The Utah Hockey Club moved closer to a Western Conference wild card spot with a dominant 4-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday. The win came despite the return of Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon, two key pieces of the Minnesota lineup.
Barett Hayton had a pair of goals, Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for his sixth career shutout and first with Utah.
With the win, Utah (49 points) moved within a point of Vancouver and St. Louis in the wild card race. Both the Canucks and Blues lost on Thursday. Calgary, which beat Buffalo on Thursday, holds the second wild card spot with 53 points.
"We've grown a lot as a team," Keller told the ESPN studio crew after the game. "We're just trying to focus on each day, getting better and being the best team that we can be. So that's definitely our goal as a group is to take that next step and get into the playoffs. That's where we want to go."
Hayton heating up: Barrett Hayton opened the scoring just 1:46 into the game with a nifty deflection of Nick DeSimone's shot from the point (DeSimone had two assists). Hayton added a goal on a backhand rebound early in the third period to raise his season goal total to 11. It's the second highest total of his career and eight off his career high.
It has been a good month for Hayton, who has made a habit of strong second halves. He has nine points (four goals) in 10 January games.