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Kevin Stenlund of the Utah Hockey Club hits Dougie Hamilton of the New Jersey Devils (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

3 Takeaways From Utah’s 3-1 Win Over Flames

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Chase Beardsley | Last updated Apr 2, 2025 9:35 AM ET

The Utah Hockey Club kicked off their final homestand of the season in the best way possible on Tuesday. The team continued their strong play from their game on Sunday by taking down the Calgary Flames 3-1 in front of a loud audience in Delta Center. Despite having slim odds of making the playoffs, Utah continues to fight and push as the season draws to a close. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s game.

Veggie Time

Head coach André Tourigny opened up his press conference on Tuesday morning by addressing the fans about his goaltender, Karel Vejmelka. He made it plain and simple, there’s a solid reason why Vejmelka keeps getting the nod to start in net for Utah.

“If we get in the playoffs,” Tourigny said. “If we get on a run, we’re in the semifinal of Game 6, and I tell you load management with Vej. We’ll play the backup tonight. How would you asses my decision? We are fighting for our lives every night, and you want us to not put our best lineup on the ice? That makes no sense.”

It was clear that Vejmelka was about to get his 18th straight start against the Flames. While you can debate Utah’s chances of sneaking into the playoffs, what you can’t debate is that the team is still technically in the hunt. While fans and the media can say the season is over, the players and coaches in the locker room don’t think like that and won’t think like that until Utah is 100% mathematically eliminated.

So Vejmelka made his 18th straight start against a Flames team hungry for more points as they attempt to chase down the red-hot St. Louis Blues. 33 saves later, and he helped Utah shut down that Flames team. They weren’t super easy saves either. If it wasn’t for his immaculate play, including in the first period where he stopped a puck right at the goal line, this game definitely would’ve been different.

Vejmelka hasn’t been thinking much about his 18 straight games. He’s just been focusing on making the next save, securing the next win, whatever he needs to do to get Utah closer to the playoffs.

“I don’t really overthink because it doesn’t help you,” Vejmelka said. “I just try to focus on another game, another shift, and another shot. That’s kind of the mindset that I’ve had and we just need to keep going and keep rolling and play a style of hockey where we block shots. Being resilient is huge for us.”

In the playoffs, unless a massive change needs to be made, a starting goaltender is expected to play every single game. If they make it to the Stanley Cup Final, a goaltender could play as many as 21 games in a row. Starting Vejmelka this many games in a row isn’t just about riding the hot goaltender for Utah. It’s also about preparing Vejmelka to play consistently in high-level games, especially as he will most likely be Utah’s starter for the next five seasons.

“Vej in the past has been known for when he gets tired, he had kind of a difficult time, and that was important for us to go through them and learn to battle through,” Tourigny said. “At some point, if we’re in a 15, 16, 20, 24 game run in the playoffs, he needs to be able to sustain, and it’s not easy. It’s tough. It’s tough mentally and physically, and what he’s going through now will help when that will happen because he will have been through it. He will have a situation and will say, okay, I’ve been through that and I learned from it, so I think it’s good for him to go through that.”

It’s smart. Tourigny has his job for a reason, and getting this team to learn how to compete in long stretches of high-intensity games like the ones Utah are playing now is ultimately his job. Don’t worry, Utah fans, not only does Vejmelka feel better than okay, he’s having fun playing 60 minutes of hockey every other night.

“Actually, (I feel) pretty normal,” Vejmelka said. “I don’t really feel like I played that long. It’s fun to play and I’m playing better and better, which is great. It’s fun to play those kinds of games. I like to play under pressure, so it’s part of it, and I really enjoyed it.”

Kevin Stenlund Continues to Thrive in Utah

When Utah signed Kevin Stenlund in the offseason, they were expecting to get a bottom-six veteran who does wonders in the faceoff circle. Utah certainly got that. His faceoff percentage is at 59.2%, which is the highest in his career (excluding the 2021-22 season, where he only played three games for the Columbus Blue Jackets). However, they got even more than what most were expecting out of him.

A terrific backhand pass from Alex Kerfoot in the corner of the Flames’ zone led to Stenlund snapping the puck into the back of the net for his 12th goal of the season. It is a new career high for him in that category, with his previous high coming last season with the Florida Panthers.

His career high in goals felt like the last category that he could set new personal records for. He already broke his career high in assists and points, along with currently having his career high for faceoff percentage.

Stenlund has been a better fit in Utah than anyone could have predicted. While he’s had glimpses of great offensive moments throughout the season, he’s recently formed a great connection with new linemates Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad to make up Utah’s fourth line. The trio has made a strong presence in every game they’ve appeared in together.

Of course, there’s the fact that the three of them are by far Utah’s oldest and most experienced line. Stenlund won the Stanley Cup with the Panthers last season, Kerfoot has had playoff experience with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche, and Bjugstad has had playoff experience on a variety of different teams. Maybe it’s that fact that has led to them being a hard forechecking line that has no quit in them.

It showed last game too. Kerfoot was by far the best player in that game as he put up three points. He put up an assist on Stenlund’s goal on Tuesday as well. While Bjugstad hasn’t gotten a point since March 16, he’s been effective in setting up plays, including Nick DeSimone’s goal against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

It’s just like the second line of Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz, and Kailer Yamamoto. They’ve managed to find really good chemistry out of the blue. It shows the lineup changes that Tourigny has made in the past couple of days have paid off as Utah’s season continues.

7 Games Left, Still No Quit

With the completion of game 75, there are only seven games remaining in Utah’s inaugural season. If you’re still paying attention to the wild-card race in the Western Conference and hoping Utah somehow sneaks in, you’re pretty much better off hoping for something else.

The Blues won their 10th straight game on Tuesday, taking down the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in overtime. They have now leapfrogged over the Minnesota Wild for the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Now, Utah is technically chasing down the Wild for a playoff spot. However, that doesn’t make their math better, as they are still 10 points behind that second wild card spot.

Btw the Blues win their 10th straight game. They tied the game with just 27 seconds left in the game and then Cam Fowler scores in OT. They take over the first wild card spot and Minnesota drops to the second. That means Utah is now 10 points back of the final spot. #UtahHC https://t.co/7QmCgj2ycg
— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) April 2, 2025

However, as mentioned, Utah is technically still in it. They haven’t been mathematically eliminated. If you think about it, being in this hopeless position is better than being already eliminated. These are still meaningful games to this team, and a lot of those games will be played against teams who are yearning to improve their playoff positioning, meaning they’ll be fighting tooth and nail to win. Being in that type of position gives the youth an experience of playing in playoff-like intensity games.

It felt exactly like that on Tuesday, as the Flames are also still technically in the hunt for the last wild-card spot. Even to players like Hayton, who played three playoff games with the Arizona Coyotes in 2020, these games have felt like very important games despite being 10 points back of the Wild.

“I think sticking with it,” Hayton said. “Obviously this is a playoff game for both teams… You knew it was gonna be a war till the end. Their last seven games have been unreal… a lot of comeback wins in that so we knew we had to have that urgency the whole time and stick with it.”

The atmosphere in the Delta Center was incredible. Again, despite the fact that Utah has around a 1% chance of making the playoffs, the fans on Tuesday made it feel like the team was in a playoff-clinching scenario. Vejmelka knows how encouraging the fans have been. “Veggie” chants have been yelled from the whole arena every time he’s made a big save in front of them. It’s been special for him, and he loves playing in Salt Lake City.

“It’s fun to play every night in front of our home crowd,” Vejmelka said. “They give us some special energy and it’s kind of cool to play, especially in those kinds of games where we are still in the hunt, so we need every point. It was fun.”

Tourigny has said for a long time that this group won’t quit, no matter the math. Obviously, Utah’s play emphasized that point with their play on Tuesday. However, Tourigny made sure to reaffirm it after the game.

“The point is, we’ll never quit,” Tourigny said. “That’s what you want to raise, that’s what you want to be as a team… a team who will never quit. There’s no quitting in that room. There’s no quitting in those players. There’s only one thing we want to do, and we want to pursue our objective. We won’t quit until they pull the plug, and if they do, it is what it is… but we won’t give them any reason to do it. We have a bunch of players who are so competitive and they’re so proud to play in that season, the way we’ve been supported by the fans and we’re so fortunate, so I think we want to give it back.”

It’s the right mentality to have. You don’t want a locker room culture that has a mindset of quitting. You want one that will fight until game 82 is played. That’s exactly what Utah will do as they move on to game 76, as they leave behind another game where they worked hard to get a massive win against a team that is also vying for a playoff spot.

The LA Kings will be the next team to travel to Utah to play in the Delta Center. The Kings are 42-23-9 this season and are coming off a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. These two last met at the end of February, where Utah lost 5-3.