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John Marino, Utah Hockey Club (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

3 Takeaways From Utah’s 4-2 Loss to Kings

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Chase Beardsley | Last updated Apr 4, 2025 10:15 AM ET

The Utah Hockey Club couldn’t fend off the red-hot LA Kings on Thursday, dropping the game 4-2. While Utah played a decent game, some bad turnovers and sloppy play gave the Kings some easy goals and eventually cost them the win and the chance to extend their win streak. Here are some takeaways from Thursday’s game.

Lawson Crouse Gets on the Board, Jack McBain Breaks a Personal Record

Lawson Crouse’s season has been critiqued by many. 17 points from a player who had 42 the season prior is not great, and everyone knows that. However, he’s still been a valuable part of the locker room as a player who has been in the league since 2016. He also still manages to contribute to the offense, like on Thursday against the Kings.

Jack McBain sent the puck into the corner of the Kings’ zone, where Josh Doan and Jacob Moverare raced to. Doan was able to dig the puck out of the corner, turn around, and find Crouse on the other side of the zone, behind the net. Crouse then went in front and shot the puck at the top left corner of the net, which somehow managed to beat Darcy Kuemper.

It was a perfectly placed shot that a lot of players probably wouldn’t be able to find. It was also a goal that was perfectly timed, as it came a couple of minutes after Adrian Kempe scored the first goal of the game.

Ever since the call-up of Kailer Yamamoto and head coach André Tourigny changed up the lines during the Florida road trip, the team has clicked differently. We’ve talked about the second line’s success and the fourth line’s dominance, but the third line of McBain, Doan, and Crouse has also been effective during the team’s past couple of games. After being recalled from the Tucson Roadrunners, Doan has been a brand-new player. You can tell his playmaking skills have improved, and he’s been making a lot of smart and effective plays.

While McBain hasn’t been scoring goals like he was towards the beginning of the season, he’s been effective in other ways. He’s been a big factor in Utah’s toughness and grit. He stands up for his teammates and makes sure the team isn’t being pushed around. Together, the trio has played some good hockey. While they’re not consistently getting on the scoresheet, they play a very physical and defensive game that has kept Utah in games.

“We’re working hard,” Crouse said. “We’re trying to do all the little things right, and we’re getting chances. Obviously, it was nice to get some tonight.”

While the score wasn’t what the trio was hoping for, it was nice to see Crouse get on the scoresheet. It was also nice to see McBain get on the scoresheet towards the end of the game after he scored on the power play. That was his 13th goal of the season, which breaks his career high in goals.

We’ll see what happens in the next six games, but if nothing changes roster-wise, these lines deserve to stay together. They’ve played well ever since the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and have shown chemistry that, at times, Utah has yearned for.

What Went Wrong?

After the first period, Utah was outshooting the Kings 16-3. That number increased to 25-9 after the second period. So, you’d assume that Utah won the game. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So what went wrong?

The main issue with Utah’s game was the number of turnovers and giveaways they had. On paper, they had 30 of them. It felt like way more. Those errors led to the Kings scoring two straight goals. The first was John Marino passing the puck directly to Kevin Fiala right after Utah won the faceoff. Fiala immediately shot it and scored, causing Marino to break his stick in frustration.

“I think the first one was an unfortunate turnover,” Tourigny said. “Johnny (John Marino) doesn’t do a lot of those… just happened at the wrong time. I think it was an unnecessary risk but that’s happened.”

Then seconds later, a horrible attempted pass by Clayton Keller was intercepted by the Kings and wacked all the way to the other side of the ice where Trevor Moore quickly skated to. All alone against Karel Vejmelka, he was able to put the puck into the net, and in a matter of seconds, a game that Utah had control of belonged to the Kings.

It’s not Vejmelka’s fault. He had another strong game, especially considering he’s started 19 straight games. The costly turnovers and failed passes put him in a vulnerable spot. Even still, Tourigny pointed out the fact that he could’ve gone out of the net to play the puck. He did emphasize that the loss is not one to blame on Vejmelka.

“The other one, there’s a few things on that,” Tourigny said. “I think we didn’t move our feet to get up ice, so then our motion was in the wrong direction, there was contact, there’s a loose puck. Veggie (Karel Vejmelka) could have, should have, gotten that puck. I think that said, Veggie, who was solid again tonight, so it’s far from my intention to blame him. I’m just saying on that particular play, he could have played the puck, and the puck was 10 feet from him, but that’s what happened.”

Then, with some time left in the game, a problem that Utah has had the entire season reared its ugly head again. The team failed once again to score with their goaltender pulled. Instead, Drew Doughty iced the game after scoring into the empty net. Yes, Utah has plenty of other problems to address, but this has been a season-long issue. They haven’t scored this season with the extra attacker out and the goaltender pulled, and it’s becoming quite embarrassing. Some of the bigger goals in the playoffs have been scored in the final couple of minutes with the goaltender pulled. If this team is serious about becoming contenders, that stat needs to change and quickly.

There’s quite a bit from Thursday’s game to reflect on and fix with six games remaining. However, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good during Thursday’s game.

A Game Utah Probably Should’ve Won

Utah outshot the Kings throughout the whole game. Momentum was in Utah’s favor except for most of the third period. They controlled most of the play. That game should’ve been a win for Utah.

The power play also went one for three on Thursday, which isn’t bad. Like previously mentioned, Vejmelka played well. It wasn’t like Utah sat down and died. They had some great chances offensively. However, they did fail to finish off most of those chances, which is another issue that needs to be fixed.

Even Kings head coach Jim Hiller acknowledged that Utah was the better team for most of the game. After making comments before the game saying that he’d be surprised if the Kings weren’t good, he retracted his statement after the game.

“Well, I was wrong,” Hiller said. “First of all, I said our legs would be good, and we would play well, and we did not for the first 40 minutes, with the exception of the goalie. But then give our guys credit. Third period, we played good. We scored, but we didn’t give them near as much. They didn’t have time in our zone, so we did get it together. I don’t know why it took 40 minutes to do that, but we’ll take the win.”

That questionable third period is really what killed Utah. They played a good game, but in the end, you have to play the full 60 minutes. One play can make all the difference.

“I think we played a really solid game,” Tourigny said. “I think there’s a few broken plays which made the difference in the game, but I think the guys were ready and we were really structured. We didn’t give up much. Unfortunately, a few breakdowns made the difference.”

Dylan Guenther played with a bubble mask during Thursday’s game due to sustaining a broken nose during Tuesday’s game. As usual, he had his fingerprints on the game, scoring a goal early in the first period before it was called back due to it being offside. He thought Utah played decently as well. However, the score was a loss, and now, despite being nine points back of the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card spot, he still wants Utah to play their best hockey.

“If we were in last or first place, I think you’re always playing for something,” Guenther said. “These next seven games will give us momentum into next season.”

Instead of chasing down the wild card spot, Utah is now running from their inevitable doom. The Anaheim Ducks were eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday thanks to their 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. The next lowest team in the Western Conference that is still alive is Utah. Elimination is coming for the team. They hope to prolong it as long as possible as they head into the final six games.

Utah will host the Winnipeg Jets next. The Jets are 52-20-4 this season and are coming off a 4-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. They are looking to capture their first-ever Presidents’ Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the most amount of points in the regular season. They currently have 108, which is three more than the Washington Capitals. These two teams last met in January, where Utah lost 5-2.