The 4 Nations Face-Off break is finally here, and reflecting on the Utah Hockey Club‘s first 56 games, their inaugural NHL season has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride, with many highs and just as many lows. Utah has scored five or more goals in an impressive 16.07% of their games this season. They rank amongst the bottom 10 teams in the NHL, only scoring 2.73 goals per game, and that is because they have scored one goal or fewer in 23.23% of games and have been shut out five times already this season.
Aside from dealing with significant injuries to key pieces of their roster for the entire season, several factors have contributed to Utah’s inconsistent offensive results. However, none are more prominent than their struggles with getting pucks into high-danger areas and their inability to create offence when not off the rush.
Utah Struggling To Get the Puck Into High-Danger Areas
Utah is an exciting team to watch. We have seen them flash their talent at times throughout the season, starting with their first three games, where they scored five or more goals in each and started the season 3-0-0, and then most recently toward the end of January when they rattled off three-straight wins with four-plus goals in each.
Their young roster has done well in battling injuries all season, and you can see the potential of this team during these hot streaks. The problem is that most of their offence is created in a way that yields inconsistent results as it has throughout their entire inaugural season.
Utah is averaging the second-most shots off the rush per game in the NHL this season. This is a great thing. Chances off the rush are more likely to turn into high-danger chances than when the defence is set. However, the problem is generating quality chances off the rush such as breakaways or two-on-ones typically rely on opponents making significant, inherently random mistakes.
Related: Barrett Hayton Continues to Be Utah’s Streakiest Player
If you look at the NHL’s top four offences, you’ll find they all create shots off a forecheck or cycled puck above the league-average rate, and three of those four teams also create shots off the rush above the league-average rate. Compare that to Utah, which is below the league average in shots from forechecking or cycling. This could be part of the difference between highly-consistent…
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