At first glance, the Utah Hockey Club played a perfect game on Thursday. But the stats suggest there was lots of room for improvement.

Utah Hockey Club left wing Lawson Crouse (67) and goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) hug after a win over the Minnesota Wild of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) St. Paul, Minn. • Utah Hockey Club has had this week circled on the calendar.

BOTTOM LINE: Central Division opponents meet when the Minnesota Wild play the Utah Hockey Club. Minnesota has gone 28-15-4 overall with a 10-6-2 record in Central Division play. The Wild are 26-2-2 when scoring three or more goals.

The Utah Hockey Club beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 at home on Monday. On Friday, the Jets returned the favor with a 5-2 win over Utah HC in their own building. In both cases, the games were much closer than the score suggested.

Friday night in the NHL features the Winnipeg Jets hosting Central division foe, the Utah Hockey Club at Canada Life Center. Welcome to NHL Predictions here at Last Word on Hockey, where we preview and predict the upcoming slate of NHL games around the league each day!

For the second time in five days, the Utah Hockey Club is gearing up to face the Winnipeg Jets. This time, it is looking to extend its winning streak to four games. Utah came out on top Monday by a score of 5-2,