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With the Montreal Canadiens clinching the final postseason spot in their 4-2 win over the Hurricanes, the playoff matchups are set.
To kickstart the postseason just days from now on April 19, the Winnipeg Jets will face the St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars will take on the Colorado Avalanche. Excitement will only build from there as all 16 teams dive into high-intensity action.
For Utah HC fans, the postseason hype may be hard to understand without their team to root for. It may have even felt a little anticlimactic to wrap up the hype-driven inaugural season without a playoff berth.
But that shouldn't take away from the fun the regular season brought, nor should it detract Utah fans from watching the playoffs.
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Utah's Keller To Play For Team USA At World Championships Utah Hockey Club’s captain Clayton Keller has confirmed he’ll be playing for Team USA at the upcoming World Championships. So instead, this article will serve as a reflection on how Utah fared against this year’s playoff teams. Hopefully gauging how Utah fared against playoff level talent will inspire fans to not only feel excited for next season, but also inspired to watch what top end talent looks like.
Without further ado, let's go over how Utah did against this year's playoff teams.
Western Playoff Teams
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Overall, Utah finished with a 10-14-4 record against playoff teams in its own Western Conference.
The records against each team are as follows:
Record against Top 3 Central Seeds: No. 1 Winnipeg: 2-2, No. 2 Dallas: 1-2-1, No. 3 Colorado: 1-2.
Record against Top 3 Pacific Seeds: No. 1 Vegas: 1-1-1, No. 2 Los Angeles: 0-3, No. 3 Edmonton: 0-2-1.
Record against Western Wild Card: No. 4 Minnesota: 3-0-1, No. 4 St. Louis: 2-2.
Most notably, Utah performed best against the Minnesota Wild, bouncing back with three straight wins after an early 5-4 shootout loss in a high-scoring game. On the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Kings had Utah’s number all season, handling them with relative ease whenever they met.
Eastern Playoff Teams
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Out East, it was a completely different story for Utah as it went 4-10-2 against the Eastern Conference playoff teams.
Record against Top 3 Atlantic Seeds: No. 1 Toronto 0-1-1, No. 2 Tampa 1-1, No. 3 Florida 0-1-1.
Record against Top 3 Seeds: No. 1 Washington 1-1, No. 2 Carolina 1-1, No. 3 New Jersey 0-2.
Record against Eastern Wild Card: No. 4 Ottawa 0-2, No. 4 Montreal 1-1.
Overall, Utah's record against all playoff teams was 14-24-6, while it was relatively dominant against non-playoff teams at 24-7-7.
The high number of regulation losses is certainly an area Utah will want to turn into more regulation wins next season. But the team’s struggles against top Eastern talent will also need addressing—especially considering Utah went 2-5-1 both at home and on the road. So travel can’t be used as the sole excuse for the lack of success.
Best Top-16 Win: Minnesota 6-1
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While Utah’s 6-0 shutout win on the road against Vegas could have easily been the top choice, the team’s dominance over the Wild throughout the season stood out even more.
The timing of the win also made it much more valuable, as the win came during a stretch where Utah was finally starting to win in front of its home crowd. Plus, doing it against a division rival made it even sweeter.
That said, Utah’s first-ever shootout win on the road against the Washington Capitals, or the competitive series against Winnipeg, are technically more impressive—given both opponents finished as the top two teams in the league.
Worst Top-16 Loss: Edmonton 7-1
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Utah’s 7-1 loss to Edmonton was especially disappointing. Utah went on national TV just days after a key win over the Vancouver Canucks and got blown out. It was also the final game of the season series, making it an especially rough look to lose the way Utah did, especially since Edmonton had only elevated its play compared to previous matchups.
It is hard to overlook Utah’s worst loss in franchise history, an 8-0 defeat to Tampa Bay, when choosing which one was the worse. After all, the loss to the Lightning was one of several losses to elite Eastern Conference teams and it came late in the season when wins were especially critical
Still, the Edmonton loss was particularly shocking given how well Utah had played just days earlier. At that point, Utah also held a better record than the St. Louis Blues, making that game feel even more pivotal in hindsight.
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Utah’s Inaugural Season Wraps Up With Optimism For What’s NextLast night, the Utah Hockey Club played their final game of the 2024-25 season. So while Utah’s record against playoff teams wasn’t strong enough to secure a postseason berth, the team will be hungry to prove it belongs with the league’s top competition—especially with five of those playoff teams sitting in its own division.
But make sure to tune into the NHL playoffs starting Saturday, April 19. You won't want to miss it!
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