If you ask any Utah Hockey Club player, they’ll say every game is the most important of the season right now.
Hyperbole, sure. But on Wednesday night, the claim actually held some merit.
Utah faced and beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 who came into Delta Center trailing the Club by four points in the Western Conference playoff race. They left Salt Lake City six behind; Utah now sits just two points out of the second wild-card spot.
“I think we stuck with it,” head coach André Tourigny said. “The way we were protecting the lead, the sacrifice our guys did, the way they were engaged and disciplined, the resilience we had. It was great to see.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club center Kevin Stenlund (82) as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Anaheim Ducks, NHL hockey in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
The Club opened the game with strong pressure and pace against a tired Ducks team that reportedly landed in Utah at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning after playing the Washington Capitals the night before in their back-to-back.
Jack McBain gave Utah the lead with a play that sits comfortably in his arsenal. The 6-foot-4 center got his body in the shooting lane down low and tipped in Ian Cole’s blast from the point to make it 1-0 at 11:03. It was McBain’s 12th goal of the season and first since Feb. 9.
“In these tight games you don’t always have the opportunity to get back in games so it was definitely a big key tonight – having a good start, playing with pace early and trying to get a lead,” Barrett Hayton said.
Josh Doan picked up his third assist in four games on the play — he and McBain, along with Lawson Crouse, are part of a Utah third line that has started to find its identity in the past few weeks. Known as hard to play against, big, physical, forechecking, the trio is now scoring. They’ve combined for 10 points since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break in late February, and were relentless all night.
The next key moment came when Mikhail Sergachev kept the Ducks off the scoreboard early in the second period with a sliding kick-save in the crease. Anaheim forward Ryan Strome deked the puck around Karel Vejmelka’s right pad and was about to wrap it into an empty net when Sergachev’s blade came across the goal line and kept it out.
“Really nice save there from him in the second,” said Dylan Guenther who had the game-winning goal. “He’s a big leader for us off the ice and when he talks everybody is listening. He’s the backbone of this team and it’s great to have him.”
Utah padded its advantage at 14:31 with a tally from Alex Kerfoot. The forward drove the net and knocked in Guenther’s pass from the right side after Hayton fought to keep the puck in the zone. Kerfoot’s eighth of the season made it 2-0.
But Anaheim came back to tie things 2-2 with goals from Alex Killorn at the end of the second period — a snapshot off the rush — and Mason McTavish at 3:22 of the third — a slapshot on the power play.
“I think it’s just keeping poise in our game,” Hayton said. “In the last couple weeks we’ve done a pretty good job of that once we’ve gotten a lead — not sitting back, I think that’s something that can kill you in these games.”
Then, the game winner came from Dylan Guenther. It’s rare a player in his first full year in the NHL already has a goal type that could be fairly called a “classic” — but the final puck in net on the night certainly qualified. The 21-year-old forward parked himself at his regular left-circle spot on the power play and one-timed a Sergachev dish past Ducks’ goaltender Ville Husso to regain the lead, 3-2, at 7:03 of the final frame.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club center Clayton Keller (9) and Anaheim Ducks left wing Alex Killorn (17) as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Anaheim Ducks, NHL hockey in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
It marked Guenther’s 24th goal of the season – a new team-high, passing Clayton Keller. It was also his 11th goal on the man advantage and eighth game-winning goal of the year (both team-highs, too). Sergachev earned his 300th career point with the assist on the play.
“I think we do a pretty good job of shaking off the ones before and just getting ready for the next one… We find a way to get opportunities, so that was a big goal,” Guenther said. “Just good recognition. I feel like we’ve got pretty good chemistry as we’ve continued to play together.”
Utah has continued to keep things interesting as the race to the playoffs pushes on. The team now has a three-game road trip that starts in Seattle on Friday, then makes stops in Vancouver and Edmonton.
“The togetherness, the brotherhood we have – it’s special. The guys care so much about each other,” Tourigny said. “Our team is really close. They love each other and they fight for each other.”
