”
As far as the penalties go, they need to be more disciplined. Sure, there are necessary penalties and yes, accidents happen, but taking eight minor penalties in one game is a recipe for disaster.
“I don’t know,” Schmaltz said after the game when asked about accountability for how many penalties the guys were taking. “I feel like we’re beating a dead horse a little bit on that topic.”
The Bruins only had one power play goal, but keep in mind that spending almost an entire period shorthanded significantly limits the amount of scoring chances you get.
Schmaltz also pointed out that when the other team gets so many looks on the power play, their top players are extremely involved in the game while your top players sit on the bench.
What’s next?
Utah HC gets a day to regroup before visiting Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
As good as Crosby is, he hasn’t been enough to drag the Penguins into the fight. They’ve struggled in a number of areas on the ice, prompting all sorts of trade rumors — even some involving Crosby, who has been a Penguin since 2005.
Utah HC’s job going into Pittsburgh is to get back on track. They need to find ways to score (especially on the power play) and they need to be disciplined away from the puck. If they do this and continue to get solid goaltending, they could receive a much-needed confidence boost.
The game starts at 5 p.m. MDT and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.
