Utah Hockey Club goalie’s grueling workload starting to catch up to him

Karel Vejmelka watched from the bench.

Utah Hockey Club trailed the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 by the time the goaltender was pulled in the second period of Thursday’s game.

The eventual 8-0 loss proved it was not a Vejmelka-specific problem. But it did confirm another thing — he is tired.

Vejmelka should be. Thursday marked his 15th consecutive start, which is the most of any NHL goalie in the past four years. Jacob Markström (who is now with the New Jersey Devils) also started in 15 straight games in 2021.

Goalie rotations and rest have been prioritized in the modern league, but it has been something hard to achieve for Utah Hockey Club this season.

“There’s no load management,” said head coach André Tourigny ahead of Thursday’s matchup against the Lightning. “We can rest him so we can play golf in April. He’s our best player since a while and he’s part of what we’re doing and we’re fighting for our life. We believe in ourselves and we believe we are in the thick of the battle.”

So, despite his struggles on Thursday, Vejmelka was named the starter for Friday’s game against the Panthers.

The Club, which signed Vejmelka to a five-year contract extension earlier this month, has had nowhere else to turn. Connor Ingram entered the NHL’s player assistance program on March 9 and is unavailable to the team while receiving treatment. Jaxson Stauber was recalled from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners but Vejmelka assumed the No. 1 responsibilities after Ingram’s departure.

Tourigny has compared Utah’s goaltending decisions to being in a playoff series — you go with your best guy every night, he said. And that made sense when the Club was still in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Now that Utah is 10 points out, is it time to give Vejmelka a break?

Last season with the Arizona Coyotes, the most consecutive starts Vejmelka had was three. In 2022-23 it was six and in 2021-22 it was eight. The experience, no doubt, is valuable for Vejmelka. But it has come in a super-sized sample.

Vejmelka is tied for second in the league of all goaltenders for “0 days of rest.” The stat represents the amount of times a goaltender has played the very next night after getting action the game before. That has happened to Vejmelka three times in his 49 games this year; the NHL-high is four.

“There’s nobody in the league that did that,” Tourigny said earlier this week. “It’s 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.”

Thursday’s loss was Utah’s worst of the season. Given where it left the Club in the standings, it may be a sign that it is time to allow Stauber to get some more NHL games under his belt before the season ends. The 25-year-old has played in six games this year with a 3.26 goals against average and .892 save percentage.

Stauber made six saves on 10 shots against Tampa following Vejmelka who made seven saves on 11 shots. It was the second time in five games (March 18 against the Edmonton Oilers) that Vejmelka has been pulled.

“You play against a good team like that, you need to be able to fight. In our situation, it’s disappointing,” Tourigny said. “It’s everybody. Everybody is in the same boat. We’re all together — coaches, players — we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror. That’s unacceptable.”

Utah played the second game of its back-to-back Friday night — against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, nonetheless.

“It’s good for [Vejmelka], it’s good for all of our team,” Tourigny said. “We’re learning a lot through that stretch and we need to be able to battle through.”