Utah Hockey Club fell 5-1 to the Detroit Red Wings Monday at Delta Center. <\/p>\n
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Detroit Red Wings center Marco Kasper (92) and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson (77) scuffle with Utah Hockey Club right wing Dylan Guenther (11) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
An octopus came flying onto the Delta Center ice.<\/p>\n
What started as a tradition for Detroit Red Wings fans in 1952 made its way to Salt Lake City for the first time on Monday night as Utah Hockey Club fell 5-1.<\/p>\n
The ice crew, equipped with their shovels, came out to scoop the octopus off of the surface to allow the teams to finish the third period. It was the bookend to a slimy showing from Utah.<\/p>\n
The \u201cLegend of the Octopus\u201d goes back to when Detroit won the Stanley Cup in 1952. Fans reportedly threw an octopus on the ice at the beginning of the run and the Red Wings went on to sweep the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens en route to the championship. It took Detroit just eight wins (the same number of arms on an octopus) to hoist the trophy.<\/p>\n
So, the octopus ritual stuck. Utah \u2014 73 years later \u2014 got an up-close view of it due to a mix of turnovers, struggles on the power play and a stagnant offense that awarded the Red Wings a win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for the most part it was a good effort defensively. Clogged up the middle, took away chances, blocked shots when we had to,\u201d Ian Cole said. \u201cBut ultimately, goals went in the net and that\u2019s the determining factor of whether you win or lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dylan Guenther put Utah ahead under four minutes into the first period while on the power play. Clayton Keller got the puck in the right corner and swung it across the zone to Guenther, who was planted at his \u2014 now staple \u2014 left circle position. The 21-year-old ripped it by Detroit netminder Alex Lyon for the 1-0 lead at 3:46. It was his 26th goal of the season (a team-high) and 100th career point.<\/p>\n
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club center Kevin Stenlund (82) and Detroit Red Wings left wing Lucas Raymond (23) vie for the puck in the second period at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
That was Utah\u2019s first and last goal on the man advantage on Monday. Despite the Red Wings having the worst penalty kill in the league \u2014 coming in at 69% ahead of the matchup \u2014 the Club could not get anything going for the rest of the night. Utah proceeded to go 0 for 4 on the power play after Guenther\u2019s tally \u2014 unable to convert on timely opportunities to tie the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cPower play has to be better,\u201d Keller said. \u201cQuicker puck movement, getting pucks to the net, be a little more simple. I think that\u2019s the key for us, that\u2019s when we\u2019re at our best. Winning the loose pucks, those wall battles in the corner, supporting each other. Just a little bit more simple. We have a lot of talent so it\u2019s just doing the little things right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Wings found the 1-1 equalizer at 5:08. Sean Durzi mishandled a Guenther pass at the blue line which created a turnover the other way. Vladimir Tarasenko took off into the offensive before sliding it over to Elmer Soderblom who one-timed it past Karel Vejmelka (who made his 14th consecutive start).<\/p>\n
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) hits the puck against the Detroit Red Wings at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Vejmelka] should be tired. There\u2019s nobody in the league that did that \u2014 14 starts in a row. He should be tired. You think [Sergachev] is not tired? You think [Dylan] Larkin is not tired on the other side?\u201d Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. \u201cIt\u2019s the NHL. All the players in that league are at this point a little bit banged up, a little bit tired or a little bit worn down. But you need to battle through and find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite holding Detroit to three shots on goal in the middle frame, Utah still found itself behind heading into the third period. A failed breakout by the Club turned the puck over once again and led to Marco Kasper\u2019s tally in front, which bounced off Lawson Crouse and in to make it 2-1.<\/p>\n
Austin Watson extended the gap for Detroit in the final stanza. Kevin Stenlund won the O-zone draw but Utah lost possession and could not create a rush up ice. Instead, Simon Edvinsson stopped the puck at the point and lofted it on net. Watson got a stick on the shot and tipped it in for the 3-1 scoreline at 9:51.<\/p>\n
An empty-net goal from Alex DeBrincat at 17:06 and a snapshot from Tyler Motte at 18:32 brought the contest to its final 5-1 standing.<\/p>\n
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club head coach Andre Tourigny reacts during the game against the Detroit Red Wings at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s playoff aspirations got further out of reach on Monday. The Club remains six points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and is now three points behind the Vancouver Canucks who beat the New Jersey Devils in a shootout. The St. Louis Blues\u2019 recent 12-2-2 record has them currently locked into the last playoff position with 81 points.<\/p>\n
Up next is a three-game road trip for Utah during which it will face the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s never going to be any quit in this room ever. We\u2019re going to fight all the way until the end. We\u2019re going to try to win every single game from here on out,\u201d Keller said. \u201cYou never know what can happen. We\u2019re going to stay motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Utah Hockey Club fell 5-1 to the Detroit Red Wings Monday at Delta Center. (Bethany Baker | The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[17628,17627,599,93,5137,5,17626,17624,17625,4,3358,5138],"class_list":{"0":"post-126041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-red-wings","8":"tag-2025-ai","9":"tag-business-innovation","10":"tag-detroit","11":"tag-detroit-red-wings","12":"tag-detroitredwings","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-how-businesses-use-ai","15":"tag-jp-morgan-chase","16":"tag-jp-morgan-chase-bank","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-red-wings","19":"tag-redwings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114858570899896106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}