Vejmelka makes 33 saves, Utah Hockey Club defeats Flames

SALT LAKE CITY -- Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves, and the Utah Hockey Club defeated the Calgary Flames 3-1 at Delta Center on Tuesday.

Vejmelka made his 18th consecutive start for Utah, the longest streak in the NHL since 2019.

“You know, it's fun to play every night in front of our home crowd,” Vejmelka said. “They give us some special energy, and it's kind of cool to play, especially those kinds of games. We are still in the hunt, so we need every point.”

Clayton Keller, Kevin Stenlund, and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah (34-29-12), which has won two straight games.

Utah is eight points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“I think the group likes big games, they like the stage,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “From the season opener to the way we played against Tampa Bay here. There were a lot of key games where they stepped up and they were ready.”

Rasmus Andersson scored, and Dustin Wolf made 25 saves for the Flames (35-27-12), who have lost three of their past four.

“I thought we had a good push in the third period,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I felt like once the emotion came into the game with some of the scrums in the second period, that's when our game got better.”

The Flames are six points back of Minnesota with one game in hand.

“There's no time to be giving up wins at this time of year,” Flames forward Joel Farabee said. “It [stinks], but you can't dwell on it. You just got to focus on tomorrow. That's all you can really do.”

Stenlund scored at 17:46 of the first period on a one-timer to give Utah a 1-0 lead.

The Flames thought they tied it 1:53 into the second period when Mikael Backlund’s shot hit off the skate of Utah defenseman Nick DeSimone, but video review initiated by the NHL Situation Room determined the puck did not completely cross the goal line.

Hayton then made it 2-0 just 32 seconds later at 2:25, scoring on a backhand that beat Wolf on the blocker side.

“Obviously this is a playoff game for both teams, you knew it was going to be a war until the end,” Hayton said. “Their last seven games have been unreal, a lot of comeback wins, so we knew we had to have urgency the whole time and stick with it.”

Andersson scored at 13:00, sending a shot from the point that beat Vejmelka on the glove side to make it 2-1.

“I just thought we got energy from the goal, we kept pushing, and we had a lot of looks,” Andersson said. “We just couldn't get the 2-2 puck behind him. … At this time, we probably need one or two more points. So not good enough.”

Keller scored an empty-net goal at 19:42 for the 3-1 final.

“There's no quitting in that room, there's no quitting in those players,” Tourigny said. “We want to pursue our objective. We won't quit until they pull the plug, and if they do, it is what it is. But we won't give them any reason to do it.

“We need to keep winning. Whatever the math is, whatever the percentage is, we're alive. Let's keep fighting.”

NOTES: Keller became the eighth player in NHL history to have at least 80 points in a franchise’s inaugural season. … Andersson scored his 11th goal of the season, tying his career high he set in 2022-23.