The Utah Hockey Club leaned on their bottom six forwards to take down the mighty Boston Bruins last night.
With so much speed on the ice, it's easy to think the Utah Hockey Club's gameplan is to outrun you and outscore you.
They did so against the New York Rangers, and beat the reigning Presidents' Trophy holders at their own game on the road last Saturday.
But last night was a totally different animal -- literally.
The Boston Bruins are known for being a heavy, physical, defensive team, and everyone, including Utah forward Logan Cooley, knew how difficult it would be to get inside the dirty areas.
That's where the bottom six forwards came up huge Saturday against Boston, led by the newly constructed fourth line anchored by off-season signing Kevin Stenlund.
It's not an understatement to say Stenlund has been a revelation this season; he leads the team in face-off win percentage and is one of the most consistent defensive presences on the squad.
Coach Andre Tourigny also made a brilliant move in slotting Kailer Yamamoto into the lineup alongside Matias Maccelli on the fourth line, an extra dose of skill and speed that left the Bruins defence continually frustrated.
Let's also not take away from the excellent performance of the checking line of Lawson Crouse, Alex Kerfoot, and Josh Doan.
In fact, Doan had the shot block to set up the goal by Vladislav Kolyachonok, while Crouse and Kerfoot hounded the Boston forwards all night long, including holding the potent top line of Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and David Pastrnak to just 3 combined total shots.
Granted, we're still early in the season, but the fact Utah has taken two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and turned their own styles of play against them -- and won -- should be a sign that they will be a problem in the league.
Like Tourigny said last night, though, it doesn't mean anything if the team doesn't come out and flops against Ottawa on Tuesday.
But it shouldn't take anything away from the win, and it should serve as a reminder to the fans that Utah hockey is different.
And Utah hockey means business.