Nick Bjugstad Gives Utah Hockey Club First Period Lead Over Hurricanes
Nov 13, 2024, 7:55 PM
SALT LAKE CITY—Utah Hockey Club’s promotion of Nick Bjugstad to the top line has paid off. The 15-year veteran gave his team a 1-0 first-period lead with a snap shot out of the slot.
Utah Hockey Club (6-6-3, 15 pts) is hosting the Carolina Hurricanes (11-3-0, 22 pts) at Delta Center on Wednesday, November 13.
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Lots of pressure, bodies in front of the net, and Bjugstad smashes one in.
Great shift for this group. Couple key plays to keep the puck alive in the O-zone from Lamoureux. https://t.co/oqgIqCCxVU
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
Nearly 18 minutes into a relatively uneventful first period, Bjugstad picked up the puck in the slot and fired a wrister past Hurricanes goal-tender Pyotr Kochelkov. It was Bjugstad’s first goal in seven games with Utah.
A high-scoring Carolina team outshot Utah 16-8 in the first period, but Utah HC’s Karel Vejmelka was up to the task.
Utah HC has come away with a point in every game they have scored first this season.
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Utah Hockey Club Looking For Solutions
As it currently stands, the Utah Hockey Club is fourth in the Central Division with a 6-6-3 overall record, far from panicking and about where most probably would’ve predicted they’d be this many games into the new season. However, with so many losses over the last few weeks and struggles on both ends of the ice, continued experimentation and changes are needed to figure things out.
Related: Three Highs, Three Lows For Utah Hockey Club After 13 Games
We’re back 😎#UtahHC pic.twitter.com/CmQt35cHre
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) November 14, 2024
As one of Utah’s most seasoned veterans and someone who knows how to turn things around, defenseman Ian Cole, a member of the 2016 Stanley Cup Champion Penguins roster who flipped a nightmare season into a dream, shared that Utah needs to look at it from every angle and be open to necessary changes.
“Along the way here, we need to continue to make changes and be mature about it and say, hey, this is what worked, this is what didn’t work, we’re going to continue to do this, we’re going to change this, and we’re going to improve this,” Cole said regarding the situation.
“We need to take a step back, try to look at it as objectively as we can. I mean, some of the underlying numbers are really good, some of them aren’t good enough. So, what do we need to fix, what do we need to change, what do we keep the same, what do we improve on? These are all questions we’re trying to systematically answer and move forward.” he added.
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Cole Bagley is the Utah Hockey Club insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. Listen to Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
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Brian Preece is a KSLsports.com insider covering Locals in MLB and Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball coverage here.
