The Utah Hockey Club brings the boom with a victory over the Buffalo Sabres

The Utah Hockey Club likes Saturdays.

On November 23rd, they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1. The following Saturday, November 30th, they improved on that result, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 6-0.

This Saturday, December 7th, they defeated the Buffalo Sabers 5-2.

Utah scored five straight goals against the Sabers after initially falling behind 1-0. They showed resilience and a willingness to get back into the game – something that wasn’t so obvious last month.

In November, in every game in which they didn’t score the first goal, they didn’t score a goal at all. That’s not a good way to win hockey games, so it was important that they got over it this month.

It was also the 100th win of head coach André Tourigny’s career. He passes former Chicago Blackhawks coach Orval Tessier as the 153rd-most winning head coach in NHL history.

“It feels like an important victory,” Tourigny told the media after the game when asked how it felt to reach this milestone.

Utah Hockey for Dummies

New hockey fans may not be familiar with the “Gordie Howe hat trick.” Let me explain.

A normal hat trick occurs when a player scores three goals in a game, but a Gordie Howe hat trick occurs when a player scores a goal, records an assist, and makes a tackle in the same game.

That’s what Utah HC defenseman Michael Kesselring did on Saturday – in the 100th game of his career, no less.

“It’s good,” said Kesselring about the performance during the second break. “It’s nice to be in the game.”

This was Gordie Howe’s first hat trick in Utah HC history. Kesselring also became the first Utah defenseman to score a goal, which he did on October 16 against the Anaheim Ducks.

According to the Utah HC public relations team, there were only two players to record a Gordie Howe hat trick in their 100th career game: Kesselring and his Utah teammate Jack McBain (who also scored a goal on Saturday).

Kesselring was a relatively unheralded piece in a trade at the 2023 NHL trade deadline, being sent from the Edmonton Oilers to the Arizona Coyotes. Less than two years later, the 1.90 meter tall defender is proving to be the most valuable figure in this profession.

Utah Hockey for the casual fan

In his first game after the release of the 4 Nations Face-Off squads, Matias Maccelli appeared to have something to prove after failing to get the call to represent Team Finland.

At the start of the season, anyone who cut Maccelli from his projected roster was immediately outed as someone who wasn’t watching the Coyotes enough, but as the season progressed, Maccelli’s play simply wasn’t at the level people expected.

He had just three goals and 10 points in 25 games entering Saturday, but more importantly, he didn’t seem to have the confidence and drive that he had in previous seasons.

On Saturday his confidence and drive returned.

He kept making moves that probably had Sabers fans pulling out their phones to see who No. 63 was. He made a few quick moves in the attack zone, found a lane and fired off a shot or a pass.

He created some good chances to score and even though his name wasn’t included on the scoresheet, if he can keep it up, a game like this will result in a lot of points.

In other words, Maccelli looked like himself on Saturday in Buffalo.

It’s not too late for Maccelli to make Team Finland, as teams can replace injured players until the day before the tournament starts. No player ever hopes that his teammates will get hurt, but in such a physical game, injuries are inevitable.

Maccelli’s mission now is to play well enough to make the decision when someone is out.

Utah hockey for nerds

I’m no guru when it comes to the stock market, but one thing I do know is that a good stock rises and falls in an upward trend. I know a thing or two about hockey and I can safely say that’s what Utah HC is doing right now.

They haven’t won every game recently, but they haven’t lost by more than one goal since the Washington Capitals came to town on November 18th. They’ve picked up points in five of their last seven games and they’re picking their way back toward playoff contention.

In addition to the results of the games, they show great improvements in intangible categories. They seem confident, they don’t let adversity ruin their games, and they don’t let frustration get the better of them, which has resulted in them taking fewer penalties.

“I think we’ve played good hockey in the last 10 games,” Tourigny said Saturday. “Even though we don’t always get the results we want, I think we play really good hockey.”

What’s next?

Utah HC can’t celebrate its victory for too long. They play again on Sunday.

It’s a short flight from Buffalo to Philadelphia where they face the Flyers. The Flyers also played an afternoon away game on Saturday, so the playing field will be relatively even in terms of energy levels.

However, the Flyers lost in overtime to the Boston Bruins and will look to get back on track.

The game was originally scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. MDT, but will now begin at 5:30 p.m. Fans can watch it on Utah 16 and Utah HC+.