SALT LAKE CITY – As the race continues to heat up in the Central Division, the Utah Hockey Club bested their Rocky Mountain Rivals as they stole two points from the Avalanche on the road. With more stellar goaltending from Karel Vejmelka and a special night for Dylan Guenther with a pair of goals, Utah continued their streak of playing good hockey on the road.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s dominant victory in Denver.
With a star-studded lineup and some of the best players in the entire NHL, the Colorado Avalanche boast the ninth best power play unit at 25.3 percent. However, despite several opportunities, Colorado was unable to cash in against Utah as the Club’s PK was superb.
Now, it wasn’t an abundance of power plays for the Avalanche as Utah only sat in the box twice, but one of them was a four-minute double-minor and both produced an onslaught of scoring chances.
Between Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar, the puck moved quickly throughout Utah’s zone, and one can’t help but hold their breath when those three are on the attack.
Every pass seems dangerous, and the momentum quickly builds until it feels overwhelming.
But Utah responded with perfection as Vejmelka was impenetrable, skaters blocked shots, lifted sticks and did whatever it took to keep the puck out of the net.
EXCELLENT PK by #UtahHC
Most of it from Vejmelka as I counted 3 saves during that Avalanche power play. Several dangerous opportunities in close but he said no.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 13, 2024
Confidence is radiating throughout the Utah Hockey Club right now and it’s all because of the man between the pipes.
Karel Vejmelka has been feeding everyone their veggies early in the season as he’s been absolutely superb in net for the Utah Hockey Club.
Between the pipes, the 28-year-old netminder boasts a .915 save percentage (eighth best in the NHL) in 15 games played with 13 starts.
Like he demonstrated against the Avalanche, Vejmelka’s confidence is sky-high right now and he’s stopping nearly everything.
Whether it’s breakaways, one-timers, slapshots or opportunities in close, he’s been an absolute brick-wall and is a primary reason Utah has had so much success as of late.
This was the ridiculous save I mentioned earlier. How he knows where that puck is and somehow keeps it out is beyond me. What a game for Utah’s best goaltender. #UtahHC📷pic.twitter.com/0JoLJ1jV11
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 13, 2024
“Just how hard he [Vejmelka] works in practice. He wants to be the best each and every day. That’s special to have a goalie like that. Obviously, he’s playing unbelievable and that’s what you need, is good goaltending,” Logan Cooley said.
In the NHL, it all starts in the back and when you have a confident goaltender that’s playing as well as Veggie is, the confidence becomes contagious.
“I’m feeling better and better every game. I’m trying to do my best and I’m really happy. We did a great job…it’s a huge win for us today,” Vejmelka said.
*cue the Veggie chants*@HuntsmanMH | #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/pVFH3grQeZ
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) December 13, 2024
Regardless of how things play out on the roster once Connor Ingram returns, it needs to remain Vejmelka’s net.
He’s had the hot glove for an extended period of time, is doing everything he can to help his team win games and without a doubt deserves to be the No. 1 goaltender moving forward.
Through 29 games this season, the Utah Hockey Club’s second line leads the team with 65 points between Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Jack McBain.
Play after play, shift after shift, night after night, the second line has remained consistent and are responsible for nearly 30 percent of the team’s point production. That’s significant.
What makes the second line so special is the play of Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther paired with the relentless net presence of Jack McBain.
“We talk a lot on the bench. We’re really good buddies. We provide different aspects. Bainer can finish, he’s really good in front of the net, he’s heavy. Cool’s is super skilled, super good with the puck,” Dylan Guenther said.
The way No. 92 and No. 11 play is nearly unstoppable.
While Guenther is obviously a sharpshooter and Cooley is a wicked fast creator, there’s so much more to their game than that. As demonstrated by Guenther’s 16 assists, he can obviously facilitate as good as anybody while leading the team in scoring (12).
Against Colorado, Guenther added two more to his tally.
Sometimes, it just takes throwing pucks on net to score goals.#UtahHC has been getting a lot of good bounces as of late. Early lead in Colorado. https://t.co/Jd4CUkBp2W
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 13, 2024
Textbook puck movement and Utah’s leading goal scorer adds to his tally.
Guenther is special, folks.#UtahHC https://t.co/ZNObTUavcU
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) December 13, 2024
Same for Cooley. While he’s more of a facilitator and is tied for the second-most assists on the team (16), he can also score as he’s got seven goals on the year.
Both these players are clearly special, but Guenther is doing incredible things for Utah.
In addition to leading the team in goals and points, he also leads Utah in power play goals/points (5), multi-point games (8), multi-goal games (4), overall points (28) and is tied with Clayton Keller for the most three-point games (2).
Simply ridiculous numbers.
Those two are stars in the making and both have the potential to be superstars.
The Utah Hockey Club will now travel to San Jose to face the Sharks on Saturday night. 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.
