It is rare a team takes eight penalties and ends up winning the game 6-3.

But, that is just what the Utah Hockey Club did Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.

Special teams have had an early impact for Utah this preseason and will have game-deciding implications when the regular season rolls around.

“In the regular season, you get that many penalties and you’re not happy,” head coach André Tourigny said.

Through four preseason games, Utah has taken 24 penalties and given up five power-play goals. Spoiler alert: That’s too many. The club’s discipline must be better, especially with the avoidable stick minors — slashing, tripping, cross-checking, high-sticking.

On Sunday, Miles Wood opened scoring for Colorado on the power play with a knock-in goal from the crease at 13:12 of the first period after Utah was called for too many men on the ice. Dylan Guenther responded with a power-play tally of his own just over five minutes later. The blast from the left circle, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev, tied things 1-1

Utah is lucky its power play has found some consistency. The team has scored five power-play goals in the preseason. Tourigny has experimented with different variations of the power play throughout training camp. Sunday night, Sergachev, Guenther, Clayton Keller, Josh Doan and Barrett Hayton composed the first unit — and it looked good.

The penalty kill units have cycled as well. Against Colorado, Liam O’Brien, Michael Carcone, Kailer Yamamoto and Michael Kesselring saw the bulk of ice time when the team was down a player. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka was one of Utah’s best penalty killers and finished the night with 26 saves.

“In our situation, it was good to give a chance to a few guys and see how they can [penalty] kill and if they can fill that role for us,” Tourigny said.

Utah gave up another goal to the Avalanche’s man advantage to open the second period. First-round draft pick Tij Iginla — in his first preseason game with the team — took a double-minor, high-sticking penalty. Colorado’s Sam Malinski took advantage, drove to the net and scored off his backhand for the 2-1 lead at 2:17.

“I thought we played a good game. We got in a little bit of penalty trouble — and part of that was on me — but I thought throughout the highs and lows of the game we managed momentum well, got to the net. Did little things like that that helped us win in the end,” Iginla said.

Guenther potted his second goal of the game, and third of the preseason, for the 2-2 equalizer before Cameron Hebig and Josh Doan both scored to put Utah up 4-2 heading into the third period.

Keller finished off a three-point performance with a goal at 6:15 of the third period. Guenther dished the puck to Keller across the crease where he one-timed it home to make it 5-2. Colorado’s Calum Ritchie scored at 13:23, but Jack McBain sealed the 6-3 win with an empty-net goal.

“Just try to improve throughout the game. That’s what the preseason is for, trying to improve and make sure that when Oct. 8 hits, you’re at your best. I thought we did that and we have to continue to do that,” Guenther said.

While Utah ultimately came away with the victory, the amount of time spent in the box is not conducive to winning nightly. Granted, this is preseason, it’s not a full NHL roster and the games technically do not matter, but good habits don’t need to wait until Oct. 8 to start.

Last season, the Arizona Coyotes were 15th in the league for power-play percentage at 22.0. Nick Schmaltz led the team with 10 goals on the man advantage; Keller and Guenther followed with nine each. Arizona scored a total of 53 power-play goals on 241 opportunities. It was fine.

However, the team’s penalty kill was 25th in the league at 76.3 percent. Arizona gave up 63 power-play goals on 241 opportunities, and 3.34 goals against per game — which was eighth most in the NHL. Utah’s penalty kill has looked much improved, it went 5-for-7 on Sunday, but it should not have to be used as much as it is right now.

General manager Bill Armstrong focused on strengthening his blueline and bringing in veteran experience this offseason. In hand, it has helped special teams. Sergachev and forward Kevin Stenlund — both acquired by Utah this summer — have valuable versatility on both the power play and penalty kill. Ian Cole has earned his keep in the league eating pucks and being a shutdown defenseman; a welcome addition to any PK unit. These things will make a difference — within games and the standings — for Utah.

The hockey club has three more preseason games to iron the details out before opening night against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 8 at the Delta Center.

WASATCH COUNTY, Utah — A wildfire in the Uinta Mountains has forced evacuations of campers in the area and has fully closed a nearby highway.

Officials with both Utah Wildfire Info and the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest said the fire is burning southeast of Mill Hollow Reservoir, with firefighting resources en route both on the ground and from the air.

The “Yellow Lake Fire” was estimated at 150 acres as of Sunday afternoon. All campers are being asked to leave the surrounding area, which includes Soapstone Basin, ill Hollow, Wolf Creek, and Duchesne Ridge.

State Route 35 has also been closed between mileposts 12 and 20. UDOT said they do not have an estimated time of reopening.

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — In his first visit back to Utah since awarding Salt Lake City the 2034 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee president sought to ease worries that the city could lose its second Olympics if organizers don’t fulfill an agreement to play peacemaker between anti-doping authorities.

Thomas Bach on Saturday downplayed the gravity of a termination clause the IOC inserted into Salt Lake City’s host contract in July that threatens to pull the 2034 Games if the U.S. government does not respect “the supreme authority” of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Olympic officials also extracted assurances from Utah politicians and U.S. Olympic leaders that they would urge the federal government to back down from an investigation into a suspected doping coverup.

Utah bid leaders, already in Paris for the signing ceremony, hastily agreed to the IOC’s conditions to avoid delaying the much anticipated announcement.

Bach characterized the contract language Saturday as a demonstration of the IOC’s confidence that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency will fall in line with WADA. He implied that WADA, not the Olympic committee, would be responsible in the unlikely occasion that Salt Lake City loses the Winter Games.

“This clause is the advice to our friends in Salt Lake that a third party could make a decision which could have an impact on our partnership,” Bach said.

Tensions have grown between WADA and its American counterpart as the U.S. government has given itself greater authority to crack down on doping schemes at international events that involve American athletes. U.S. officials have used that power to investigate WADA itself after the global regulator declined to penalize nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

With its contract curveball, the IOC attempted to use its little leverage to ensure that WADA would be the lead authority on doping cases in Olympic sports when the U.S. hosts in 2028 and 2034.

Salt Lake City’s eagerness to become a repeat host — and part of a possible permanent rotation of Winter Olympic cities — is a lifeline for the IOC as climate change and high operational costs have reduced the number of cities willing and able to welcome the Winter Games. The Utah capital was the only candidate for 2034 after Olympic officials gave it exclusive negotiating rights last year.

Utah bid leaders should have the upper hand, so why did they agree to the IOC’s demands?

Gene Sykes, chairman of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said he doesn’t view the late change to the host contract as a strong-arm tactic, but rather a “reasonable accommodation” that secured the bid for Utah and brought him to the table as a mediator between agencies.

He expects the end result will be a stronger anti-doping system for all.

“It would have been incredibly disturbing if the Games had not been awarded at that time,” Sykes told The Associated Press. “There were 150 people in the Utah delegation who’d traveled to Paris for the single purpose of being there when the Games were awarded. So this allowed that to happen in a way that we still feel very confident does not put Utah at any real risk of losing the Games.”

“The IOC absolutely does not want to lose Utah in 2034,” he added.

Sykes is involved in an effort to help reduce tensions between WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, while making sure the U.S. stands firm in its commitment to the world anti-doping system that WADA administers.

The White House’s own director of national drug control policy, Rahul Gupta, sits on WADA’s executive committee, but the global agency this month has tried to bar Gupta from meetings about the Chinese swimmers case.

For Fraser Bullock, the president and CEO of Salt Lake City’s bid committee, any friction between regulators and government officials has not been felt on a local level. His decades-long friendship with Bach and other visiting Olympic leaders was on full display Saturday as he toured them around the Utah Olympic Park in Park City.

“There’s no tension — just excitement about the future of the Games and the wonderful venues and people of Utah,” Bullock told the AP. “We are 100%.”