LAS VEGAS, NV – Despite a heavily competitive first two periods of play between the Utah Hockey Club and Vegas Golden Knights, mistakes and penalties stacked up for Utah late and the Golden Knights veterans took advantage enroute to a 5-2 loss for the Hockey Club.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s first preseason loss.
While Logan Cooley is certainly a talented goal scorer, he’s also a dangerous creator and was feeling it against the Golden Knights on Friday night.
Cooley is such a talented creator in the offensive zone. He uses both his speed and body to get in deep which draws defensemen and opens up space. So smart. Crazy he’s only 20.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) September 28, 2024
Time and again, Cooley was creating dangerous opportunities for his teammates with his excellent puck handling skills, speed and awareness. What really stands out is how well he continuously entered the zone and then used his speed to accelerate deep, protected the puck well with his body to maintain possession and then found an open teammate.
On several occasions, Cooley connected with Michael Carcone on scoring opportunities and made it seem like the two had been linemates for years.
Even though he was unable to record any points, those abilities will serve Cooley well on a line with Dylan Guenther this season as Guenther boasts one of the best shots in the NHL. If the two can live up to the hype, they will likely combine for more than 110 points.
Not that his spot has ever been overly in doubt, but Carcone is one of several wingers fighting for a position on Utah’s roster during camp.
Anticipating that there will only be two remaining spots up for grabs, Carcone, Josh Doan, Kailer Yamamoto and Liam O’Brien are in a dogfight to crack the opening day roster. But after some strong performances in several preseason appearances by Carcone, he may be cementing himself as a must-have from the first puck drop this season.
With two goals against the St. Louis Blues last week, Carcone added to his point total with another goal against Las Vegas.
Related: The Hat Trick: Utah Hockey Club Defeats St. Louis Blues 5-3 Following Impressive Comeback
Gorgeous passing from Utah on that goal. Great zone entry, got the goaltender moving with passes across ice, and Carcone buried it.
Carcone is showing that he cannot be left off this roster.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) September 28, 2024
ON THE BOARD FIRST!
Michael Carcone scores on the power play to make it 1-0, us. pic.twitter.com/QiHYbuM13t
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) September 28, 2024
All night long, Carcone was firing pucks on net and putting himself in positions to score. He also looked great alongside Cooley as the two demonstrated an obvious chemistry.
If Carcone can continue to produce, he should claim one of those final spots as he’s consistently looked like he belongs.
Despite a pretty evenly matched game through the third period, penalties and few mistakes caught up to the Utah Hockey Club which ended up costing them their first preseason loss.
Now, it’s just preseason but this is a club that has struggled with penalties in recent years and that was the case against the Golden Knights.
With six total penalties and a short-handed goal conceded to the Golden Knights, Utah kept putting themselves in bad situations and eventually it cost them. The most frustrating aspect of Utah’s penalties is that they generally came after a player had been caught flatfooted and were forced to commit the penalty in order to save a scoring opportunity.
Vegas ties it up on their own power play. You could feel it coming as they were dominating offensive zone possession and putting Utah through the blender.
Utah has to quit giving up penalties. Several times they’ve been caught flatfooted and committed a penalty afterward.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) September 28, 2024
Additionally, rather than going onto the power play late in the second period, Utah committed a penalty and were forced to play four-on-four hockey for a few minutes which resulted in a Vegas goal to tie the game at two.
Mistakes were also a problem in the third period as bad turnovers led to back-to-back Vegas goals in just 29 seconds which put the game out of reach.
A Dorofeyev goal, call him Score-ofeyev pic.twitter.com/1LFYhGb6ia
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) September 28, 2024
Ultimately, the Knights superior talent and experience proved to be too much for Utah’s youthful roster. But that’s why teams play preseason games. It provides an opportunity to try things out, clean things up and learn from your mistakes.
For now, Utah drops to 2-1 on the preseason with an opportunity to get back into the win column on Sunday against Colorado.
The Utah Hockey Club will continue their preseason against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night at Ball Arena. The game can be viewed on SEG+. Fans can also tune in on air on the KSL Sports APP or on 97.5 and 1280 The Zone. Click here for the full schedule.
