^{Vejmelka outlasted his counterpart as Utah stays undefeated at home}

Back in the 1980’s, New York Islanders fans called the Nassau Coliseum “Fort Neverlose” because, well, they rarely lost there. While there is a long way to go to use that name. Utah is a perfect 4-0 at home after facing the biggest test in this early season.

Tonight’s victory comes against one of the toughest teams in the league. Colorado came in to Salt Lake City with 11 of 12 possible points on the year, with a goaltender posting a .938 save percentage and just a sub 1.5 GAA. They also boast one of the most lethal lineups in the game, with arguably more elite players on the roster than any other. They’re leading the league +12 in goal differential in just 6 games scoring 3.5 goals a game and allowing the fewest against. Needless to say, the Mammoth faced a mammoth task tonight.

As has been the theme of his career so far, Dylan Guenther came up clutch for Utah again. Scoring the game winning goal in overtime, #11 sent Colorado packing and earned the Mammoth a critical 2 points against a divisional opponent.

Tonight’s game started out sloppy by Colorado. Bad passes and mishandled pucks in the opening minute led to a golden opportunity for Logan Cooley to score. After a rare misplay by superstar defenseman, Cale Makar, Cooley tried to get around Wedgewood, who tracked him the whole way making a stellar – if frustrating – save against the young center. Several other takeaways and giveaways early on led to 5 quick Utah shots, along with several attempts that were blocked. Strong early play by the Colorado netminder allowed them a few minutes catch their breath and get back to their game.

Colorado’s play picked up around the 4 minute mark, allowing several prime chances. A 2 on 1 with MacKinnon and Martin Necas had the superstar circle the net and fire a pass into the slot. Josh Manson’s golden opportunity was stuffed by Vejmelka, who read the pass, allowing him just enough time to deflect the puck wide. Colorado’s tenacity would pay off, though, as Zakhar Bardakov’s screen allowed a Cale Makar wrister to catch Veggie by surprise. The Czech netminder didn’t react until the puck was already in the net, giving the Avs an early 1-0 lead.

Following the goal, Utah looked determined to get the equalizer for the first shift. Off the faceoff, Utah pushed hard, forcing a good save by Wedgewood, with a couple of attempts between Hayton and Keller. It was about this time the physicality really picked up, as both teams threw more frequent hits few missed scoring chances from disrupted passes, shot blocks, and a tough Colorado defense. Ultimately, Jack Drury got called for a blatantly obvious hook on John Marino. Utah’s struggling power play would have the first opportunity of the game.

Did I mention Utah’s power play was struggling? Utah has scored just 3 goals on the power play in 25 chances, a 12% success rate for the year. One of those goals came opening night against Colorado, the lone goal by Guenther in that 2-1 loss.

The Utah power play had a good chance about partway through; Keller fired a wrister from the dot that Wedgewood saved, and a Schmaltz follow up was also stopped. Utah failed to create more pressure with the man advantage, keeping the score 1-0.

The teams traded shots, turnovers, hits, and blocks over the next few minutes, with neither getting a decisive advantage. Colorado seemed to push play more than the Mammoth, which led to a scary moment for Utah. About the 7 minute mark, a Nathan MacKinnon partial breakaway forced Vejmelka to do the splits to stop the initial – and then follow up – shots, keeping the deficit at just 1.

The next several minutes were a barrage of shots and pressure by Colorado. Vejmelka stood tall, however and we entered the break with the score still 1-0. Colorado posted 13 shots in the period, only the third time all year Utah allowed 13 or more shots in a period. The other two times were Boston last game, and the Avalanche in the opener.

The second period started out terribly, then fortunately, then disastrously for the Mammoth. Less than a minute into the period, a giveaway by Guenther ended up on captain Gabriel Landeskog’s stick, beating Vejmelka high glove side. 2-0 Colorado… or so it appeared. On replay, Colorado’s line change wasn’t completely executed, with 2 players still in the Utah zone. Offside was ruled, goal was wiped, and score remained 1-0.

Following this, Jack McBain ended up crashing into the boards. Play stopped, Jack was helped into the locker room. He didn’t return and played about 5 minutes all night.

Utah appeared energized after the call, and the physicality picked up for both teams. Liam O’Brien got off a good shot while crashing the net, turned aside by the Avs netminder, and rapid fire shots by the big guns were all turned aside. Wedgewood was frustrating the Mammoth shooters, and it appeared that nothing would beat him. When he finally looked human, it was Colorado’s turn to have some referee help. A John Marino blast was taken off the board due to the goalie being interfered with. O’Brien, in the crease, made contact with Wedgewood prior to the shot. No goal.

Veggie, in turn, was frustrating the Avs, as he stopped yet another odd-man rush chance from MacKinnon, with an expert blocker save. That was followed by another critical stop from a partial breakaway by Necas. Then, a stroke of luck – or lack of discipline – as Gavin Brindley tripped Captain Keller, giving the Mammoth their second power play of the game.

Did I mention Utah’s power play was struggling? Utah has only scored 3 goals on the power play in 26 chances.

Utah got to work this power play, with an offensive zone win. Following a puck battle in the corner, Sergachev retrieved the puck at the line and passed to Keller at the lower dot. A shot hit Wedgewood and rebounded to Nick Schmaltz, who pounded the rebound home to make the score 1 – 1. This one counted. A power play goal? We’re allowed those?

Colorado mounted pressure in response. Over the next 3 minutes, Utah’s defensemen took a beating, blocking at least 5 shots, and deflecting passes as often as they could. When they couldn’t, Veggie had their back.

A little back and forth led to Utah dumping the puck in. It wasn’t able to be controlled by Colorado, with Kevin Stenlund collecting the puck in the Colorado corner. A broken up pass to Michael Carcone came right back to Stenny, who rifled a pass over to a waiting Lawson Crouse, wide open at the far dot. Crouse beat Wedgewood glove side, giving Utah a 2-1 lead. This was only the second game Colorado had allowed more than one goal.

Late in the period, Schmaltz picked Necas’ pocket and came inches away from giving the Mammoth a 2 goal cushion, but Wedgewood stopped the chance and then a following chance by Liam O’Brien from the circle. The period ended with a Dmitri Simachev high stick, though the Avs had some pressure, but no quality shots before the horn. The power play would continue in the third, but the second period was all Utah. Utah outshot Colorado 15-7.

As mentioned, the third period saw the remainder of the penalty killed off. Moments later, Jack Drury was the beneficiary of a net-front deflection, and wasted no time ripping the puck past Vejmelka. Knotted 2-2 just a minute in.

Both teams played conservatively over the next 5 minutes, with some hits, missed shots, and some hot potato with the puck. A dump in from Utah, a continued strong forecheck helped force a misplay by the Avs. Sergachev ended up grabbing the puck, stepped towards the dot, and fired a partially screened shot high glove side to beat Wedgewood and restore the 1 goal lead. Shortly afterwards, Crouse had a breakaway, aiming for his second of the night, but was turned aside by a strong pad save.

A desperate Colorado team threw everything they had at Utah. The physicality once again picked up, culminating in several massive hits by O’Brien, Schmidt, Tanev, and octogenarian Brent Burns. Veggie stopped MacKinnon some more, Utah continued to try and stuff lanes, block shots, and clear the zone without icing the puck.

This worked well, until about 2 minutes to go in the game. As Colorado was in the midst of pulling the goalie for the extra attacker, Necas collected his blocked shot off Simachev, and shot at Veggie. In a nearly impossible feat, Necas found a puck sized hole between Veggie’s helmet and the goal. Honestly, that goal was stunning in how impossible it should have been, but somehow, improbably, the game was tied.

Both teams played for the point, and we had bonus hockey.

Utah allowed another 13 shots in the final frame, for a total of 33 tonight. For perspective, against Chicago a week ago, the Blackhawks had 14 shots all game. This was the first time Utah gave up more than 30 all season, and Colorado has had 3 of the 4 highest shot periods of the season against Utah with periods of 14, 13, and 13 shots.

In OT, Utah lost the initial draw, and Colorado controlled the puck. A great stick by Sergachev at center ice knocked control away from MacKinnon, and Utah took possession. The ensuing rush saw Keller go near side boards, and slide a pass to Dylan Guenther. Utah’s most clutch player had overskated the puck, but somehow turned his stick blade behind him, deflecting the puck for the game winner.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Karel Vejmelka made save after save after save. He stopped 30 of 33 shots and many from dangerous spots. Aside from the insanely impossible goal by Necas, Veggie was well on his way to another 2 goal against performance. Veggie outdueled the best goaltender in the league through 7 games, with a saves above expected better than Wedgewood and stopping all 8 shots from MacKinnon.

The Wasatch Wall is now 4-1 on the season, with a 2.20 GAA and .910 save percentage. Most importantly, he’s making critical saves at critical times, and keeping Utah in a position to win almost every time he’s hit the ice.

Dylan Guenther is an assassin. His second game winning goal in as many nights was yet another OT winner. Since the calendar turned, Gunner has had 4 overtime game winners, and has had 9 total GWGs according to ESPN. I think they probably missed a few.

Guenther has been absolutely clutch for the team. He was the offensive spark the first few games, the game decider twice already this year, and he has 7 years, 50 weeks left for us to love him more and more.

Mikhail Sergachev is alive! A dominating performance with 3 points after being blanked all year was a fantastic sight to see. With 6 shot attempts, and 4 hitting the net, he was an offensive presence felt throughout the game. His steal in OT was the pivotal piece that led to the win.

Seeing Sergy smile after his goal was heartwarming. Let’s see that smile a lot more this year.

Stick Taps:
1) Faceoffs were an area Utah outperformed expectations today. Team Tusk won the battles at the dot, with more than 55% success rate. Cooley massively improved today, winning 2/3rds of his draws, Hayton and Stenlund also had solidly positive days, and the ability to control the puck from the drop helped provide opportunities all game long.

2) Despite having an extremely punchable face, Marty Necas’ goal is one of the most improbable goals you’ll see this year. To be honest, I can’t even be that mad at that. It probably couldn’t be replicated in 100 chances. It was a work of art. I still hate him with a passion.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

That First Period saw multiple mistakes by Colorado go unpunished in the first few minutes. The Cooley attempt that failed would have started Utah off with a lead in the first minute. Against a dangerous Colorado team, playing from behind is a recipe for failure.

After not capitalizing, getting bombarded for 13 shots and being out hustled for much of the period, the Mammoth were lucky to be in the locker room down by just one.

Typically the second period is bad for Utah, but we wanted to get it out of the way early tonight. Probably the late start. It must be something about 8-9 PM that we don’t like.

John Marino has had a lot of questionable activity so far this year. Several times tonight, Marino fumbled the puck, made ill-advised passes, and just seemed to be overwhelmed or rushed. It’s odd behavior considering he’s had a full offseason to recover from last year’s injury. He’s playing a career low in minutes so far this year, under 20 per game. Read into that as you will.

Marino’s a defensive defenseman, and he’s officially coughed up the puck 9 times already this year. In the first 7 games, 7 of those turnovers were in the defensive zone. Giveaways are bad, but not all giveaways are the same. Sergachev averages close to 2 giveaways a game (13 in 6) but has been able to provide offense (usually) to offset some of the warts. Marino doesn’t have that same offensive capability, so giveaways from him matter more. Hopefully he can figure it out.

No update on Jack McBain is difficult news. While Hayton was able to slot in for a lot of the third line shifts, losing a center is difficult as it is for a team with little center depth. McBain’s line has struggled to produce a lot of points so far this year, but the team had struggled early on. What was important was McBain was eating 15+ minutes a night, and he’s a critical part of the penalty kill. Losing him for any stretch of time will negatively impact the team, even if his line isn’t lighting the lamp much.

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Next up:

Utah heads to St. Louis, to take on the Blues on Thursday.