WHEN: 5:00 p.m. MT
WHERE: Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, Michigan
TV: SEG+, UtahHC+, Utah 16 | RADIO: KSL Sports Zone 97.5 FM, NHL App
The Utah Hockey Club (27-25-9) gets back to work tonight against the Detroit Red Wings (30-25-6) in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Utah enters tonight on four days of rest and has won six of its last nine contests. The Red Wings are looking to bounce back after three consecutive losses following one of the NHL’s hottest streaks of the season in which they won nine of 11 games from Jan. 23 to Feb. 25.
Both Utah and Detroit are narrowly on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. Utah is four points out of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference while the Red Wings are one point out of the postseason picture in the Eastern Conference.
ONE-TIMERS
- Clayton Keller is 12th in the NHL with 69 points (22G, 47A), and his 22 power-play assists rank seventh in the league.
- Kevin Stenlund ranks sixth in the NHL with a 58.8% faceoff win percentage.
- Ian Cole is second in the league with 160 blocked shots and is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Last night, Utah signed Ian Cole (one year), Alexander Kerfoot (one year), and Karel Vejmelka (five years) to contract extensions.
- The Red Wings are 17-8-2 since Todd McLellan took over as head coach on Dec. 27.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Detroit and Utah are both in the middle of a rebuilding process, albeit at slightly different stages. Last season, the Red Wings missed the postseason by virtue of a tiebreaker. This season, Detroit’s roster is filled with young draft picks advancing in their NHL development.
Leading the charge is 22-year-old Lucas Raymond, who leads the club with 63 points (22G, 41A) in 61 games. Raymond was taken fourth overall back in 2020, a year after the Red Wings selected defenseman Moritz Seider sixth overall in the 2019 draft. Seider has 36 points (5G, 31A) in 61 games, and like Raymond, is in his fourth NHL season.
Along with Raymond and Seider, several other recent draft picks are making an impact for Detroit: defenseman Simon Edvinsson (sixth overall – 2021 draft), center Marco Kasper (eighth overall – 2022 draft), winger Jonatan Berggren (33rd overall – 2018 draft), and defenseman Albert Johansson (60th overall – 2019 draft).
Three American-born stars provide the veteran production for Detroit up front: Alex DeBrincat leads the team with 29 goals; Captain Dylan Larkin represented Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-off and has 53 points (24G, 29A) this season; and Patrick Kane is in his second season with the Red Wings and has 38 points (15G, 23A) in 51 games. Kane is three-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, and his 1,322 career NHL points rank second amongst all American-born skaters behind Mike Modano.
WHO TO WATCH
UTAH: #2 OLLI MÄÄTTÄ – Määttä spent the first seven games of the season with Detroit before he was traded to Utah on Oct. 29. The Finnish defenseman played in parts of three seasons with the Red Wings before donning the Mountain Blue.
UTAH: #93 ALEX DEBRINCAT – After two goals last Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Stadium Series game at Ohio Stadium, DeBrincat now has three goals in his last three games. The Farmington Hills, Michigan native now has eight goals in 10 games since the start of February.
LOOK BACK
Utah fell 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at Delta Center. After Nico Hischier scored his 25th goal of the season to give New Jersey the lead in the first period, Utah’s Mikhail Sergachev knotted things up at 1-1 in the second frame after a setup from Liam O’Brien.
Later in the third, Timo Meier and Curtis Lazar added to New Jersey’s lead to put the game out of reach. The Devils outshot Utah 29-25, and Utah’s power play went 0-for-2. The loss snapped a three-game win streak and a four-game home win streak for Utah.
FIRST MEETING
Tonight is the first-ever meeting between Utah and Detroit. After this evening, the only team that Utah has yet to face is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Utah will host Tampa Bay on Mar. 22 and then visit the lightning on Mar. 27. The Mountain Blue will conclude its season series with Detroit on Mar. 24 at Delta Center.
OLLI MÄÄTTÄ SIGNS EXTENSION
Utah signed defenseman Olli Määttä to a three-year contract (beginning in 2024-25) on Monday. The defenseman has 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) and is averaging 20:41 of ice time in 51 games since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 29.
“We’re thrilled to have Olli signed for the next three years,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said. “Olli is a smart defenseman and a true professional on and off the ice. He has brought stability to our blue line, has a tremendous work ethic, and is an excellent role model for our younger players. We look forward to having him as an important part of our core moving forward.”
Selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round (No. 22) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Maatta has 191 points (42 goals, 142 assists) in 742 regular-season games with Utah, the Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Penguins, and 27 points (five goals, 22 assists) in 85 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He helped the Penguins win the Cup in 2016 and 2017.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Utah’s special teams have provided major boosts over the last several weeks.
The power play has connected eight times over the last seven games (8-for-23, 34.7%), including three multi-power-play-goal games. Dylan Guenther leads the team with 10 power-play tallies, and Clayton Keller paces the club with 28 power-play points (6G, 22A).
Utah’s penalty kill experienced a rough patch, allowing six power-play goals in five games from Feb. 8 to Feb. 25, but is now back on track after back-to-back 2-for-2 efforts against the Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils. Utah’s penalty kill ranks 12th in the NHL at 80.8% and will be facing an elite Detroit power play that is second in the NHL at 29.1%.
LOOK AHEAD
Utah concludes a two-game Midwestern road swing tomorrow night at United Center against the Chicago Blackhawks. Utah is 2-0-0 against the Blackhawks this season, and tomorrow’s game will mark Utah’s first visit to the historic venue.
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