Wednesday night’s game featured a lot to be remembered for the Utah Hockey Club and their fans. A 49-save performance, a string of three goals in a matter of minutes, and a penalty kill that lasted almost an entire period highlighted Utah’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. It was one of the biggest wins of the season so far. Here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s win.
Karel Vejmelka’s Game to Remember
There’s no denying that the best player of the game was Karel Vejmelka. If he wasn’t in net or didn’t play anywhere near the level he did on Wednesday, Utah would’ve lost the game, no question.
Vejmelka made 49 saves on 50 shots against, which, of course, was a career-high. The goaltender also had an insane .980 save percentage (SV%), which has bumped up his season SV% to .926.
Vejmelka has played well all season. Unfortunately, he’s been in net for some really tough games like against the New Jersey Devils and the Winnipeg Jets. In most of those games, Vejmelka put up an above .900 SV% and played like a winner. However, those games haven’t come out the way he would like. Now, the Czech goaltender has battled for and found his first win of the season against a red-hot Hurricanes team.
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After Wednesday’s game, there’s no question about who Utah’s starter is. While Connor Ingram has posted solid numbers in some games, he’s been extremely shaky since Utah’s first couple of games in the season. However, Vejmelka has put up strong numbers in all but one of his performances despite the lack of wins. A 49-save night also highlights who is playing better in net.
After a disappointing season last year, Vejmelka has clearly returned to form this season. Fans could see the emotion radiating off of him after the win when he was named first star of the game and skated on the ice, making gestures to pump the crowd up which resulted in them chanting his name. He is usually a reserved person so to see him do that after the game shows how much it meant to him.
After carrying the team on his back, Utah might give Vejmelka some rest on Friday during their next game. However, after his stellar performance on Wednesday, he deserves the starting job.
Nick Bjugstad Returns to the Scoresheet
It took eight games for Nick Bjugstad to return to the scoresheet after he missed a handful of games to begin the season with an injury. Although he looked good in his first seven games, he looked even better in his eighth.
Bjugstad started the scoring with a simple, quick shot in the first period that beat Pyotr Kochetkov. It was a stunning one as the Hurricanes obviously were the better team up until that point but it was Utah who led at that point.
A couple of goals later, Bjugstad would capitalize on the stretch of energy coming from Jack McBain and Mikhail Sergachev’s goals in the third period. After Spencer Martin came in for Kochetkov, Bjugstad potted in a rebound seconds later to give Utah a three-goal lead.
While Bjugstad provides more than just offense, the forward has had a decent role in helping the middle two forward lines get stronger. He’s a leader in the locker room, and his hard-nosed play creates an example for Utah players to look up to.
Big Game for the PK
Besides Vejmelka, the other extremely impressive factor in the game was the penalty kill. After Michael Carcone was ejected from the game, Utah found itself in a seven-minute penalty kill. This was not a good sign for Utah even with a 4-1 lead. Before that, they were one of the worst penalty-killing teams in the league.
However, the next 10-plus minutes changed all of that. Utah not only killed all of the penalties, including the minor infractions that followed Carcone’s seven-minute penalty, but also didn’t allow the Hurricanes to get as many shots as they could have.
An iconic moment of the almost full period of penalty killing was Mikhail Sergachev’s blocked shot. The defenseman had been having a good game, scoring the third goal for Utah. However, during Utah’s penalty kill, the Russian defenseman blocked a rocket of a shot with his helmet from a Hurricanes player. Instead of heading straight to the locker room, Sergachev stayed on the bench and got attended to while trying to play. It shows how resilient this team is even amidst a hard blocked shot or a slew of penalties.
Lots of Utah players had great nights. Michael Kesselring was another standout as he had two assists and a lot of great chances. It was definitely one of the biggest wins of the season so far. The Hurricanes had come into Delta Center winning nine of their past 10 games. However, with the incredible play of Vejmelka and the other players doing decently as well, Utah has stolen yet another win.
While the shot difference still needs to be improved, Wednesday’s game was a huge win for Utah as they start their three-game home stint. The potential of this team was on display during the third period. Hopefully, they can carry that momentum into the next game.
Utah is now 7-6-3 in the season. They will play their next game on Friday when they face off against the Vegas Golden Knights for the second time this month. Since the last time these two teams played where the Golden Knights won 4-3 in overtime, the aforementioned team has improved to a 10-4-2 record. They are most recently coming off a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
