BS-Divison with tightest playoff spot race Utah Hockey Club (15-11-5) was down 2-0 and the home game losing streak looked imminent. Vancouver Canucks (16-9-6) forward Dakota Joshua had just capitalized on his breakaway as he managed to get past Utah's Nick Schmaltz. Right before Utah's goalie Karel Vejmelka could get the save, Joshua moved the puck from the right side of his body to his left and was able to easily get the goal behind Vejmelka's back. With only 17:15 remaining and having no goals despite outshooting the Canucks through the second period, Utah not only had no room for errors, but it was going to need to regain control of the game fast. Over the remaining third period, not only did Utah regain control with two goals in the last 11 minutes of the game to tie it all up, but it secured its first home win in over a month on a dramatic last-second OT goal to go up 3-2. After a pass by the Canucks was unable to be completed, the puck bounced off the sideboards and was recovered by Utah's Logan Cooley. With Sergachev on his right, Utah had a 2-on-1 advantage. Rather than taking a shot of his own, Cooley elected to pass it to Sergachev. That decision payed off as Sergachev was able to score with his backhand to get a win for the very loud Utah fans. Before overtime could even happen though, Utah would have to cut into the lead Vancouver held. With little over half of the period remaining, Utah Hockey Club caught a break as it was able to get some much needed transition offense after a behind the back pass from Juuso Valimaki cleared the puck away from Utah's goal. After that, Clayton Keller was able to capitalize on the opportunity as he got Utah's first score of the night off a well-positioned rebound. With the new swing of momentum, Utah was able to get back to the aggressive play style it opened with in the first period that allowed it to not only maintain long offensive sequences, but limit Vancouver's offensive chances. While a high-sticking penalty on Utah threatened to give momentum back to Vancouver, the Canucks couldn't capitalize on the power play like it had in the second period. Instead, it was Utah who would take advantage of a power play after the Canucks were called for cross-checking. This time it was Dylan Guenther who scored for Utah. After receiving a pass from Keller, Guenther took advantage of the space he had and took a shot. As the puck was in the air, it deflected off of Canucks forward Teddy Blueger and right into the open spot of the net. It had taken almost a full game, but Utah Hockey Club was finally able to get some shots to turn into points. Earlier in the game, it was looking good for Utah Hockey Club as it was able to control the game early in the first period and get on offense often. The Vancouver Canucks were heavily relying on goalie Thatcher Demko to continue getting saves as it took six and a half minutes before the Canucks could get a shot. Even with Vancouver able to finally generate some offensive opportunities, they were few and far to come by in the first period due to Utah’s ability to not only generate lots of pressure and shots, but simply because it kept possession of the puck for a much greater time. However, despite Utah's offensive success, many of the shots taken by Utah never turned into goals. The Canucks defense didn't allow for many clean shot opportunities and Demko was coming up with lots of clutch saves. In the second period, it was clear that the Canucks didn't want to just be playing defense as it was able to get 10 shots on the goal after it only managed 4 such shots in the first. With Utah being called for interference, the Canucks scored its first goal. But by that time, the third period came around, the momentum eventually swung back to Utah and Vancouver was stuck playing defense again. While giving up three unanswered points will sure to frustrate the team, getting a point for the overtime loss will be sure to keep the point gap close in the standings. Up next, Utah Hockey Club will look to keep its historic road game winning streak alive against the Minnesota Wild. Do you think that Utah Hockey Club will get a win this Friday? Let me know down below.
