SALT LAKE CITY – Despite a solid overall effort amidst an impressive stretch of hockey, the Utah Hockey Club fell short on Friday night to the Winnipeg Jets. After running out of gas late and failing to match Winnipeg’s intensity, Utah’s winning streak came to an end in a 5-2 loss on the road.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s loss to the Jets.
During the month of January, forward Nick Schmaltz has been quietly playing really good hockey for Utah.
While Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller have stolen the spotlight with 26 combined points, Schmaltz has been nearly as impactful with nine of his own and eight-straight games with a point.
Schmaltz has been quietly playing really good hockey as of late. https://t.co/jryZAIdreA
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) January 25, 2025
Despite somewhat of a rocky start to the season and struggling to score a goal for Utah until November 30, Schmaltz stuck with it and is now playing his best hockey of the year.
Netting his fourth goal of the month against Winnipeg, Schmaltz has simply played with a different energy and charisma over the past few weeks.
He’s been more active around the net, battled hard for positioning, managed to tip a few in and consistently found his teammates.
Against the Jets, Schmaltz played with that same urgency as he impressively tipped one into the back of the net to extend his streak and tie the game at one.
Great work from the PP unit here to get the Jets to bite and then feed Kesselring who stepped up high and ripped one on net.
Beautiful deflection from Schmaltz, another assist for Keller, and PP goals in 5 of the last 6 games for Utah.pic.twitter.com/cuNNIImaE6
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) January 25, 2025
Perhaps playing with Cooley has taken some of the weight off of his shoulders in terms of facilitating and allowed him to attack the net with more success.
Regardless, Schmaltz has been a big part of Utah’s recent push for a wild card spot and made a big difference.
After the Winnipeg Jets scored their third goal of the game to retake the lead early in the third period, goaltender Connor Ingram immediately raised his glove looking for an interference call.
While Ingram didn’t receive any sympathy from the refs, Utah also elected to pass on using their challenge.
But why?
PICKING UP THAT LOOSE CHANGE 🪙 pic.twitter.com/mNYM69TKjg
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 25, 2025
When taking a closer look at the replay, Vladislav Namestnikov entered the crease of his own will, made clear contact with Connor Ingram and then proceeded to make a quick pass to Cole Perfetti for an easy goal.
Overhead shot of the contact on Connor Ingram by Vladislav Namestnikov right before he received the puck and assisted Perfetti.
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/L4PQFEVBEZ
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) January 25, 2025
Now, the argument against goaltender interference in this scenario is that Ingram had time to recover, and the contact didn’t impact his ability to make a save on the goal scored by Perfetti.
However, based on some of the recent calls that Utah has been the victim of recently, that sequence may have warranted a challenge.
While it is important to note that losing the challenge would’ve resulted in a good goal and a power play opportunity for the Jets, Utah ultimately lost by multiple goals anyway.
Perhaps a challenge would’ve gone in Utah’s favor and kept the game even. Easy to speculate after the fact but in the moment, it seemed as though the potential benefit outweighed the risk.
Regardless, Utah elected not to make the challenge and that’s understandable.
Goaltender interference is arguably the most unclear rule in the NHL and Utah didn’t want to add insult to injury by losing the potential challenge.
On the second half of a back-to-back against one of the best teams in the NHL, Utah simply appeared to run out of gas which cost them late.
Despite hanging with the Jets for a majority of the night and a goal from Barrett Hayton to tie the game at two early in the third, Utah’s energy dropped quickly.
“I think when they scored their third goal, after it was tough for us to generate and sustain offense,” head coach Andre Tourigny said.
“I think we worked hard, we did the right thing, we just maybe ran out of gas or played against a really good team as well that’s really good at defending.”
Once the Jets netted their third of the night, the game shifted heavily in favor of the Jets, and they punished Utah for their mistakes.
THE HUSTLE, THE MOVE: NIKOLAJ EHLERS EVERYONE 😤 pic.twitter.com/67NmTf9gJr
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 25, 2025
In the middle of an 82-game season, the results are not always going to go your way, especially on the road against a team like Winnipeg.
Aside from Friday night’s loss, Utah has still played really well as of late and are trending in the right direction.
“I think tonight was a heck of a hockey game, too. We were right in it. It was a one-shot game all along. Tough seeing it end 5-2, but I think we competed tonight,” Barrett Hayton said.
As long as they continue to bring the same effort they presented against Winnipeg over the course of a complete 60 minutes, Utah will continue inching closer to a playoff spot.
The Utah Hockey Club will face the Ottawa Senators on the road on Sunday afternoon. The game can be viewed on SEG+. Fans can also tune in on air on the KSL Sports APP or on 97.5 and 1280 The Zone. Click here for the full schedule.
