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Logan Cooley, Utah Hockey Club (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

3 Takeaways From Utah’s 2-1 Win Over Canucks

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Chase Beardsley | Last updated Feb 24, 2025 9:20 AM ET

The 2024-25 NHL regular season is nearing its final couple of weeks, and many teams are finding themselves in some massive games. That includes the Utah Hockey Club, who are fighting for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. In what could end up being one of the biggest games of the season, Utah beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Sunday to inch even closer to them in the standings. There’s no downplaying how instrumental this win could be for the team if they eventually make the playoffs. Here are some takeaways from Sunday’s win.

Another Big Moment From Dylan Guenther

At just 21 years old, Dylan Guenther has been a part of numerous big moments in his career. Scoring the gold medal winner in the 2023 World Juniors for Canada, scoring in the final Arizona Coyotes game, potting the first-ever goal for Utah, and numerous game-winning and overtime goals this season. On Sunday, Guenther showed up big once again when it mattered, helping Utah win one of their biggest games of the season.

Thanks to a penalty on Derek Forbort, Utah was on the power play with only a couple of minutes remaining in the game. The team had struggled on the power play, going 0/3 and not producing much in their previous two attempts. That changed quickly as Nick Schmaltz flung a shot to the net, which Guenther tipped in to score Utah’s second goal of the game and give them a 2-1 lead. It ended up being the game-winning goal.

Guenther has been exceptional this season with 43 points in 46 games. Utah is now 13-0-1 when he scores. He is also tied for ninth place in the NHL for game-winning goals with six.

It’s incredible that Guenther has managed to do all of this just in his first three seasons in the NHL. However, he is expected to be a massive part of Utah’s future as he develops into one of their core pieces. General manager Bill Armstrong came out and said that he and Logan Cooley would help lead Utah to be a championship-caliber team for a long time. If Guenther keeps playing like he’s been playing, that will certainly be true.

In order to get to a championship, Utah and its young players need to learn how to play in meaningful games. A game like Sunday’s against the Canucks is super beneficial for someone like Guenther, who is currently playing in the most important NHL games of his career.

“This is where you want to be as a player,” Guenther said. “This is why you work hard to play in moments like this. I think it will help us, not just this year, but as we start to get a little bit older as a team. Gaining that exposure is huge.”

Guenther has nine points in his past six games; five of those are goals. There’s no telling where Utah would be without his offense and his clutch moments. He’s become one of the faces of Utah, not just in the future but right now as well.

Fully Healthy for the First Time

In Saturday’s game against the LA Kings, Sean Durzi returned to Utah’s lineup, making it the first game Utah has played with a fully healthy blue line. However, the entire team wasn’t complete yet. Cooley was still sidelined with an injury. However, Saturday morning brought the return of the young forward. Utah put Juuso Välimäki on waivers to send him down to the Tucson Roadrunners in order to make room to activate Cooley off injured reserve.

Cooley impressed in his return, tipping John Marino’s shot into the back of the net in the second period, and scoring Utah’s first goal of the game. Considering it was his first game back in nearly a month, Cooley looked pretty sharp. Similar to Guenther, it’s great that he’s in the lineup to get the experience of playing in these big games.

“You play to eventually get into the playoffs and one day win a Stanley Cup,” Cooley said. “For us, that’s what we’re building for…It’s fun to be in these tight games, and especially when you’re winning, it’s the best feeling.”

With Cooley’s return, it marked the first time this Utah team has been fully healthy. From the first game of the season, they have dealt with injuries, with Marino and Nick Bjugstad injured before Utah’s inaugural game. Shortly after, Durzi was injured and ever since then, it’s been one injury after another.

Now, the only player that remains out of the lineup is Robert Bortuzzo, but with the return of Durzi and Marino and the acquisitions of Nick DeSimone and Olli Määttä, it’s safe to say that it would be tough for him to crack the blue line. With 24 games remaining, Utah has gotten healthy in the nick of time. With the roster now complete, it instills confidence in the locker room that Utah can compete in these big games and against tough opponents while they battle it out for a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

“I think it builds confidence so that we can win these big, tight point matchups,” Guenther said. “So (we’re) just trying to keep buzzing moving forward.”

The other side of being healthy is that there are no more excuses. This is the best team Utah can ice this season barring any crazy moves at the trade deadline. It’s now all up to the players and coaches to get this team consistently winning, which Utah has struggled at times to do.

In the Thick Of It

There’s no way to emphasize how big Sunday’s win was for Utah. It puts them right in the thick of things in the Western Conference and stops the Canucks from getting any points for the second straight game.

Before Sunday’s game, the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues both won, which actually put them ahead of Utah in the standings. However, with their 2-1 win, Utah is now ahead of both of them again and only four points back of the Canucks, who still hold the second wild card spot. The Canucks’ loss also made things interesting for the Calgary Flames who won 3-2 over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. They are now one point back of the second wild card spot.

This is what the Western Conference wild card battle looks like after Utah’s win over the Canucks.

Utah is now only four points behind the Canucks.

The Flames also won tonight which puts them just one point behind the Canucks with a game in hand. #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/lEmZ1kkU5C
— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) February 24, 2025

Going back to Utah, once again, this was a massive win for them. Yes, it inches them closer to the second wild card. However, it’s also the team’s 10th win at Delta Center, where Utah slowly is getting better and better. In order to make the playoffs, one of the things they need to start doing is improving their home record, and they’ve been slowly doing that.

Utah’s 10 home wins no longer puts them in last place in the league in that category for the first time in a long time. That honor now belongs to the Sharks, who only have nine. Winning a big game like Sunday’s doesn’t just give the players confidence, but it gives the fans confidence as well, as they continue to make Delta Center a loud and energetic environment.

Confidence is the main key going into the final couple of games of the season. Confidence in winning will help Utah keep doing exactly that. It’s something that has grown with the team ever since their rebuild started in Arizona and now, it’s gotten them to the point where this group of players are playing the most meaningful hockey games they’ve ever played.

“I feel like we have a lot of confident guys in this room,” Cooley said. “I think that’s what gives us a chance to win each and every night is guys want to win and do the right thing.”

Head coach André Tourigny has been with this team since nearly day one of the rebuild. He’s certainly seen the lowest points this group has been through. However, he knows each mistake is a learning point and each lesson has gotten this team closer and closer to the goal of making the playoffs. Now, Utah is on the cusp of doing exactly that and Tourigny is seeing some of the young players that he’s mentored and taught get comfortable in some of the most high-pressure games they’ve played in.

“Growth as a human being or a team comes with mistakes,” Tourigny said. “You make a mistake, you learn from your mistakes. Mistake is a good teacher…I think you see growth in our team. You see guys getting more comfortable in those tough situations.”

It wasn’t just one player who carried Utah to their 2-1 win on Sunday. It was a complete win from goaltending to defense to offense to coaching. It’s the exact type of play Utah needs to have from here on out if they want to overtake both the Canucks and Flames in the standings and make the playoffs.

Utah is now 25-24-9 with 24 games remaining in the season. They’ll continue their four-game homestand on Tuesday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are 17-33-7 and are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. These two teams last met in October, where Utah won 5-2 in their first game in franchise history.