BS-Divison with tightest playoff spot race Utah Hockey Club (16-11-5) is continuing to make history. After a win on the road against the Minnesota Wild (20-9-4), Utah has now won seven road games in a row as a team in its inaugural season It was just ten days ago since Utah Hockey Club was on the losing end to the Minnesota Wild in a 5-4 shootout loss. Unlike Utah's shootout loss to Minnesota though, the third period didn't have five combined goals between both teams and was much more of a defensive battle. Up until that point, both teams struggled to capitalize off of power plays and for Utah, shots on goal were very hard to come by. In Utah's first two power plays, it wasn't even able to get any shots on the goal. Despite that, it turned out that Utah's only shot on a power play was the shot that got the team the win. After a tripping penalty from Minnesota captain Jared Spurgeon gave Utah its third power play of the day, it didn't take long before Utah was able to take advantage. With Utah winning the face-off, it only took a couple passes and four seconds before Utah's Dylan Guenther shot went right between the legs of Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. He scored both of Utah's goals. The Wild tried to respond immediately after as it was able to get two great shot opportunities from its own Frederick Gaudreau and Marat Khusnutdinov, but Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka was able to get two of his most important saves of the day. Minnesota would get its fifth power play opportunity soon after, but Utah's defense stayed strong and would not allow the Wild to convert a single power play. In a last ditch effort, the Wild took out its goalie and tried to get a goal in the last minute and a half, but Utah didn't give very many chances despite the 6-on-5 advantage. Despite Utah having three power plays compared to the Wilds five, Utah was the one who successfully converted on its power play first and it ended up the being the deciding factor of the game. In contrast to Utah's game against the Canucks, Utah was the one having to withstand shots from the Wild early in the first period. It took Utah almost 10 minutes of game time before it got its first shot on the goal. Utah also didn't have a shot advantage like it did against Vancouver as the Wild held a 29-18 shot advantage. Minnesota was able to strike first as the Wild capitalized on a 3-on-2 advantage that saw Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka move back and forth with each Wild pass before Wild's forward Mats Zuccarello ultimately got the open shot and goal. The discrepancy of shots was 8-to-1 in favor of Minnesota up to that point. It made sense that the Wild were able to get the first goal with such a shooting advantage. However, Utah Hockey Club responded almost immediately after Utah's Dylan Guenther's rebound caused the puck to deflect off his skate and went into the net for Utah's first goal. The goal happened only a minute after the Wild got its first goal. It looked as though Utah was going to have another goal after Jack McBain was able to quickly get a shot in the net. However, the goal was overturned after it turned out that Utah's Kevin Stenlund interfered with Fleury. After replay review, it was determined that his stick pushed him so he couldn't get a proper chance to recover and potentially get a save on McBain's shot. The Wild looked as though it could have score on its third power play as the team got four shots on the goal, but Utah's defense stayed strong and the score stayed at 1-1. It'll look to stop its losing streak as it goes on the road to face Winnipeg Jets. Up next for Utah is a game back at home at 3 p.m MT against the Anaheim Ducks.
