On Monday night, the Utah Hockey Club hosted the Detroit Red Wings at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was a pivotal battle for both teams as Utah entered play six points back of a Western Conference playoff spot and the Red Wings five points back in the Eastern Conference.
Game Recap
Both teams’ urgency was visible early. Utah scored after getting a power play opportunity just two minutes into the game when Clayton Keller threw a no-look pass across the ice that Dylan Guenther one-timed into the back of the net past Alex Lyon, who replaced Petr Mrazek, who was injured in the first 90 seconds of the game.
The Red Wings wasted little time responding, as they tied the game just over 90 seconds later on a 2-on-1 rush where Vladimir Tarasenko found Elmer Soderblom for a one-timed shot that he ripped by Karel Vejmelka.
Despite both teams getting on the board in the first five minutes of the game, the score remained 1-1 after the first 20 minutes. Both defences tightened up after allowing goals and only combined for 11 shots on goal, with nine being for Utah.
Even though Utah dominated the Red Wings for much of the first frame, that did not stop them from taking a 2-1 lead early in the second on a goal from Marco Kasper 94 seconds into the second period. The rest of the period remained scoreless, with both teams doing an excellent job of suppressing scoring chances and only combining for eight shots in the second period.
The third brought more low-event hockey, and both defenses continued to suppress scoring chances until midway through the final period when Austin Watson scored his first goal of the season for the Red Wings after spending most of the season in the American Hockey League with Detroit’s affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Alex DeBrincat then iced the game for the Red Wings with an empty-net goal with just under three minutes remaining in the contest. The Red Wings then drove the dagger in even further, with Tyler Motte scoring with a minute and 30 seconds left to play to create the 5-1 final score.
This was a massive win for the Red Wings to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. For Utah, the loss was equally enormous, with the Vancouver Canucks earning a shootout win against the New Jersey Devils earlier in the night. The loss also means the Calgary Flames now have two games in hand on Utah and a two-point lead in the standings, who both now trail the Canucks and the St. Louis Blues, the other two teams battling for the last spot.
