Game Preview, 3/28: Utah Hockey Club vs. Florida Panthers
WHEN: 5:00 p.m. MT
WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, Florida
TV: SEG+, UtahHC+, Utah 16 | RADIO: KSL Sports Zone 97.5 FM, NHL App
The Utah Hockey Club (32-29-11) marches on with a matchup against the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers (43-25-3) tonight at Amerant Bank Arena. Utah enters tonight coming off its worst loss of the season- a 8-0 defeat last night to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida is in a race for the top seed in the Atlantic Division, and the Panthers currently trail the division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs by just one point.
ONE-TIMERS
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Similar to Tampa Bay, Florida is strong in nearly all facets of the game. The Panthers rank within the top 11 in scoring offense (3.15 goals per game – 11th), scoring defense (2.72 goals against – ninth), power play (24.3% – 10th), and penalty kill (80.9 – 11th).
The Panthers have seesawed back and forth with wins and losses recently, partly due to the fact that they have been without Matthew Tkachuk, one of their leading scorers, for the last 14 games due to injury. Head coach Paul Maurice’s squad won six in a row from Feb. 25 to Mar. 8, but then followed up the win streak with their most recent stretch in which they’ve gone 3-4-0.
Florida made some impactful moves at the trade deadline, bringing over talented players like defenseman Seth Jones from Chicago, center Nico Sturm from San Jose, and winger Brad Marchand from Boston.
STANDINGS UPDATE
WC1: Minnesota Wild – 87 points
WC2: St. Louis Blues – 85 points
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WHO TO WATCH
UTAH: #82 KEVIN STENLUND – Stenlund returns to South Florida to face his former team tonight. The centerman helped Florida win a Stanley Cup last season and set a career high with 11 goals. Stenlund has tied that career high in goals this season with Utah and has set a new career high with 20 points (11G, 9A).
FLORIDA: #63 BRAD MARCHAND – It is reported that newly acquired Brad Marchand could be in the lineup tonight for Florida. The 16-year Boston Bruin has been dealing with an upper-body injury since he was traded to the Panthers on Mar. 7. The winger has 47 points (21G, 26A) in 61 games played this season.
LAST MEETING
The defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers toppled Utah 4-1 at Delta Center on Jan. 8. Two empty-netters from Florida at the end of regulation sealed the game after Utah’s third-period rally fell short. Logan Cooley scored on the power play with six minutes left to cut the Panthers’ lead down to 2-1, but that would be as close as Utah got. Jesper Boqvist netted a pair of goals for Florida, including an empty-netter and the game-winner in the second period.
LOOK BACK
Utah suffered its worst defeat of the season last night at Amalie Arena at the hands of the Tampa Lightning in an 8-0 final. The Bolts scored twice in the second to take a 2-0 lead and then piled on four more goals in the second.
Jake Guentzel and Oliver Bjorkstrand each scored two goals for Tampa Bay, and Nikita Kucherov finished with a goal and three assists. Andrej Vasilevskiy earned the shutout with 25 saves.
The game marked a return to Tampa Bay for former Lightning and current Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who was honored with a video tribute in the first period. It was also the 1000th game for Tampa Bay blueliner Ryan McDonagh.
BOUNCING BACK
While last night’s 8-0 loss marked Utah’s worst defeat of the season, the Mountain Blue has proved to be a strong bounce back team throughout the year. Following games this season in which Utah has allowed four or more goals in a losing effort, Utah is 13-11-0 in the next contest.
Utah has allowed seven or more goals twice before during this season. When Utah fell 7-3 to Carolina on Feb. 8, it came back the next day with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals. When Utah dropped a 7-1 game to Edmonton on Mar. 18, it resurfaced on Mar. 20 with a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Utah has also shown resiliency when faced with adversity within games this season. The club’s 16 comeback victories are tied for the 13th most in the NHL, and Utah’s seven third-period comeback wins are tied for the third most.
ROAD GAMES
Utah continues a three-game road trip tonight with the second of two games in the state of Florida. Utah is 17-15-4 on the road this season, and the group’s 17 road wins are tied for the 13th most in the NHL.
Utah’s special teams are strong when playing outside of the Beehive State. The Mountain Blue sports the eighth best road power play at 26.9% and the fifth best penalty kill at 82.5%.
Clayton Keller leads the team with 35 points (13G, 22A) in 35 road games this season. Some players have been more productive on the road in 2024-25: 15 of Dylan Guenther’s 26 goals, eight of Kevin Stenlund’s 11, and nine of Jack McBain’s 12 goals have come on the road this season.
LOOK AHEAD
Utah continues a stretch of three games in four days on Sunday when they face the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. Connor Bedard scored in overtime for the Hawks when Utah last visited Chicago on Mar. 7.
