3 Takeaways From Utah’s 2-1 Loss to Blues

There are other players waiting in the minors as well. Kailer Yamamoto, Egor Solokov, and Cameron Hebig all have had really good seasons with the Tucson Roadrunners. If you have a player who is playing way better than someone else, why wouldn’t you give him a shot? Why not do it by scratching Crouse? He is a locker room leader but as a leader, even he has to admit this has been one of the worst seasons of his whole career.

There are other options as well like Matias Maccelli or Juuso Välimäki (who has been passed on the depth chart by players like Nick DiSimone) but Crouse’s play has been a big issue this season. Going from back-to-back 40-plus point seasons to only 11 points has hurt Utah. Scratching Crouse could spark something in him. It could also spark something in the team as he’s a big part of the locker room and healthy scratching him could really make them aware that management and coaching aren’t afraid to remove you from the equation, no matter how popular you are or what letter you wear.

4-Nations Break Can’t Come Fast Enough

Once again, after the loss to the Blues, the Utah locker room was raw with emotions. If the anger and frustration from the team wasn’t obvious during their previous loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was made pretty clear on Sunday night.

There are big injuries to Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther that have hampered Utah but that isn’t an excuse. These types of disappointing losses have been happening all season and we’re now at the point where it’s taking the team out of the playoff race.

“You just got to grind through it,” Kesselring said. “These are playoff games for us. We need to win, we need to push. I know we have some injuries, but there’s no excuses. Like I said, it’s the NHL, so we have to find a way here.”

Shot attempts were the big issue during the game against the Blues. Utah opened up a lot of space for the Blues to get shots on Connor Ingram, who despite the loss, had one of his best games of the season. Meanwhile, Utah couldn’t get any shots through their opponent’s defense. While on paper they had 25 shots on goal, they weren’t quality shots and in the end that cost them.

On top of that, the effort just wasn’t there from Utah, which has been a recurring issue. There isn’t a real drive from the team to win or compete. The energy wasn’t there either. Meanwhile, it looked like the Blues left their hearts out on the ice because they know every game is a must-win for them otherwise, playoffs are out of the question.

“I didn’t like our energy,” head coach André Tourigny said. “I didn’t like our urgency in that game. Credit to St. Louis, they played much better than the last two times we played them – way more stingy. Took way too long for us to accept that and go to work.”

At the end of the day, teams that have heart and play hard make the playoffs. Utah’s fifth straight loss demonstrates that’s not the team’s identity right now. Interestingly enough, this is around the same time they went on a 14-game losing streak last season in Arizona. Is that purely coincidental? Maybe, but it could also say that Utah hasn’t learned from the mistakes they made last season. A nearly two-week break for the 4-Nations Face-Off tournament will help the team reset but they still have a couple of games to play before then.

As they sink further and further down the standings with teams like the Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken only a couple of wins away from passing them, Utah needs to realize they’re doing this to themselves. They have great talent but they need to put it all together and find the chemistry of a winning team. They know they need to do better but it needs to be shown on the ice. Perhaps the 4-Nations break will provide that opportunity for them to reset and get it together. 

“Listen, we’ve had a lot of meetings about this and had a lot of talk and I think that everyone has really said just about all that can be said,” Ian Cole said. “At some point, it needs to get put into practice on the ice.”

Playoffs have turned into a hope as the team now sits eight points back of the Calgary Flames for the second wild card spot with a 21-22-9 record. Now, at the very least, Utah needs to turn their season around to show they are growing, not regressing. It needs to happen soon as we inch closer to the trade deadline. 

Utah will finish off their homestand on Tuesday with a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers are 23-25-6 this season and are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams have met once this season back in October when Utah won 4-2.