Utah
Game Preview, 3/16: Utah Hockey Club vs. Vancouver Canucks | Utah Hockey Club
WHEN: 6:00 p.m. MT
WHERE: Rogers Arena – Vancouver, British Columbia
TV: SEG+, UtahHC+, Utah 16 | RADIO: KSL Sports Zone 1280 AM, NHL App
In the most important game of the season to date, the Utah Hockey Club (29-26-11) faces the Vancouver Canucks (31-24-11) tonight at Rogers Arena while both teams jockey for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. Utah is four points behind Vancouver in the standings but could pull within a game of the Canucks with a regulation win tonight. Utah is 5-3-2 since the 4 Nations Face-off break while Vancouver is 5-6-0 in that span.
ONE-TIMERS
- Clayton Keller is 12th in the NHL with 74 points (23G, 51A).
- Alexander Kerfoot is a Vancouver native.
- Michael Carcone spent three seasons with the Canucks’ organization.
- Utah has the 13th best power play (23.4%) and 13th best penalty kill (80.6%) in the NHL.
- Vancouver has three players named Pettersson on the roster, none of whom are related.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Tonight’s game carries significant implications for the wild card race, with a potential four-point swing resulting from a regulation finish. The Canucks have won four of their last six games, including a 6-2 dismantling of the Chicago Blackhawks last night.
Arturs Silovs started in net last night for Vancouver, so it is likely that Utah will face the Canucks’ No. 1 goaltender, Kevin Lankinen, tonight. Lankinen is 23-12-7 with a 2.55 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
Defenseman Qiuinn Hughes will also be in the lineup for Vancouver tonight. Hughes missed the last meeting with Utah due to injury, and his presence makes the Canucks a far more dangerous team. The blueliner ranks third amongst all defensemen with 62 points (15G, 47A) despite missing 14 games to injury this season.
STANDINGS UPDATE
WC1: Minnesota Wild – 79 points
WC2: Vancouver Canucks – 73 points
—
- Calgary Flames – 71 points
- St. Louis Blues – 71 points
- Utah Hockey Club – 69 points
- Anaheim Ducks – 65 points
WHO TO WATCH
UTAH: #82 KEVIN STENLUND – Stenlund notched his first multi-goal performance of the year with a goal and an assist on Friday in Seattle. The forward is now up to 17 points (9G, 8A) on the year, marking a new career high after he posted 15 points (11G, 4A) last season with the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.
VANCOUVER: #40 ELIAS PETTERSSON – Elias Pettersson has found a scoring groove recently and now has four goals in his last five games after a tally against Chicago last night. The two-way centerman is now tied for second on the team with 15 goals this season.
LOOK BACK
Utah missed out on two points Friday night in a 4-2 regulation loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Utah led 2-1 in the second period after goals from Nick Schmaltz and Kevin Stenlund, but a deflection off Brandon Montour’s skate tied the game at 2-2 for Seattle late in period two.
Halfway through the third, a Utah turnover led to a Kaapo Kakko goal to give the Kraken a 3-2 edge. Eeli Tolvanen scored twice for Seattle, including the empty-netter. For Utah, Stenlund finished with a goal and an assist while John Marino provided a helper on both Utah markers.
LAST MEETING
Utah picked up a massive win after knocking off the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 at Delta Center on Feb. 23. Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring in the second period, but Logan Cooley found the back of the net just 2:08 later to tie the game at 1-1. With 5:53 left in the third, Dylan Guenther capitalized on Utah’s fourth power play of the night.
Utah outshot Vancouver 32-15, marking the second-fewest shots allowed in a game by Utah this season. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka earned the win, stopping 14 shots.
Notably, Vancouver’s top defenseman Quinn Hughes was not in the lineup, leaving the Canucks to play without their leading scorer.
CLOSE GAMES
Many of Utah’s recent games have been significant for playoff implications, but they’ve also been tightly contested on the ice. Utah has played 32 one-goal games this season- the second most in the NHL. 11 of Utah’s last 18 games have been decided by just one goal, and 16 of Utah’s last 18 contests have been decided by either one or two goals.
Utah is 14-7-11 in games decided by one goal while Vancouver is 15-4-11.
AGAINST WILD CARD HOPEFULS
Utah is trying to chase down three teams in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference: the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and St. Louis Blues. The Mountain Blue has a combined record of 6-1-0 against those teams this year, with another opportunity to gain ground coming tonight against the Canucks. In those seven contests, Utah has outscored the opposition 24-13 while averaging 3.43 goals for and 1.86 goals against.
Utah has beaten Vancouver twice by one goal, posted five goals against Calgary twice, and scored four times against St. Louis twice. The team has not allowed more than three goals in any of the games against these three Western Conference foes.
LOOK AHEAD
Utah concludes a three-game road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers. The team returns home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, Mar. 20.
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
-
Milwaukee, WI6 minutes ago12-year-old injured in Milwaukee shooting, police seek information
-
Atlanta, GA12 minutes agoYou can watch the Atlanta United vs Nashville MLS match live for free tonight – Here’s how
-
Minneapolis, MN18 minutes agoMinneapolis man charged for driving at 2 Washington County campground workers
-
Indianapolis, IN24 minutes agoCanada wildfire smoke leads to air quality alerts for Sunday, Monday
-
Pittsburg, PA30 minutes agoAbandoned mini golf course in Westmoreland County getting new life
-
Augusta, GA36 minutes agoRichmond County traffic stop attempt leads to chase, rollover crash
-
Washington, D.C42 minutes agoWildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze
-
Cleveland, OH48 minutes agoIdentity sought after 19-year-old man killed outside Cleveland Heights convenience store
