When the first season in Utah Hockey Club history began, general manager Bill Armstrong's stated goal was for the team to be playing meaningful games in the playoff hunt when March and April arrived. With 15 games remaining in the season, that's exactly where Utah sits.
A huge, 3-1 win in Vancouver on Sunday has Utah (30-26-11) within two points of the final Western Conference wild card spot. Four teams — Vancouver, St. Louis, Calgary and Utah — are within two points of each other for that spot.
"The race to the playoffs is so close right now and every point is so big," said forward Logan Cooley, who had the game-winning goal in Vancouver. "You play every other day. You can't hold onto games where you're not your best and even if you have good games, you've got to move on quick."
Utah will close out its three-game road trip against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. Here's a look at the week ahead.
Upcoming Schedule
Tuesday, 3/18: at Edmonton, 7 p.m. MT
Thursday, 3/20 vs. Buffalo, 7 p.m. MT
Saturday, 3/22 vs. Tampa Bay, 3 p.m. MT
Scouting the Oilers: Edmonton closed out a three-game road trip to the New York area with a win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. It was the Oilers' second straight victory and pulled them within four points of Vegas for the Pacific Division lead. Edmonton was quiet compared to the other contenders at the trade deadline, acquiring depth center Trent Frederic, depth forward Max Jones, and Czech league forward Petr Hauser from the Boston Bruins for AHL defenseman Maximus Wanner, a 2025 second-round pick in 2025, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
Stats: Center Leon Draisaitl leads the Oilers with 49 goals and 101 points. Center Connor McDavid leads the team with 61 assists, but the Oilers are top heavy in production. The next closest forward is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 42 points. Goaltender Stuart Skinner's .896 save percentage ranks 28th in the NHL. The Oilers' always-potent power play is fifth in the NHL at 26.1.
Injury updates: Forward Evander Kane underwent abdominal surgery in September to repair two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias, and two torn lower abdominal muscles, and will be out for the remainder of the regular season. Forward Trent Frederic (lower body) is week to week. Defenseman Alec Regula (knee) is on IR. Defensemen John Klingberg (undisclosed), Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed) and forward Zack Hyman (undisclosed) are all day to day.
Season series: Edmonton leads, 2-0. The Oilers beat Utah, 4-3 in overtime, on Nov. 29 at Delta Center. Edmonton won, 4-1, at Rogers Place in Edmonton, on Dec. 31.
Scouting the Sabres: The Sabres have the longest active playoff series win drought at 17 seasons and also have the longest active postseason appearance drought at 13 seasons, a league record. Both numbers will stretch another year with Buffalo last in the Eastern Conference at 58 points. The Sabres' nine road wins are the fewest in the Eastern Conference.
Stats: Center Tage Thompson, whom Utah GM Bill Armstrng helped draft in St. Louis, leads the team with 34 goals and 59 points. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin leads the team with 40 assists. The Sabres' .888 team save percentage is the second worst in the NHL.
Injury updates: Forwards Josh Norris (undisclosed) and JJ Peterka (lower body) are day to day.
Season series: Utah leads, 1-0. Five players scored and Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves as Utah beat the Sabres, 5-2, on Dec. 7 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
Scouting the Lightning: Most analysts thought the Lightning's Stanley Cup window had closed after back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021, and a third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2022. Tampa had other thoughts. The Bolts let longtime captain Steve Stamkos depart to Nashville in free agency last summer and signed free-agent wing Jake Guentzel. Then Tampa went out and acquired center Yanni Gourde and forward Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken at the trade deadline. Entering play on Monday, second-place Tampa trailed defending Cup champ Florida by four points in the Atlantic Division.
Stats: Guentzel and center Brayden Point lead the team with 32 goals apiece, with Brandon Hagel sitting at 31 and Nikita Kucherov at 28. Kucherov leads the team with 92 points, which is the third highest point total in the NHL. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has the league's second highest save percentage at .919. Tampa's power play ranks sixth in the NHL at 25.8 percent. It's penalty kill is eighth at 81.9 percent.
Injury updates: No injuries at this time.
Season series: The teams have not played.
Who's hot?
- With two assists on Sunday, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz has five goals and 12 points in his past 11 games.
- Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka has started a career-high 10 straight games.
- Utah is 7-2-3 in the past 12 games at Delta Center.
By the numbers
- With 75 points, Utah captain Clayton Keller remains on pace for a season high in points. His current pace is 92 points, which would eclipse the 86 he recorded in 2022-23.
- Logan Cooley's 38 career goals are tied for the most by any player from the 2022 NHL Draft with Montréal's Juraj Slafkovský, who has played 42 more games.
- The NHL's wild card races are, well, wild. Four teams are separated by two points in the race for the Western Confercne's final playoff spot. In the Eastern Conference, six teams are separated by four points in the race for the final wild card.
Quotable
"He helped me try to get my game back and do the things that make me a good player. I kind of found some of that [Sunday] and it's something to build off of in another big game in Edmonton." — Utah forward Logan Cooley on breaking a six-game point drought in Vancouver thanks to a video session with coach André Tourigny.
