Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton (27) takes a shot against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Dennis Hildeby (35) in the third period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Jan 13, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah Mammoth scored early and often in rout of Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 to improve to 5-1-1 in January.

The Mammoth (22-20-4) squared off against the Maple Leafs (23-15-7) on Tuesday night for the fourth game of seven in the current homestand.  Making his Delta Center debut in a Maple Leafs sweater was former Utah forward Matias Maccelli who has seven goals and ten assists in 34 games so far this season for Toronto, one goal and point shy of his 2024-2025 season totals in 55 games.

The Mammoth took an early lead at 3:22 of the first period when forward Michael Carcone, who wasn’t expecting to return to Utah this season but ultimately re-signed with the team in July, put the puck past Maple Leafs netminder

Dennis Hildeby for his ninth of the season, assisted by Nate Schmidt and John Marino. Carcone, who grew up about 30 miles outside of Toronto, has scored the opening goal both times Utah has faced the Maple Leafs this season as well as their most recent matchup last season. 

The Ajax, Ontario forward is enjoying a bounce-back season after scoring just seven goals in 53 games last year.  The remainder of the opening period was scoreless, with Hildeby stopping 11 of 12 shots and Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka turning away all 6 shots on goal from Toronto.

Utah forward Dylan Guenther doubled the Mammoth lead at 5:26 of the second period with his team-leading 22nd of the year, assisted by Jack McBain and Ian Cole.  Barely a minute later, Guenther lit the lamp again with a laser beam over the shoulder of Hildeby for his 23rd of the season, assisted again by McBain.

Guenther’s two goals in a 78-second span are now the fastest two goals by the same player in franchise history, surpassing the previous record of 110 seconds by Logan Cooley last October against St. Louis.  At 15:25 of the frame, German Olympian and Utah forward JJ Peterka got in on the action scoring his 16th of the season, assisted by Daniil But and Cole, much to the delight of a large group of German tourists who are attending NHL games in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles over the coming days.  The Mammoth took their 4-0 lead to the locker room, with Vejmelka stopping all 9 shots he faced in the period.

Toronto forward Calle Järnkrok spoiled Vejmelka’s shutout bid with his 6th goal of the season at 3:30 of the third, assisted by Oliver Ekman-Larsson, narrowing Utah’s lead to 4-1, but that would be the lone goal for the Maple Leafs as Utah continued to step on the gas.

At 13:29 of the final frame, Mammoth forward Jack McBain tipped in his 6th goal of the season, assisted by Guenther and Carcone, to restore Utah’s four-goal cushion.  McBain, a Toronto native, earned three points on the night against his hometown team, and now has seven points (4g, 3a) in eight career games against them.

  With three minutes remaining in the game, Daniil But put an exclamation mark on the Mammoth victory with his third goal of his rookie season, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Peterka, as Utah won its third game of the homestand 6-1 and improve to 5-1-1 in the new year.

Vejmelka stopped 19 of 20 shots in his winning effort, and leads the NHL with 21 victories this season.  Guenther’s first goal in the second period turned out to be the game-winner, his sixth on the season, just one game-winning goal shy of NHL leader Steven Stamkos who has seven. 

Defenseman Ian Cole, who recorded two assists in the game, spoke of the team’s killer attitude in his locker room interview.  “It’s more of a mindset for us, and sticking with that mindset regardless of what happens, whether we go up, whether we go down, whether it’s tied. Regardless of what the situation is, sticking with that and keeping that mindset. I think we’re getting better as we go here, but we have to keep building. That’s a good team to beat, but it’s not going to matter two days from now, so we have to do it again.” Talking about Utah’s defensive effort, which limited Toronto to 20 shots on the night, Cole said, “That’s a highly skilled team, so we want to take away time and space. You want to make sure that those skill guys have a tough time getting shots off and making plays. I think we did a pretty good job of that. It’s the right mindset, and it wasn’t just our D, It was our forwards too. We can keep good gaps, but if they don’t track back, it’s gonna be odd-man rushes all night. So they did a great job.” On the Mammoth having earned points in five straight games, Cole added, “It’s great. Accruing points is kind of the name of the game. We’re disappointed in how we let some points slip away early in the year, but as of right now, it’s kind of do or die. If we wait to find our game or we wait to turn this corner, we’re going to run out of time. There’s only eighty-two games in the season. We need to play well and play well right now. I think we’re making some great strides there.” 

Dylan Guenther added praise for the play of Michael Carcone in the game. “Yeah, he’s a really good player. I think he’s had success at every level, and he’s produced at every level. He’s worked for everything. So he’s a great guy to play with, and super fast. He’s a really big part of our team.” As for the hot start in the new year, Guenther said, “Yeah, it’s been a good stretch. I think we’ve talked about this stretch for a little bit, and have been looking forward to getting a little bit of time at home. So it’s nice to be getting points, and we play a really good team next game, so just make sure that we’re ready to go after a win like tonight.” For Utah, which fell just short of a playoff spot last season, continuing to press at this stage of the year is critical. “Yeah, I think that’s the big picture,” said Guenther. “I think we’re fighting, and every game’s a fight. So I think if we play like that every game, then, there’s a really good chance.”

A happy head coach, André Tourigny, opened his postgame remarks by saying, “Obviously, a really good game. We liked the pace of our game; the speed we had offensively and defensively. I think we attacked every shift with a lot of speed through the neutral zone and a lot of pace, a lot of pressure on their D. We knew (Toronto) was on the back-to-back; they played a big game yesterday. After the game against Columbus, I talked to you about the mindset. I said it’s not about focus, it’s not about execution. It’s the mindset we had in that game and the way we tried to play the game tonight. Obviously, we’ll take the result, but it’s more than that.” Bear talked about some of the line changes, including how McBain’s line performed as a unit. “I think they played hard and fast. They were really fast in everything they did. They never slowed down. They were coming really fast. That’s three good skaters. I think it clicked. Sometimes, it’s tough to explain why; it just happens. I think (Dylan Guenther) and (Michael Carcone) had success last year when they played together. Same thing with (Guenther) and (Jack McBain)–they had success when they played together last year. That was the rationale behind it. We were hoping (Daniil But) and JJ (Peterka) and (Barrett Hayton) would click as well. It is what it is.”  The “killer instinct” comment came up again in the interview with Tourigny, who responded, “We gave up five shots in the third. I think we kept the pace defensively. I feel, in a sense, (Toronto was) trying more plays and stuff like that. So they had a little bit more possession. Still, we played the right way. We put pucks behind; we were on them. They had no easy possessions. We were on them a lot.”

Next up for Utah (23-20-4) on Thursday are the Dallas Stars (27-11-9), who lost 3-1 to the Ducks in Anaheim on Tuesday night.