WHEN: 7:00 p.m. MT
WHERE: Delta Center – Salt Lake City, Utah
TV: SEG+, UtahHC+, Utah 16 | RADIO: KSL Sports Zone 97.5 FM, NHL App
The Utah Hockey Club (21-22-9) closes a four-game homestand tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers (23-25-6) at Delta Center. Both teams are looking to right the ship entering tonight with Utah falling in its last five contests and Philadelphia losing five of six. Utah is currently eight points out of the second wild card position in the Western Conference and has earned points in four of its last five games at Delta Center.
ONE-TIMERS
- Clayton Keller has either a goal or an assist on 17 of Utah’s last 20 power-play goals.
- Utah’s penalty kill has been perfect in eight of the team’s last nine games at Delta Center.
- Utah’s penalty kill is seventh best in the NHL at 82.2%.
- Six skaters for Utah (Clayton Keller-18, Dylan Guenther-16, Logan Cooley-15, Barrett Hayton-12, Nick Schmaltz-11, Jack McBain-10) have at least 10 goals this season.
- Utah has held the opposition to three goals or fewer in four straight games.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Flyers have lost three in a row entering tonight and have been shut out in each of those three contests. Philadelphia has won just one of its last six and is now seven points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. With 52 points, the Flyers rank 15th out of 16 teams in the East. While Philly may only rank 22nd offensively with 2.80 goals per game, they do boast 19-year-old star Matvei Michkov, who has emerged as one of the brightest young players in the league with 34 points (14G, 20A) in his first 52 NHL games.
Philadelphia acquired Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, and two draft picks from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee on Jan. 30, but have not been able to field Kuzmenko or Pelletier in the lineup yet as the two are currently waiting for their visas to clear, allowing them to work in the U.S.
WHO TO WATCH
UTAH: #98 MIKHAIL SERGACHEV – Logging a game-high 27:50 worth of ice time on Sunday, Sergachev now ranks second in the NHL with an average of 25:42 time on ice per game. His 31 points (9G, 22A) rank 19th in the league amongst all blueliners and his nine goals are tied for the eighth most.
PHILADELPHIA: #11 TRAVIS KONECNY – Konecny leads Philadelphia with 58 points (21G, 37A) and is on pace for a career year. The ninth-year pro has scored at least 30 goals in each of his last two seasons.
LOOK BACK
A third-period pushback from Utah fell short in a 2-1 final against the St. Louis Blues at Delta Center on Sunday evening. Alexandre Texier scored the first goal of the game for the Blues in the first period, and eventually Utah’s Michael Kesselring scored early in the third to tie the game at 1-1.
3:46 after Kesselring scored his sixth goal of the season, Jordan Kyrou returned the lead to St. Louis’ hands with his 22nd goal of the campaign after a crisp feed from Robert Thomas.
Utah goaltender Connor Ingram was outstanding with 27 saves on 29 Blues shots.
LAST MEETING
After a scoreless first period on Dec. 8 at Wells Fargo Center, Utah and Philadelphia traded goals in the second frame, and after 40 minutes the Utah Hockey Club led the Flyers 3-2. Michael Carcone tallied his second goal of the season, Juuso Välimäki scored his first, and Logan Cooley netted his seventh.
On a crucial penalty kill late in the third period, Kevin Stenlund stole a puck in the offensive zone and scored Utah’s second-ever shorthanded goal to cement a 4-2 victory. Goaltender Jaxson Stauber moved to 2-0-0 this season after stopping 22 of 24 Philadelphia shots.
GOALIES
Utah has alternated goaltenders ever since Jan. 20 and Jan. 23. On Sunday, it was Connor Ingram in net for the Mountain Blue allowing only two goals against St. Louis. Since returning to the team on Jan. 11, Ingram has held the opposition to two goals or fewer in four of his six starts and has a .910 save percentage in that span.
Karel Vejmelka took over the starter’s mantle when Ingram was out of the lineup and has been piecing together the NHL season of his career. Vejmelka has kept opposing teams to three goals or fewer in each of his last three games, including a 26-save shutout against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 23. He currently owns a 2.48 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
MICHAEL KESSELRING
Kesselring, 25, scored his sixth goal of the season on Sunday, setting a new career high for the young defenseman. Kesselring netted five goals in 65 games last season with the Arizona Coyotes and is on pace for nine this season with Utah. On Oct. 24 against the Colorado Avalanche, Kesselring lit up the radar gun with a slap shot that was clocked at 103.77 miles per hour. At the time, the shot registered as the hardest since NHL EDGE began tracking data around the league.
The 6-foot-4 rearguard grew up in New Hampton, New Hampshire but was born in Florence, South Carolina and is one of only two players in NHL history to be born in the Palmetto State (Ryan Hartman, Minnesota).
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