Why struggling Utah HC carries extra motivation into game against Penguins

Yet again, the Utah Hockey Club is left looking for answers.
There have been 43 shutouts across the league this season, and Utah HC has been the losing team for five of them. They’re still aiming for the playoffs, but if they continue spiraling downward, they might end up with a high draft pick instead.
Their next opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, are in a similar boat. Things have just not gone their way this year, which has prompted them to consider all types of trades. They’ve already moved Lars Eller and now people wonder about Sidney Crosby.
Frustrations are high in the Utah HC locker room, which has prompted quotes like these:
Nick Schmaltz on accountability: “I don’t know. I feel like we’re beating a dead horse a little bit on that topic.”
Ian Cole on what needs to change: “If there was a magic bullet that we could fire and fix everything, we would have done it by now.”
Lawson Crouse on what went wrong against the Washington Capitals: “We were 0 for 7 (on the power play). That’s not good enough.”
Cole on big losses: “We’ve got a tendency (that) when things start to slip, they slip big. We’ve kind of got the weight of the world on our shoulders. We need to do a way better job of grabbing that before it snowballs into a two, three, four-goal lead.”
Crouse on getting things back on track: “You have to be honest about it. You can’t lie about certain things, you can’t blame other people. You have to look yourself in the mirror.”
It’s clear that everyone is aware of what they need to do differently, but when negative emotions are high, it feels impossible to score on a soccer net, never mind a hockey net.
Utah’s key to the game is to get back to the basics and not let emotion get to them. They’re getting chances, but they’re not capitalizing on them. If they can get out of their own heads, things will be a lot smoother.
It might be easier to list the Utah HC players that have not played for the Penguins. Here are the ones that have:
There are also some staff members who have been involved with the Penguins:
Everyone loves to beat their former teams, so there will be a little extra motivation for Utah HC on Saturday.
The game begins at 5 p.m. MST and will be streamed on Utah HC+ and Utah 16.