SALT LAKE CITY – While the final score wasn’t necessarily indictive of the entire game, the Utah Hockey Club suffered a deflating 5-1 loss at the hands of Detroit amidst a tight playoff race. With 11 games remaining on their schedule, Utah will need to be near perfect if they hope to somehow capture a playoff spot.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s loss to Detroit.
After recently surpassing 50 assists for the first time in his career, it’s clear that Clayton Keller is simply elite at finding his Utah Hockey Club teammates.
But how good is he?
After 71 games this season, Keller currently ranks eighth in the National Hockey League with 54 assists.
The other names around him? Sidney Crosby (53), Cale Makar (55), Mitch Marner (63) and Connor McDavid (64) just to name a few.
First-class company to say the least.
While Utah ultimately lost on Monday night, the matchup with Detroit highlighted Keller’s superior playmaking abilities after one of the more impressive team goals this season.
This is one of the most impressive goals the club has scored all season.
Watch Keller’s head before he delivers the puck. He takes a quick look for Guenther, sees he’s there, delivers a perfect pass, and Guenther buries it.
That’s pretty. pic.twitter.com/rab6RQxiul
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 25, 2025
During Utah’s first power play opportunity of the night, Keller’s brilliance was on full display as he found a wide-open Dylan Guenther who then buried a one-timer to open the scoring.
Obviously, the quick cross-ice turnaround pass from No. 9 was impressive, but what stands out even more on this particular play is Keller’s awareness.
Right before he went tape-to-tape with Guenther, he got his head up, took a quick look, located Guenther and swiftly set up his teammate for an easy goal.
Without Keller’s literal heads-up play, that goal doesn’t happen.
But that’s just what Keller does.
He’s easily one of the top playmakers in the league, capable of doing what few others can to create scoring opportunities.
Despite an early lead following Guenther’s goal in the first, the power play went absolutely silent for the rest of the night, and poor puck luck mingled with mistakes cost Utah the game against Detroit.
“Give them credit; they played well defensively, which we did as well. We gave up five shots after two (periods). We kept them on the outside pretty good. The way we played defensively was alright. Offensively, I think we could have simplified,” Head coach Andre Tourigny said.
Detroit back the full strength…last few power plays have been brutal for Utah as they’re overpassing and struggling to generate dangerous chances.
Detroit has the worst PK in the league…Utah needs to be better. https://t.co/i4gVIMhOWg
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 25, 2025
To add insult to injury, while Detroit currently owns the worst power kill in the league (69 percent), Utah simply could not break them after the initial goal.
In spite of four additional opportunities on the man advantage, Utah’s special teams struggled as the zone entries were poor, the team lacked fluid movement, and they were unable to generate any dangerous opportunities.
“Quicker puck movement I think,” Clayton Keller said when asked about how the power play could’ve been better. “Getting pucks to the net and being a little simpler.”
“That’s when we’re at our best…just a little simpler.”
In addition to the power play struggles, a collection of bad mistakes led to Detroit’s first goal and several unlucky bounces allowed the Red Wings to put the game out of reach.
Back in the lineup to back of the net. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/H89J8GypzX
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 25, 2025
Marco Kasper gives Detroit the lead! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/tLlqR71d0y
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 25, 2025
Watty’s 1st as a Red Wing! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/wvPMtwUJie
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 25, 2025
Some nights, that’s simply the way things go.
No matter how hard you try, how many more shots you have or however many more power plays you draw, the puck just doesn’t bounce your way.
Unfortunately for Utah, it just couldn’t have come at a worse time.
There’s really no sugarcoating this one.
Following Utah’s deflating loss to the Red Wings, they now sit six points out of the second card wild spot with 11 games left on their schedule.
Not a death sentence to their playoff hopes necessarily, but it will require near perfection from here on out with a lot of luck to make up the difference.
“Nothing’s easy, right? You need a lot of good force on your side. You need calls on your side, you need to take advantage of opportunities, and you need to play really, really good hockey,” Ian Cole said.
“You need kind of a perfect storm to get into the playoffs and then have success when you’re in the playoffs.”
It’s not over until it’s over but the loss tonight puts Utah in a really bad spot.
St. Louis can extend their lead over Utah to 8 points with a win tomorrow against Montreal.
Like I said, it’s not over. But there’s no room left for error at all.#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/1xkHtDtgQ8
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 25, 2025
For Utah, the perfect storm likely requires nine or 10 wins and unless St. Louis all of the sudden starts losing more hockey games than they win, it’s simply not going to matter.
Unfortunate to say the least, but according to Captain Keller, the team is not giving up which is the right mindset to have regardless of what happens.
“There’s never going to be any quit in this room ever. 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,” Keller said.
“You never know what can happen. We’re going to stay motivated.”
Clayton Keller’s message to the team:
“There’s never going to be any quit in this room ever. 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.”
“You never know what can happen. We’re going to stay motivated.” pic.twitter.com/K3OfimoYgM
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 25, 2025
The Utah Hockey Club will now face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night at Amalie Arena. 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.
