2024 has officially come to an end but the Utah Hockey Club’s losing streak hasn’t. The team has now lost five straight games with their 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. There is a spark of hope for Utah’s third line but ultimately, the loss overshadowed a potential fix for the team’s worst line. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s game.
Jack McBain Hits Double Digits
Jack McBain hasn’t been known for being a scorer in his career. However, this season, he’s been producing goals at a rate he’s never scored before in the NHL.
Seconds after Mattias Ekholm scored the Oilers’ first goal of the game, Dylan Guenther made it into the Oilers’ zone. He made a pretty pass to McBain who finished the play off right in front of the net to tie the game up at one.
McBain’s goal was his 10th of the year which makes this season his second-highest in terms of goal scoring. It places him third among all Utah skaters for goals which is impressive, considering his previous career high is 12. It seems like he’ll beat that total soon if he keeps on playing the way he’s been playing.
Related: Utah’s Concerning Special Teams’ Trend Continues
McBain’s line which also features Guenther and Logan Cooley has remained the best line for Utah. All three are within the top eight scorers on Utah and are all projected to have career seasons. The trio have had a good connection and haven’t skipped a beat this season. Thanks to their increased production, they might get more ice time together in the near future.
Liam O’Brien’s Return Sparks Questions About Third Line
For the first time since Oct. 28, Liam O’Brien was in Utah’s lineup. The forward had been patiently waiting to get his shot at playing again, never complaining and always participating fully in practice. Thanks to Clayton Keller being held out with illness, O’Brien finally got his chance and skated on the third line with Lawson Crouse and Nick Bjugstad. Matias Maccelli took Keller’s spot on the top line.
It’s no secret that Utah’s third line has been one of the worst lines not just on the team but arguably in the whole league. The line of Maccelli, Bjugstad, and Crouse has struggled tremendously throughout some of November and all of December. The line has been on for a bunch of goals scored against Utah and hasn’t produced any offense in return.
However, O’Brien sparked something on the third line on Tuesday. The line looked the most energetic it’s been in weeks. O’Brien had numerous chances and looked impressive in his first game in over two months. Head coach André Tourigny was impressed by the veteran, especially on how he handled not playing for the past couple of weeks.
“I’m really proud of him,” Tourigny said. “He showed up and was ready to go. He played a solid game and brought emotion and physicality like he always does. (I’m) really proud of him…tonight he was a positive factor for us.”
O’Brien knew his time would eventually come to return to play. Despite being healthy scratched for a long period of time, he remained positive. One of O’Brien’s biggest assets is his personality, especially in the locker room. Being himself amidst not being played definitely kept team spirits high. He’s stayed ready knowing his time would come and on Tuesday, it came.
“These are the types of situations that you stay ready for,” O’Brien said. “I was ready to play; I even got a nap in this afternoon. I knew we had some guys that were sick…You definitely don’t want Clayton Keller not in your lineup, but I was happy to fill in.”
O’Brien’s remarkable play on the third line sparks a question. Does the third line need to change for the foreseeable future? The trio of Maccelli, Bjugstad, and Crouse aren’t playing well and it’s costing Utah. One switch on Tuesday and the line was nowhere near the issue during Utah’s loss. O’Brien’s play should’ve earned him another look during the second half of the team’s road trip.
However, if you keep O’Brien in the lineup and you want to change up the line, you’ll have to scratch someone. There’s absolutely no chance that Tourigny will keep Keller out of the lineup when he gets healthy. Every single line except the third line is playing excellent for Utah and you don’t want to mess up that chemistry. That leaves Crouse, Bjugstad, and Maccelli as the lone candidates to take out of the lineup.
Selecting one of the three is a difficult choice. Some might look at Bjugstad who hasn’t scored that much this season and hasn’t gotten a single point since Dec. 2 and say he’s the easy choice to hold out of the lineup. However, Bjugstad isn’t known as a producer and also is a big part of the lineup as one of the most seasoned players on the team. The same argument can be made for Crouse although this is one of the worst seasons in his career. Maccelli also hasn’t scored since Dec. 2 and has been a big disappointment after it was expected he would take another step forward in his development.
In a nutshell, something needs to give and O’Brien might have just forced that movement with his excellent play on Tuesday. The smart option would be to keep it changed up to try and get that same energy we saw in Utah’s game against the Oilers. However, it’s up to Tourigny to decide what’s best for the team moving forward.
Make It Five Straight Losses
With their loss, Utah has now dropped five straight games. It’s tough especially when you’re a rebuilding young team. The losses have slowly piled up to remove the cushion that Utah had when they were winning all of their games at the beginning of December. Now, the team is almost at .500 and could slip even more if the rest of the road trip doesn’t go their way.
Utah has also lost ground in the wild card hunt out in the West. The St. Louis Blues have passed them in the standings and now, Utah is five points back of a wild card spot which is currently occupied by the Calgary Flames.
Utah has certainly been streaky. After a massive point streak and a good stretch of wins, they’ve flipped the switch and have started losing. Before their winning streak, Utah was on a losing streak as well. There’s no consistency with the group and it’s becoming apparent with their record.
Breakaway opportunities were still an issue on Tuesday, costing Utah precious time to try to tie the game up. Of course, it hurts when you don’t have your captain and the leading points scorer in your lineup but it’s not an excuse to lose five straight games.
Things need to change if Utah wants to get back in playoff contention. Maturity is hard to teach but this young core needs to learn from its mistakes. Playoffs are the expectation in the locker room; right now, that expectation doesn’t look so good.
Utah is now 16-15-6 to end 2024. They hope 2025 will start well for them as they seek their first win on this road trip. It’ll be an important one as they face off against the Flames. The Flames are 18-12-7 and are coming off a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
