TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 24: Karel Vejmelka #70 of the Utah Hockey Club looks on prior to warm-up before a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on November 24, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Tanouye/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Canada – Karel Vejmelka has been one of the best goaltenders in the NHL since taking over for an injured Connor Ingram. Less than two weeks after making a career-high 50 saves in a win, Vejmelka returned to his bag of tricks, or glove of tricks, snatching a would-be goal out of the air with cat-like quickness to keep Montreal off the scoreboard.
Utah Hockey Club (8-10-3, 19 pts) is in the Great White North to face the Canadiens de Montréal (7-11-2, 16 pts) at Bell Center on Tuesday, November 26.
That’s my goalie pic.twitter.com/V96YYNtEkz
— Cap’n Cook🦣 (@JazzePinkman) November 27, 2024
Less than seven minutes into the opening period, Montreal’s leading scorer had a wide-open lane from the right side of the ice. Caufield ripped a wrister that Vejmelka calmly snapped up to stop play.
The save kept the game between Utah Hockey Club and Montreal scoreless.
The former fifth-round pick (2015) of the Nashville Predators first came to the NHL in 2021 when he signed with the Phoenix Coyotes as a free agent. Vejmelka has a .926 save percentage and is seventh in the league with a 2.30 goals-against average in ten games.
Despite an impressive effort during the first and third periods, the Utah Hockey Club experienced yet another dooming stretch that buried any chances of winning the second half of their back-to-back. Following three consecutive goals from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Utah failed to emerge from another two-goal deficit and lost 3-2 on Sunday night.
After a solid first period and an early 1-0 lead, the Utah Hockey Club allowed three goals in five minutes, putting them at a two-goal deficit, and they were yet again unable to crawl out.
During those five minutes, it was an additional poor stretch of hockey where everything that could go wrong went wrong. They committed unnecessary stick penalties, put themselves at a disadvantage, had several key defensive breakdowns, made a bad change, and completely came apart.
“It’s a big issue. You get on the road and repeat the same mistake, the same guys, a stick penalty…that’s tough. Our game management, our game in the game, cost us today. From bad change to getting in penalty trouble,” Head coach Andre Tourigny said.
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Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. Listen to Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
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Brian Preece is a KSLsports.com insider covering Locals in MLB and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball coverage here.
