Bruins vs. Utah 10/19/24 PREVIEW: Salt Lake Showdown

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 Center
• An opposing point of view: 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 2nd place in the Central Division.
• Clayton Keller is the captain of this motley crew and has scored 7 points in 5 games. Good start for him!
• Dylan Guenther leads Utah with 5 goals in 5 games.
• Nobody gets as many assists as Nick Schmaltz, who has 6 in 5 games.
• Connor Ingram is the starter for Utah; He started four games and won three of them in the regular season. However, expect to score with him, he only manages an SV% of .868.

Game preview

The coyotes are dead. At least for now. Maybe they'll come back when Meruelo finally ends up lying in the desert somewhere or when Houston gets a backer.

Until then, we turn our attention to one latter-day team; Utah HC. A team with a placeholder name and, as it turns out, a group of exciting young talent who are full of energy and want to know where their next check is coming from, in a building where they won't be laughed at because they're a college team with more prestige and sustainability harbor success than the professional squad.

It turns out that if you're lucky enough to end up on an NHL team that's been used as a dumping ground and refueling spot for years, you just happen to pick up a few decent players from the ordeal.

So yeah, Utah is a pretty tough opponent, at least early on. I wouldn't bother calling them contenders by any means, it's way too early for that, but they play hard and don't give up much, and that's really all at this part of the season, what you need to look and play successful.

Boston is…pretty good now! Definitely buggy, I definitely need to start controlling their games a bit better, but still pretty good! So far they've been doing pretty well against their non-Florida opponents and just a few days ago had one of their best games yet. However, you must be ready; Utah plays fast and so far this season has not been afraid to engage in boat races where either Utah drops five goals on the opponent or has to come up with something when five goals isn't enough to stop the attack. Boston needs to slow down its speed and break its offensive zone time quickly.

Can they do that? That's two points in the bag.

Should be good! Let's get some dirty lemonade and watch the fun!