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Utah Hockey Club’s Struggles Continue to Worsen In Current Slump

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The Utah Hockey Club has been struggling since the end of December. It’s been a downward spiral for the team after Utah won six out of seven games and went 6-0-1 in that span. Utah was just a few points outside of a heavily contested wild card last month but now are six points behind the Calgary Flames for the final spot with a 19-19-7 record. Utah thought they had good news when defenceman John Marino returned from a back injury that kept him out 42 games this season. However, losing forward Dylan Guenther to a lower-body injury overshadowed Marino’s return. So why do the struggles continue for Utah? 

Defensive Woes

One problem is that Utah has been the team’s defensive play, notably giving up too many goals. Over the past ten games, Utah has given up three or more goals eight times, which dates back to the end of December. The team also gave up five goals three times during the span in defeats to the Seattle Kraken, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Rangers. That’s in line with Utah’s 3.00 goals against average, ranked 15th in the league. Still, it’s become more frequent, putting Utah in deficits that the team can’t climb itself out of. Utah’s expected goals-against average this season currently sits at 3.12.

Utah’s current problems are a mix of inconsistent defense and goaltending. The team’s average shot attempts against are 44.45, which is quite a substantial amount. Utah has allowed over 30 shots on goal in five of the last ten games. Utah is ranked 19th in the league in shots on goal allowed, with an average of 28.6.

Too many shots just make the goaltender’s life more difficult, and it certainly hasn’t been easy for Utah’s goaltenders. However, Marino made the game’s defensive play in last night’s 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues when he made a goal-saving shot block. If Utah’s defense can play with that style, the shot and goal numbers will drop in the team’s favor. 

Goaltending

After Connor Ingram was injured, Vejmelka took over the load between the pipes. He was even tasked with playing both games in a back-to-back. The 28-year-old netminder is 10-13-3 with a .910 save percentage and 2.54 goals against. However, the most impressive number is Vejmelka’s goals saved above expected, which sits at 6.5.

That’s the exact opposite of Ingram’s -8.4. Ingram had a rough start to the season before being hurt. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native is 7-5-3 with a .879 save percentage and 3.38 goals against this season. The must-win game against the Blues was one of Ingram’s best performances this year, but he needs to have a strong second half.

Overall Play

Utah needs to improve the general aspects of the team’s game to stop the struggle. That means generating more quality shots on goal, hitting the net more often, and attempting to block more opposing shots. It also means not forcing any plays and dumping the puck in the offensive zone to establish its forecheck. While all of that’s important, the most significant thing Utah needs to do is play a full 60 minutes.

Without the ability to do so, the team is at a disadvantage, and then the game is being chased. Utah hasn’t been one of the better teams in the second period this season, and that’s an important time in a game. Saturday’s game against the Blues was a complete game, and Utah was rewarded the win for it. Utah’ll take a lot of effort to break the slump and end the team’s struggles. However, now that have a complete game under their belt, perhaps that can be a spark that can propel the team to more wins as we enter the stretch run of the season.

Main photo by: Christopher Crevelin-Imagn Images

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