Utah Hockey Club center Liam O'Brien (38) and New Jersey Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon (5) engage in a fight during an NHL game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 1, 2025 (Tess Crowley, Deseret News).
(Tess Crowley, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – After winning three in a row and four straight at Delta Center, the Utah Hockey Club dropped a close game to the New Jersey Devils to close out the home stand. Despite not playing their best hockey and dropping points, Utah lucked out as several of the teams around them also lost on Saturday to keep things tight in the playoff hunt.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s loss to New Jersey.
Despite not appearing in a game for more than two months at the beginning of the season and occasionally being a scratch ever since returning, Liam O’Brien always finds a way to bring energy for the Utah Hockey Club.
O’Brien is incredible.
I’d say he won that fight and then absolutely HYPED the crowd on his way to the locker room as he essentially took a little victory lap.
Great time to fight. Brought the energy. Spicy Tuna is a legend.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 2, 2025
While O’Brien has yet to score a goal this season and only has two assists to his name, he never fails to bring the heat.
Whether it’s his non-stop motor, aggressive forecheck, punishing hits or consistently dropping the gloves, O’Brien plays with so much heart every single night.
Against the Devils, O’Brien gave Utah a boost in the first after dropping the gloves with Brenden Dillon and arguably dominated the fight.
“Just wanting to get the momentum, that’s it,” Liam O’Brien said.
Great stuff from O’Brien.
Fighting is all about timing. https://t.co/IUaGaKbIVU
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 2, 2025
After landing a few blows and wrestling Dillon to the ice, Spicy Tuna took a victory lap to hype to crowd and Delta Center was suddenly buzzing with energy.
In addition to his well-timed scrap, O’Brien also assisted Mikhail Sergachev with a sneaky drop pass which Sergachev then buried to tie the game in the second period.
Nothing like a Sergy celly.
Hell of a pass from O’Brien.
We’re all tied up at Delta Center. https://t.co/mPANZ63PZF
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 2, 2025
Every team in the National Hockey League needs a guy like O’Brien.
Someone who does everything they are asked to do, embraces their role and brings a palpable energy each time they step on the ice.
While the third period began tied at one apiece, the New Jersey Devils were punishingly opportunistic with their chances as they outscored Utah 2-0 in the final frame to emerge with the victory.
Just 15 seconds into the third, a poor turnover from Nick Schmaltz led to a quick New Jersey rush and Timo Meier sniped Karel Vejmelka over the left shoulder to break the tie.
TIMO wastes no TIME. pic.twitter.com/Q69WIqIOYv
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 2, 2025
With time winding down under eight minutes to go, the Devils yet again worked quickly as they diced up Utah’s defense and scored a backbreaking third goal.
Curtis with an absolute lazar. pic.twitter.com/MEGcCHcjEb
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 2, 2025
Overall, it was just one of those nights for Utah.
“I think we went into that game wanting to play our game, which is fine, but you need to also know exactly the details of how you need to play against each opponent,” Andre Tourigny said.
“I didn’t like our level of focus on those.”
Not that the team played bad, but they didn’t have much puck luck as shooters hit the post several times, Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley both whiffed on some Grade A chances and multiple defensive breakdowns led to each of New Jersey’s goals.
Occasionally, that’s going to happen in this league, but the key is quickly moving on and not allowing one loss to derail you during a critical stretch of the season.
“I think we know where we stand here in the standings. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that,” O’Brien said.
“We’ll be looking forward to the next game and be ready to go.”
Liam O’Brien on bouncing back from the loss:
“I think we know where we stand here in the standings. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.”
“We’ll be looking forward to the next game and be ready to go.” pic.twitter.com/vjgMNUqwcY
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 2, 2025
While a loss is never ideal at this point in the season, especially when every game matters and making or missing the playoffs could come down to a single point, Utah is still relatively in good shape.
During the four-game home stand, Utah won three games, picked up six crucial points to climb in the standings and put even more pressure on the teams above.
“It’s been a good stretch, but we just got to take a step back, regroup a little bit. We have a couple days of practicing; some rest tomorrow, and we’ll go right back at it,” Mikhail Sergachev said.
“Obviously, it’s good winning games.”
With Vancouver and Calgary both losing tonight as well, Utah’s loss to New Jersey essentially becomes a wash and is nothing to fret over.
Canucks and Flames lose tonight which is really good news for the Utah Hockey Club and basically makes the loss against NJ a wash.
The Blues did pick up a win so they’ll jump Utah but it’s still extremely tight between those 4.
Lots of hockey left, lots of opportunities. pic.twitter.com/CtrmY0pJiL
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 2, 2025
However, with 21 games left on their schedule, they’ll likely need to win 16 of those in order to reach the 95-point benchmark and give themselves a prime shot at making the playoffs.
Now, it may not take a full 95 points to get in this season based on the current trends, but winning three or four out of every five games would give them a huge advantage amongst the rest of the teams clawing for a spot.
The Utah Hockey Club will now face the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at Little Caesars 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.