POSTGAME
"It gets a little bit of our confidence back… We have to play a lot, but we just had to make sure that we got back on track. It was a step in that direction."@utahhockeyclub Dylan Guenther on the bounce-back win pic.twitter.com/ZyKJ6X0BaZ
— Utah Hockey Club PR (@UtahHC_PR) March 21, 2025
Don't let the 5-2 final score fool you, this was a grit-and-grind game for Utah Hockey Club.
With roughly two minutes remaining, Utah held a narrow 3-2 lead over the Buffalo Sabres and had to withstand a late push from a Sabres team with an extra attacker, as goalie James Reimer had been pulled.
To make matters even more challenging, Utah was about to be down a man as well after Kevin Stenlund was called for high-sticking. But what happened seconds later was nothing short of one of the most bizarre goals of the season:
Utah goal!
Scored by Kevin Stenlund with 01:10 remaining in the 3rd period.
Utah: 4
Buffalo: 2#BUFvsUTA#UtahHC#SabreHoodpic.twitter.com/3TC0bS0E15— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 21, 2025
Yes, that's right. The Sabres scored on their own net after a pass from Tage Thompson slipped past teammate Rasmus Dahlin, instead ricocheting at a perfect angle into their own goal.
"Oh it was great, as long as it doesn't happen on our side, its great, its perfect," said Tourigny. "That was a key moment… now you lead by two and on top of it the face off is in the middle of the ice instead of your own zone. That was good timing, it was a clutch, clutch play."
While Stenlund was credited with the goal simply because he was the last Utah player to touch the puck before his penalty, he oddly deserves credit for… not intercepting Thompson's pass attempt as he was the closest Utah player in the vicinity of the puck.
That goal was both the unluckiest play of the game and a 'clutch' moment—depending on which team you ask.
Instead of Utah being in an extremely vulnerable position, forced to withstand a full minute of a Sabres two-man advantage that was trying to force overtime, Utah was suddenly given a huge amount of breathing room with the two goal lead.
"I mean, it was kind of a scrambly play, and I was just kind of filling a spot and I got the puck and wasn't really aware that there was a delayed call," said Thompson. "So had that been the case, then I probably would have just tried to attack and shoot it, make them touch it. But yeah, they're kind of sitting there, and thought I had a lane to Dahls (Dahlin) to the top, and it just went through everybody, so bad play by me, and even worse result."
But to make this game even more painful for Sabres fans, that wouldn’t be the only empty-netter Utah would score.
Empty net goal for Utah!
Scored by Mikhail Sergachev with 00:19 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Karel Vejmelka.
Utah: 5
Buffalo: 2#BUFvsUTA#UtahHC#SabreHoodpic.twitter.com/k1gUpZsAsj— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 21, 2025
Even while shorthanded and facing a two-man disadvantage, Utah’s Mikhail Sergachev managed to score his second goal. But even that goal had an unusual stat: it was the first assist goalie Karel Vejmelka had for Utah Hockey Club. It's also the third assist of his NHL career.
"No, obviously, that was lucky," said Sergachev. "To get those lucky bounces, you gotta work hard, and I think that stretch in the third, we worked hard and had a lot of chances to score. We didn't score, and we got those two, so I guess we’ll take them."
Earlier this season, Utah’s other goalie, Connor Ingram, recorded his first two assists for the team. His first came on Dylan Guenther’s clutch game-winner against Columbus. In his very next start against the Capitals, Utah's first-ever shootout win, Ingram would register another assist, this time on a Josh Doan goal, before leaving the game after taking a puck to the mask.
It certainly is one of the stranger endings to a Utah game all season, considering it was just a 3-2 game only a minute before all of this transpired. Plus, Buffalo had been proving to be a very tough and competitive opponent, so for it to end with a three-goal lead for Utah is truly bizarre.
But before any of the strange empty-net goals occurred, it was Guenther who, his team-leading 25th goal of the season, scored the game-winner for Utah.
What an effort from this line 💪
Gunner makes it a 3-2 game! pic.twitter.com/qr9HL8TYWc
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) March 21, 2025
That goal also happened to be his ninth game-winner of the season, the second-highest in the NHL behind only Edmonton's Leon Draisaiti, who has 10 on the season.
On a night that saw Calgary, St. Louis, and Vancouver all register points, with Vancouver managing to force overtime on a last-second goal before eventually losing 4-3 to St. Louis, Utah needed this win to stay close in the hunt.
Now, Utah will need to prepare for a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning this Saturday, March 20.
