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UHC starts preseason with comeback victory

Posted on by Vanessa
UHC starts preseason with comeback victory

DES MOINES, Iowa – Despite an unfortunate and rather unusual start to the Utah Hockey Club's preseason game against the St. Louis Blues, Utah remained physically strong and took its first win of the preseason with a score of 5:3 in the second and third periods.

Here are the key takeaways from Utah's first game of the 2024-25 preseason.

The first line of the Utah Hockey Club looked solid

Against the St. Louis Blues, the Utah Hockey Club's front line looked fantastic in the first minutes of preseason play. Since the start of training camp, forwards Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Jack McBain have worked together on the same line. Against the St. Louis Blues, fans were able to see what the coaching staff envisions for this group.

While Cooley and Guenther shoot pucks at the goal, McBain is a big, strong body who hits the net hard. He did this several times during the game against St. Louis and nearly ignited the goal on several occasions.

As for Cooley and Guenther, while both can send the puck flying, it's clear that the goal is for Cooley to create scoring opportunities for Guenther. Every time the two took to the ice, Cooley's agility was on display as he fought for possession in the corners and behind the net. Meanwhile, Guenther was constantly looking for open space to shoot the puck at goal.

Finally, that line scored a game-winning goal later in the third period after moving the puck back and forth in the St. Louis zone and finding a completely free Guenther near the crease, who scored his first goal since signing a new eight-year contract.

If this line actually stays together in the end, it should be very productive for the club, with Guenther and Cooley shooting from distance and McBain cleaning up on the doorstep.

Kailer Yamamoto belongs in an NHL squad

After signing a PTO contract with Utah for training camp, Kailer Yamamoto has worked incredibly hard to prove he belongs on an NHL roster. So far, things are going well. Not only has he caught the attention of the coaching staff during camp, but he was able to put his skills on full display in Utah's first preseason game.

Despite being a smaller player, Yamamoto played with incredible effort. He was unafraid, fought hard against the boards, battled for loose pucks in the corners, used his speed to create chances and showed plenty of awareness. He also scored his goal in the shootout after Utah's regulation win.

Although he has bounced around the league over the past few seasons, Yamamoto is a seven-year veteran with plenty of potential and has given Utah plenty of reasons to keep him. If he can keep playing like this over the next few weeks, Utah will have a very hard time letting him go.

The physicality and offensive possession of the Utah Hockey Club finally paid off

After a rocky and somewhat wild start to the game that put Utah behind 2-0 early on, the club's physicality and dominant offense finally paid off.

A quick note: An empty-net goal like this doesn't normally happen. After a delayed penalty against the Blues, Utah pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker and increase the man advantage since St. Louis couldn't touch the puck without an immediate stoppage due to the penalty. However, after some possession in Utah's attacking zone, a pass was made back to Guenther, who missed and ended up in the empty net.

Here again, a wild and unlikely result of a routine strategy.

But since the puck dropped, Utah was the more physical team and generally controlled the puck better in the offensive zone than their opponents. It was also not just a few players, but almost all of Utah's players who got physical to dictate the tempo and intimidate St. Louis.

Whether it was the young players like Cole Beaudoin and Owen Allard, some of the more talented players like Guenther, Cooley and McBain, or Yamamoto, who is on paid leave, Utah played really well as a unit for most of the night and relied on its physicality to get back into the game.

Their first goal was the result of a strong win in the neutral zone that resulted in a 2-0 power play run that Carcone finished at the five-hole line. The second goal was the result of dominant possession in the offensive zone and hard work in front of the goal that produced a rebound that Kevin Connauton sunk.

Finally, after an extra attempt, Logan Cooley even scored the decisive goal by slamming the ball into the net and earning himself a penalty, which he converted with the post over the goalkeeper's shoulder.

Sunday's win was the perfect example of how this club wants to play this season. They want to play hard, fast and dictate the tempo to give themselves the best chance of winning and that worked beautifully against the Blues.

Utah Hockey Club Schedule

The Utah Hockey Club continues its preseason action on Monday night at the Delta Center against the Los Angeles Kings. The game can be viewed on SEG+. Click here for the full schedule.

Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Stay up to date here on X. You can hear Cole's analysis of the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

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