What exactly is the Utah Hockey Club? I can give you the obvious answers: They're an NHL team playing its first season in Salt Lake City; they're the reanimated corpse of the Arizona Coyotes; they're a company that still hasn't settled on an name for its product. But none of those mean a whole lot in the context of actually watching a game. To fans of other teams, their presence on the schedule remains abstract and unfamiliar—detached from any memories of past experiences. For those in Utah, they're by definition your team, but you don't really know the players yet, haven't gotten used to the rhythm of week-by-week hot and cold streaks. It's like living with a new roommate; you may be open-minded and even optimistic, but there's a lot of blank space left to fill.
The Carolina Hurricanes do not have this issue. As they've made the playoffs in six straight years under head coach Rod Brind'Amour, they've established one of the firmest identities in the NHL. With longtime players like Sebastian Aho, Marty Nečas, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal, and Jaccob Slavin, you know exactly what you're getting when you play the Canes: a team that will do everything they can to maximize shot differential and win by out-possessing their opponents. Utah got the quintessential Canes experience at home on Wednesday night, getting outshot 50-21. But with a statement-making third period that began with fireworks and ended safely in Karel Vejmelka's glove, they picked up an unlikely and inspiring 4-1 win.
Utah to this point has been just a little under par, in the way you'd expect from a reincarnated Coyotes. (Under par is bad in hockey.) They're a young team with high ceilings on their top lines, but compared with the efficient consistency of the Canes, it's no wonder the HC were outshot so comically. The hero of the night was Vejmelka, the No. 2 goalie whose quick legwork covered the width of the net and helped him deny the Canes 49 times, including several great chances on a supersized man advantage that stretched across the game's final act.
The first 40 minutes saw the teams score a goal each as Vejmelka mostly avoided mistakes and Utah pulled out a score from a loose puck and some front-of-crease traffic. But in the third, the Hockey Clubbers came out hot, making aggressive, energetic moves toward the net that notched them one disallowed goal and three that counted, all in the span of just three minutes. It was how they finished the game's final 12, however, that cemented the good impression. With a Michael Carcone instigator attack on Jack Drury, plus two minor penalties later on, the Utahns spent most of the period's remainder with the manpower disadvantage. They had the benefit of a three-goal cushion, but they didn't need it. While Carolina eventually just ran out of gas, their extended power play had several chances to snatch momentum. But whenever the HC defense failed to disrupt their entries, Vejmelka stopped the Canes cold.
“I just tried to not panic," Vejmelka said of the elongated power play.
“We kind of butchered that, to be honest,” Brind’Amour said.
In a zoomed-out sense, the 11-4-0 Hurricanes should still be feeling good about themselves, certainly better than the 7-6-3 Salty Lakers. But each win, particularly at home, that Utah can manage this year will be worth something down the line, playoffs or not. Every time they play, there will be a bunch of folks watching who feel no real stake in the team yet; every game is a chance to carve out both an identity and a fanbase. After this win, here's something they and their new fans can agree on: They play with guts, even when they're outmatched.
