Utah Mammoth lost a close on to the visiting Florida Panthers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Dec 10, 2025 (Utah Mammoth X photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Mammoth surrendered goals in the final minute of both the first and third period in loss to the Panthers 4-3.

The Utah Mammoth (14-14-3) took to the ice Wednesday night at Delta Center against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers (14-12-2) for the second game of a three game homestand. Utah fell to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday and are desperate to put some wins together after dropping 15 of their last 21.

The Mammoth caught a break at 11:17 of the opening period when a shot by Florida forward A. J. Greer banked off the goal post to Utah defenseman John Marino who rifled the puck to a wide open Dylan Guenther who beat netminder Sergei Bobrovsky on the breakaway for his 12th goal of the season to give the Mammoth a 1-0 lead. With just under a minute left in the frame, however, Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe beat Karel Vejmelka on the other end to tie things up with his 9th of the year, assisted by Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett. Barrett Hayton set a Utah franchise record with 6 shots on goal in the first period, but went to the locker room with nothing to show for it.

Florida took its first lead of the game at just a minute and forty seconds into the second period when Sam Bennett put a snap shot into the back of the net for his 8th of the season, assisted by Evan Rodrigues and Niko Mikkola. Less than two minutes later Bennett would strike again with a wrist shot to put the Panthers up 3-1, assisted by Verhaeghe.

Florida’s two-goal lead would last just 13 seconds as Guenther matched Bennett with his own second goal of the game, a backhand that beat Bobrovsky for his 13th of the season assisted by Lawson Crouse and John Marino, to bring Utah back within one.

Only Logan Cooley, who is currently sidelined with a lower-body injury, has more goals for the Mammoth with 14. At 14:37 of the second, Utah forward Jack McBain went down on his knees while knocking in a backhand for his third of the season to tie things up at three apiece, with Sean Durzi and Ian Cole picking up the assists.

Though the two teams were scoreless through 19 minutes of the third period, there was nothing even handed about the final frame. The Panthers, bolstered by two power play opportunities, spent most of the period in their offensive zone, outshooting Utah 19-4 as Vejmelka repeatedly bailed out the defense from the onslaught.

With 57 seconds remaining in the game, Florida’s Anton Lundell won a faceoff against Barrett Hayton, and then five seconds later put the Panthers ahead for good on a wrist shot assisted by Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart.

“I think we did a pretty good job getting to the net,” said Utah forward Jack McBain in the locker room after the game. “I think not only bodies, but we also had pucks there. I think we were pretty stingy for most of the game. I think obviously we need to learn from it, move on and try to be better.” When asked about how the Mammoth can get on the winning side of one-goal games, McBain responded, “Yeah, you have to find ways to win. I think, when you look around the league, good teams find ways to win hockey games, even when they don’t have their best or they’re close games. That’s something as a group, we got to figure out. Obviously, it’s been a challenging stretch. We know we have it in this group and in the locker room, so we are just trying to figure it out.”

“I thought we played pretty well, and even in the third, I thought we managed it well,” said Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther. “They played really well, and we were on our heels too much, probably just a few more pucks in deep, and a few more offensive zone drives.” Guenther lamented the team’s inability to get Vejmelka the win in the hard fought contest. “He played really well. I feel for him; we want to get that win for him. He kept us in it, especially in the end. I think they had like 19 shots in the third, that comes with power plays, but still too many.” When asked the same question about coming out ahead in one-goal games, Guenther remarked, “I think (we need to) shoot a few more pucks. Be comfortable in those situations. When the game is tied, I don’t think we have to get on our heels. Just keep pressing, keep attacking them. It’s unfortunate, but we play again in two nights, so make sure we get one to close it out.”

Head Coach André Tourigny was disappointed in the outcome, but not necessarily his team’s effort. “Obviously, a tough pill to swallow with the way that happened,” he began. “(Karel Vejmelka) was really good. I think we showed a lot of character being down by two goals; (to) come back in the game and give ourselves a chance. Like I said, it’s really frustrating to lose in that fashion. I think in the third period, we got in trouble. We got in the box; that’s how (Florida) got their momentum. I think that 5-on-5, we played good. A little too much on our heels, but mostly from our penalties. I thought we defended well until the last minute.” Looking at positives, Tourigny spoke of the team’s strong start in the opening period. “I was happy about that. We were focused, we were urgent. Obviously, (Florida) is a good team. I think we did a lot of good stuff…We didn’t play bad; we made two mistakes and they capitalized on those two mistakes. It’s not what you want, but at some point I’m (also) not expecting to play a perfect game. The second (goal) was unforced–that, I didn’t like. But other than that, it wasn’t like we were not playing well. We were playing well and made individual mistakes. Then, we showed a lot of character to come back in the game and tie the game. We had good momentum, we applied a lot of pressure; we did a lot of good stuff. Like I said about the third period, that’s unfortunate.” Bear’s frustration was evident, feeling his team deserved a better outcome. “Nobody will convince me that our guys are not resilient…You saw how they react during the game, the prep for the game, the way we start the game, et cetera, et cetera. I think that our guys are digging deep. I think last week was a really demanding schedule, and I felt the guys did everything they could to manage the rest the right way. Today, we had energy. We were not a tired team. We learned that as a young team. (We) will have a lot of teaching moments in (tonight’s) game. It is one thing to be a good NHL player; there’s another thing to play a brand of hockey like Florida plays; the physicality and everything. There will be a lot of good teaching opportunities for us.”

The Mammoth (14-15-3) hope to salvage the final game of the homestand on Friday against the Seattle Kraken (12-10-6) before embarking on a 3-game swing through Pittsburgh, Boston, and Detroit.