December 12, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA Utah Hockey Club head coach Andre Tourigny shouts in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at the Ball Arena. Mandatory credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images The Utah Hockey Club looks to continue its hottest stretch of the season when it hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday afternoon.
Utah has won a season-high four in a row and has won at least one point in seven straight games (6-0-1).
Utah recently beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Friday in St. Paul, Minn. Utah entered the game with the third-most points in the Western Conference (44).
Utah also beat the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche during the current winning streak, two teams that are also well over .500.
“You don’t go from struggling a little bit to winning consistently,” Utah head coach Andre Turini said. “You slowly step up and start playing better defensively, and even if we weren’t winning a lot, we were playing better.”
Leading the way for Utah was 21-year-old right winger Dylan Guenther, who is riding a seven-game hitting streak with six goals in the last four games.
Scored both goals in the win against the Wild.
“I think when the team is successful, so are the individuals,” Ginder said. “So I’m just the beneficiary of it, and our line is playing well right now. Just try to keep it going.”
Anaheim hosted Utah in its opener on Oct. 16 and scored the tying goal with just over five minutes remaining before winning 5-4 in overtime.
The Ducks have also shown gradual improvement since that game, although they are without one of their top playmakers in Trevor Zegras, who underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee on Dec. 12 and is expected to remain out of action another four weeks. .
Anaheim posted an impressive 3-2 come-from-behind win against the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, but couldn’t repeat that performance against the visiting Avalanche on Friday, losing 4-2.
The Ducks continue to be one of the league’s biggest underperformers on the power play. They went 0-for-5 against the Avalanche to drop their shooting percentage on the season to 14.3 percent, fourth lowest in the NHL.
“I think part of it is not having Zegras in our lineup,” said Ducks forward Alex Killorn, who scored one of the two goals against Colorado. “He’s great on the power play, but we’ve got to find ways to score whether it’s, you know, just getting more shots over the top, which can create more. Even if we don’t score, we’ve got to try to get some momentum going.” .
Leo Karlsson scored the other goal against the Avalanche and continues to be the Ducks’ primary playmaker in Zegras’ absence.
“He’s going to be a driver, he’s going to be one of those guys who pushes the tempo,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said of Carlson. “A lot of his development as a player is going to be in one third of the ice, whether he’s driving the net on a rush or taking the yellow and driving down the ice to shoot it into the offensive zone.”
–Within field level
