Wild fade gradually and then dramatically against Utah Hockey Club

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 28, 2025

Published in Hockey

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SALT LAKE CITY – Forget the contenders like Winnipeg and Vegas and the longtime rivals in Colorado and Dallas.

No one has pestered the Wild more than Utah Hockey Club, whose inaugural season now includes three victories over the Wild after a 6-1 romp Thursday night at Delta Center to reinforce its playoff chase.

Fortunately for the Wild, this concludes the regular-season matchup, but the lessons from Utah’s latest schooling should linger.

Already third-to-last in the NHL, the Wild’s penalty kill was dissected for a pair of goals in the first period, including a 5-on-3 stinger in the final minute, to sink the Wild into a hole that was insurmountable considering how clunky they were playing.

With 3 minutes, 58 seconds left in the second period, Frederick Gaudreau finally pushed a puck past Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka after a slick cut to the inside. But Utah retaliated only 1:48 later on a Sean Durzi seeing-eye point shot to reinstate a two-goal cushion that ballooned in the third on Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley finishes.

Vejmelka had 16 saves, and the Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury, in his 1,014th start to tie Roberto Luongo for second all-time, made 25.

The Wild’s road trip concludes Friday at Colorado.

After an early holding penalty against Declan Chisholm, Utah capitalized on its first power play 3:59 into the first when Barrett Hayton swooped into the middle and unleashed a shot that caromed in off Brock Faber’s skate. The Wild had two chances of their own on the power play to respond but were mostly out of sync and went 0-for-2.

But their toughest stretch of the period came during the last minute: After Jonas Brodin was sent off for hooking, Marcus Foligno received a four-minute high-sticking penalty only three seconds into the Utah power play to set up a 5-on-3. With 30 seconds to go, Dylan Guenther buried a one-timer from the left faceoff circle. Keller orchestrated both power-play goals en route to a four-assist night.

Overall, the Wild PK went 2-for-4 to continue its rough results coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Although the unit wasn’t officially charged with a goal in the 3-2 loss to Detroit on Tuesday, the Red Wings’ first goal to start their rally came one second after Mats Zuccarello was released from the penalty box on the heels of another otherwise strong showing by the Wild PKers. Detroit also had two power play goals in the Wild’s 4-3 overtime win last Saturday.

Gaudreau’s goal came after the Wild juggled their top two lines, Matt Boldy joining Gaudreau and Vinnie Hinostroza. The assist was Hinostroza’s third point in five games with the Wild since the team claimed him off waivers from Nashville.

On Wednesday, the Wild lost defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers to Edmonton, and they used the vacant roster spot to call up forward Brendan Gaunce from the minors to give them an extra.

But if the Wild generated any momentum from Gaudreau’s shutout spoiler, Utah snatched it back before the second ended courtesy Durzi’s insurance marker.

Then in the third period, Schmaltz got ahead of Gaudreau to polish off a 2-on-1 feed from the former Gopher Cooley (3:47) before Keller lifted in a backhander (9:30) and Cooley redirected in another Keller pass (15:01). The Wild didn’t register their first shot on goal in the third until almost 14 minutes had elapsed.

This was Utah’s most convincing victory over the Wild; the team blanked the Wild 4-0 in the previous meeting after eking out a 2-1 decision. In their first trip to Salt Lake City, the Wild prevailed 5-4 in a shootout, but they weren’t as resilient in their return and suffered just their eighth regulation loss on the road (21-8-3).

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