Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Edmonton Oilers celebrates a first-period goal at the bench during the game against the Utah Hockey Club at Rogers Place on December 31, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images)
(Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Tuesday night’s matchup with the Edmonton Oilers was certainly one to forget for the Utah Hockey as they suffered their worst loss of the season to Connor McDavid and Co. With seven goals surrendered amidst a pitiful overall performance, Utah will need to quickly move on in order to stay in the playoff race.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s 7-1 loss in Edmonton.
While the Utah Hockey Club experienced one of their worst opening frames of the season against the Oilers, the final minute of play accurately summed up Edmonton’s complete dominance on Tuesday night.
After Jack McBain lost a one-sided scrap that included a collection of brutal punches from Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse as he towered over McBain on his knees, superstar Connor McDavid slipped one past Karel Vejemlka to extend the Oilers lead to three with only 3.3 seconds left in the period.
Now Utah see him, now Utah don’t 😅 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Uj0gYTVGVD
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 19, 2025
From puck drop, it was just one of those nights for Utah as they lacked composure, were careless with the puck and looked completely disoriented defensively.
Very uncharacteristic defensive performance by Utah tonight.
Odd man rushes and breakaways galore for the Oilers.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 19, 2025
Whether it was shorthanded goals, odd man rushes, missed assignments or bad passes, the first period set the tone, and it was all orange and blue the rest of the way.
Shorthanded, backhanded brilliance 🤩 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/GPnlNNNVp7
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 19, 2025
ZMH PPG 😤 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/goS4yYuxcV
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 19, 2025
After allowing three goals in the first period against Edmonton, Karel Vejmelka rested on the bench for the remainder of the contest as Jaxson Stauber replaced him in net.
Vejmelka has been pulled.
Stauber is between the pipes to start the second period.
This is the first time Vejmelka hasn’t manned the net since February 22nd.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 19, 2025
With the game essentially out of reach following the first 20 minutes, there was no reason to keep Vejmelka on the ice and the change appeared to be related to rest rather than a consequence of poor play.
“I think at that point; it was an opportunity to give him a little bit of rest and get Stauber some work. Obviously, you never know that can spark something,” Head coach Andre Tourigny said.
Since February 23, Vejmelka made 11 straight starts for the Utah Hockey Club as the team desperately pushed for a playoff spot.
Amidst a tight postseason race with absolutely no room for error, Utah had no choice but to ride the hot glove for so many games in a row.
To his credit, Vejmelka allowed only 2.3 goals per game during the previous 10 matchups with a 6-3-1 record in net.
However, following three goals in the first against Edmonton and no chance to come back, Utah decided to rest their top goaltender rather than force him to face an onslaught of offense from the Oilers.
While every game provides learning opportunities, the Utah Hockey Club simply needs to embrace their inner Ted Lasso and “Be a Goldfish” after the one-sided loss to Edmonton.
Not only did Utah tie a season-high in goals against (7), but it was also the worst goal differential (-6) this year as they lost 7-1.
With almost nothing going right against the Oilers, there’s no reason whatsoever to dwell on the result.
It was a bad performance across the board that’s very unlikely to be repeated and there’s simply too much at stake to give it a second thought.
“Obviously that’s not us, that’s not who we are. Not the performance we wanted. We’re upset. This time of year, you can’t have that,” Sean Durzi said.
“We’ll have to regroup but we’ll have to find that mentality of moving on and putting this one in the past.”
Final. Time to “Be a Goldfish” and move on from that one immediately. https://t.co/G0ZebGG13c
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) March 19, 2025
As for where Utah now sits in the standings, Tuesday was a brutal night for the club as both the Blues and Flames picked up wins in regulation.
Additionally, the Canucks currently lead the Jets 5-2 at the end of the second period.
Assuming the Canucks defeat the Jets, Utah (71) will trail Vancouver and St. Louis (75) by four points and Calgary (73) by two.
Not out of reach by any means, but Utah definitely lost a substantial grip on their own destiny following the losses in Seattle and Edmonton.
The Utah Hockey Club will return home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at Delta Center. 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.
