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Clayton Keller, Utah Hockey Club (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

3 Takeaways From Utah’s 5-1 Loss to Red Wings

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Chase Beardsley | Last updated Mar 25, 2025 10:15 AM ET

Coming off a big win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Utah Hockey Club were looking to win one of their games in hand to get back into the playoff race. Against a team like the Detroit Red Wings who aren’t expected to make the playoffs, it seemed like Utah would continue their winning streak. Instead, they scored two fluky goals against them, resulting in a 5-1 Red Wings win. Here are some takeaways from Monday’s game.

Dylan Guenther Hits the Century Mark

Dylan Guenther might be the best player to come out of the 2021 NHL Draft, and Monday’s game is proof. After getting a pass from Clayton Keller, Guenther unleashed his wicked shot to get the puck past Alex Lyon for a power play goal. It ended up being his 26th goal of the season, but more importantly, the 100th point of his career.

In just 137 games, Guenther now has 100 points. That’s nearly a point per game at just 21 years old. What’s even more important is that not only does he become the seventh player from the 2021 Draft to reach the century mark, but he is now the fastest to do so out of the seven.

It’s no knock on any of the other players that were a part of the 2021 Draft. Players like William Eklund, Wyatt Johnston, Luke Hughes, and Mason McTavish are fantastic, but it feels like Guenther is on a whole different level, especially with his play this season.

This will be Guenther’s first season in the NHL where he hasn’t been in the American Hockey League (AHL) at any point during the year. It’s clear that he’s developed into a key player for Utah in the past couple of seasons, and now he’s a massive part of not just the offense but the locker room as well. Keller has seen him play ever since he entered the league. He’s noticed how quickly Guenther has adjusted to the NHL level, and he’s happy the young forward will be on his team for a long time.

“He’s such a great guy, such a great player,” Keller said. “(He has) one of the best shots I’ve ever seen. He works on it a ton during practice, before practice, and after practice. A lot of credit to him. He’s such an easy guy to play with. I can’t say enough good things about him. He competes hard. He’s a great leader. He’s growing every year, and we’re so lucky to have him locked up for a long time.”

The goal was also Guenther’s 50th point of the season. It’s crazy to think he’s still on his rookie contract, and he’s Utah’s top producer. It’s still crazy when you consider the fact that Guenther arguably could’ve gotten paid more if he waited to extend with Utah until after this season. However, it’s clear this is where he wants to be, and it’s also clear that this team is the perfect place and fit for him.

An Unlucky Game

In order to make the playoffs, you need a lot of things. One of those things is simply luck. Although this has been a great inaugural season for Utah, luck has not been on the team’s side since even before game one. John Marino sustained a long-term injury before even playing a game. A couple of days into the season, Sean Durzi was also knocked out with an injury.

Fast-forward to Monday’s game, and luck was once again not on Utah’s side. If you look at the shots, you’d think Utah would’ve won the game. They allowed the Red Wings to have only five shots on goal across the first two periods. Well, as fate would have it, the Red Wings were up 3-1 by the middle of the third.

Elmer Soderblom’s goal to open the scoring for the Red Wings was a result of a terrible turnover by Utah. However, the next goal was an interesting one. After a couple of players fought for the puck on the boards, it squirted loose, where Marco Kasper tried to backhand it away. Somehow, the puck hit Lawson Crouse and deflected into the back of the net. That was the game-winning goal.

If you thought that goal was weird, the third Red Wings goal was even weirder. With the puck almost out of the zone, most of the Red Wings retreated to the neutral zone. Simon Edvinsson took a shot that would normally not get past any NHL goaltender. However, the puck hit Austin Watson’s stick and literally leaped over Karel Vejmelka into the back of the net. It was Watson’s first goal of the season, and it is one you have to watch for yourself.

I really don't think anyone thought that was going to go in. What a weird goal. #UtahHC https://t.co/Eu9xwQXBkM
— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) March 25, 2025

The two fluke goals were a huge reason why Utah lost. However, there were other issues as well. As mentioned, turnovers were an issue for the team. The first goal was directly caused because of a turnover by Utah. It was an error all night long that didn’t help them get back into the game.

The other main issue was the power play. The Red Wings’ penalty kill is the worst in the league, sitting at a 69% success rate. In their last game against the Vegas Golden Knights, it was exploited as the Golden Knights rolled the Red Wings. Utah did not capitalize on that opportunity. They went one for five. Utah’s power play didn’t even look that great in most of those five opportunities. Again, they were up against the worst penalty kill in the league. It’s unacceptable.

“We had a good start,” Keller said. “We had a lot of possessions, some shots early, but I don’t think we did a good enough job of getting to the inside, hitting those rebounds … power play’s got to be better. We had a good start there, but we have to find a way to get another one there. So that’s definitely frustrating as well.”

Clayton Keller, Utah Hockey Club (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Head coach André Tourigny agrees that the game was just filled with unlucky moments for Utah. However, he also admits that there was quite a bit that the team could’ve done better.

“I think we got a little bit unlucky on our goal against,” Tourigny said. “The puck was bouncing a lot tonight. It was tough to execute. I would have loved to simplify a little bit, go more at the net, and (be a little) bit more dirty. I thought we had a good start. But we could have simplified a little more in our shooting mentality in trying to make plays. Like I said, at the end of the day, we got unlucky.”

It was a game that Utah can’t repeat in the future. While they can’t control the fluky goals, they can control their power play and their turnovers. It can’t happen. If it resulted in a 5-1 loss to the team that has the worst penalty kill in the league, just think about what could happen against an elite team.

The Blues Now Have Control

The playoff race looks pretty unfavorable to Utah right now. Utah had two games in hand on the St. Louis Blues before Monday’s game. If they had won those two games, they could have jumped back into the thick of the wild card hunt.

Instead, they lost their game against the Red Wings. That keeps the Blues six points ahead of them with 11 games remaining in Utah’s season. The Vancouver Canucks also won 4-3 in a shootout on Monday, putting them three points ahead of Utah.

Here is your daily look at the Western Conference wild card battle after Utah’s 5-1 loss to Detroit.

It feels like the Blues have complete control of the wild card spot, now three points ahead of the Canucks. Utah is now six points back. The deficit might be too much.#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/tmqUVf22wx
— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) March 25, 2025

The math doesn’t look good at all for Utah. While they’re not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, it feels like this was the final blow. Even if Utah wins most of their final games, most of which are against playoff teams, they’ll need the three teams ahead of them to lose a bunch of games. The Blues have a schedule against a bunch of non-playoff teams, too, which doesn’t help.

Nothing is easy. If getting into the playoffs were easy, every team would do it. You need a lot going right for you. It’s the scenario the Blues are in right now. Going into their Florida road trip, Utah will look at what they need to do better and fix those issues. Ian Cole has been on numerous playoff teams in the past and knows what it takes to win in this league. Now, he’s trying to pass on those lessons to the rest of the locker room.

“You need calls on your side, you need to take advantage of opportunities, and you need to play really good hockey,” Cole said. “You need kind of a perfect storm to get into the playoffs and then have success when you’re in the playoffs. You need all those things going for you. Tonight some of those things did not go for us, but we’re right back at it against a great team in Tampa in a couple days. We’ll have to look at the video and figure out what went wrong and what we could have done better, and then fix that and move on.”

Despite being six points out of the playoffs, there won’t be any quit in the locker room. Utah will not give up on doing their best to make the playoffs. It’s the exact mentality Utah needs to have. Anything could happen. Sports can be unpredictable, and momentum can change at any minute.

“There’s never going to be any quit in this room ever,” Keller said. “We’re going to fight all the way until the end. We’re going to try to win every single game from here on out. Never know what can happen. We’re going to stay motivated, learn from this game, (and) attack this next road trip. We go 3-0, you never know what will happen.”

Keller certainly has a point. It’s all hands on deck until Utah is officially mathematically eliminated. Winning should be the main goal for the team going into their upcoming tough road trip.

Utah will first travel to play the Lightning. The Lightning are 40-25-5 this season and are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights, but they’ll play the Pittsburgh Penguins before Thursday’s game. The two recently faced off on Saturday, where Utah won 6-4.