Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) guards the goal as the Utah Hockey Club and Carolina Hurricanes play at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday Nov. 13, 2024 (photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News).
(photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – In one of the most unique and truly jaw-dropping NHL games, the Utah Hockey Club dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on the scoreboard 4-1. Amidst a night of chaos that featured nearly 10 minutes straight on the power play for Carolina and an outpouring of goals in short order for Utah, Karel Vejmelka posted an unreal 49 saves on 50 shots to lead his team to victory.
Here are the key takeaways from Vejmelka’s big night.
Throughout most of this game, Carolina was fairly dominant in just about every area. They led the game in shots on goal 50-21, won 58.9 percent of face-offs and the ice was heavily titled in their favor for most of the night.
However, thanks to a sudden outburst of goals by the Utah Hockey Club with three in two minutes and 19 seconds, Utah took the lead and refused to look back.
Unreal. Just a sudden flood of offense. That’s what this team can do when they get pucks and bodies to the net. #UtahHC https://t.co/mRWapKNwoy
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
What made the difference? Utah got back to their style of offense by getting pucks to the net, bodies in front and crashing hard. They were also better off of the rush as they turned two Carolina turnovers into goals by reacting quickly, skating fast and moving the puck swiftly.
“It was getting in their zone,” Nick Bjugstad, who scored twice said. “We were rolling the lines. Everyone was kind of making plays. We didn’t play the best in the second, I thought. We found a way in the third. It was good. Guys really stepped up tonight, most importantly (Vejmelka). I don’t know that I’ve seen many 50-shot games. We appreciate him.”
Related: Utah Hockey Club Takes Control With Three Goals In Three Minutes
A performance like that is a massive confidence boost for a team that is working diligently to discover their identity. While the defense has been fairly good as of late, but tonight the offense finally found its footing.
Past the midway point of the third period, Michael Carcone was booked two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting, and a game misconduct after dropping the gloves with Jack Drury.
In the moment, it got Delta Center on its feet, but his actions resulted in a chaotic seven-minute penalty that gave a juggernaut power play unit almost half the period to try and tie things up. Spoiler alert, they didn’t.
Did not expect Michael Carcone to be the enforcer in the most lopsided fight of the season for the #UtahHC. pic.twitter.com/D8UUYFy4IG
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) November 14, 2024
On top of that, Maveric Lamoureux and Nick Bjugstad were also booked which resulted in just over 10 minutes straight of a man advantage for Carolina, not to mention a short period of 5-on-3. Pure and utter chaos.
However, somehow, someway the Utah Hockey Club locked down their own zone and didn’t allow a single goal despite giving up so much space for such an extended period of time.
Bodies were flying all over the place to block shots, the team won fierce puck battles in their own zone, their shape was mostly sound, they cleared the puck effectively and Vejmelka’s netminding was out of this world.
Notably, Utah had an absurd 26 blocked shots against the Hurricanes.
Nick Bjugstad on the 3rd period: “Starting with Veggie all night. Unbelievable. We’re thankful for him, he had an amazing night. Then the PK came up big…we had a few big blocked shots…everyone was going. It was a fun game.”#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/6XzCcBDyVL
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
“Starting with Veggie all night. Unbelievable. We’re thankful for him, he had an amazing night. Then the PK came up big…we had a few big blocked shots…everyone was going. It was a fun game,” Nick Bjugstad said.
Defending on a power play is tough. With so much extra space for the other team to operate and an inability to cover every shooter, goals happen all the time. So, to stand tall after half a period down a man is remarkably impressive.
It’s been a rough go for the Utah Hockey Club between the pipes to start their inaugural season as they’ve consistently struggled to keep the puck out of their own net.
Coming into the matchup with Carolina, the Utah Hockey Club’s netminders had a collective .883 save percentage with 3.24 goals against per game. Not exactly the type of net protection that’s going to win a lot of hockey games.
Breaking it down even further, Connor Ingram has a .879 save percentage with 3.4 goals against in 12 games against while Vejmelka owns a .899 save percentage with 2.75 goals against in four games. It is a smaller sample size which cannot be overlooked, but Vejmelka has been better.
Additionally, against the Carolina Hurricanes, Vejmelka was simply superb and rightly deserved an outburst of “Veggie! Veggie! Veggie!” chants inside Delta Center multiple times throughout the night.
I love this. Veggie deserved tonight. https://t.co/POmVUG3agi
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
Facing an onslaught of 50 shots, Vejmelka stood tall with 49 saves. Not something that happens particularly often, but he stopped 98 percent of pucks thrown his way from one of the best and hottest teams in the NHL.
Full Story: Vejmelka’s Career Night Carries Utah Hockey Club Over Carolina Hurricanes
Not only did he make key saves at full strength, but he also posted a shutout during nearly 10 straight minutes of a Hurricanes power play in the third period. Shot after shot, play after play, suffocating possession after suffocating possession, Vejmelka was an impenetrable wall and by far the best player on the ice.
All the love for Vejmelka tonight
Absolutely stellar performance from him. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a spike in Vejmelka custom sweaters on Friday after this game#NHLinUtah #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/gQkOFjkyHm— Alma Bean (@AlmaBean23) November 14, 2024
“Especially in those games with a lot of shots, I feel really good. It’s kind of easier to play than if I only have ten shots. It’s different for sure and I am more tired now,” Vejmelka said.
Absolutely unreal save from Karel Vejmelka during the power play.
Carolina with a few tic-tac-toe passes close to the net, the last one ended up right on the doorstep for an easy tap in and Vejmelka stretched out his right pad to slam the door and deny a goal.#UtahHC
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
Now, is Vejmelka going to stop 49 shots every night? No. But as the numbers indicate, he’s simply been better than Ingram and based on this game alone he should absolutely be in the rotation way more than he has been moving forward.
Utah just beat one of the best teams in the NHL 4-1 and gave them 10:26 of a power play in the third period…Vejmelka had 49 saves.
Based on this game alone, Vejmelka should absolutely be in the goaltender rotation more. Unbelievable performance.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
The Utah Hockey Club will continue their three-game homestand against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. 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.
