The Bruins take on Utah’s newest sports team in what is sure to be a wildly entertaining game.
Just the Facts
- The Time: 9:30pm EST
- The Place: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
- Place to Watch: NESN, UTAH-16, ESPN+
- Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Uhhh…coming soon, I guess? Locked In Utah might be the closest right now.
Know Your Enemy
- Utah has a record of 3-1-1, good for 7 points in the standings, and for 2nd in the Central Division.
- Clayton Keller is the captain of this motley crew, and he’s got 7 points in 5 games. Good start for him!
- Dylan Guenther leads Utah in scoring, with 5 goals in 5 games.
- Nobody gets assists quite like Nick Schmaltz, who has 6 in 5 games.
- Connor Ingram is the starter for Utah; having started four games and won three of them in regulation. Expect to be able to score on him however, he’s only rocking a .868 SV%
Game Preview
The Coyotes are dead. For now, anyway. Maybe they’ll come back when Meruelo is finally left for dead out in the desert somewhere, or if Houston gets a backer.
Until then, we turn our attention to a team of the Latter Day; Utah HC. A team with a placeholder name and as it turns out, a warchest of exciting young prospects energized to know where their next check is coming from and in a building that they won’t get laughed at for hosting a college squad with more prestige and sustained success than the professional squad.
As it turns out, if you luck into an NHL team that’s been used as a dumping and tanking ground for years, you accidentally come away with some decent players from the ordeal.
So yeah, Utah is, at least early on, a pretty tough beat. I wouldn’t go out of my way to call them contenders by any stretch, it’s still waaaaaaay too early for that sort of thing, but they play hard and don’t give up on plays much, and in this part of the season that’s really all you need to look and play successfully.
Boston meanwhile is…pretty good! Definitely flawed, definitely need to start controlling their games a little better, but still pretty good! So far they’ve been able to weather their non-Floridian opponents pretty well, and had what I would consider one of their best games to date just a couple of days ago. They need to be ready however; Utah plays fast and so far this season isn’t afraid to get into boatraces where either Utah drops 5 goals on the opponent, or had to eke out something out when dropping 5 goals wasn’t enough to stop the attack. Boston needs to clamp down on their speed and break up their offensive zone time quickly.
If they can do that? That’s two points in the bag.
Ought to be a good one! Let’s go get ourselves a dirty soda and watch the fun!