Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) moves the puck but his shot is blocked Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) on Fri Mar 20, 2026 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth jumped out to an early lead before surrendering a pair to the Ducks in a hard fought contest which remained close until Anaheim scored a pair of empty net tallies with 96 seconds remaining in the third third for a 4-1 Ducks victory on Friday night.

The Mammoth (36-27-6) kicked off a four-game homestand on Friday night against the Pacific Division leading Ducks (37-27-4), a possible playoff opponent based on current standings. Utah returns from a successful two-game road trip where they defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3, and the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0, helping to solidify their grasp on the first Wild Card position in the Western Conference, six points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings who hold down the second Wild Card position.

The Mammoth are the only Wild Card candidate in the conference with a positive +/- goal differential on the season at +27, seventh best overall in the NHL. The Ducks are the only Top 3 team in the Western Conference divisions with a negative +/- goal differential at -11.

Earlier on Friday, forward Michael Carcone inked a two-year contract extension with the Mammoth valued at $3.5 million, with an annual cap hit of $1.75 million. Carcone, who expressed during his media availability following his exit interview at the conclusion of last season that he didn’t expect to return, ultimately ended up signing a one-year $775,000 deal in the offseason when he failed to land with another team.

The agreement turned out to benefit both sides as Carcone put in the work to turn things around this year, earning his $3.5 million pay day. Through 66 games this season he has scored 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points, whereas last season he scored seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 55 games.

Absent from the Ducks lineup on Friday was captain Radko Gudas who is in the midst of a five-game suspension for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews on March 12, 2026, effectively ending Matthews’s season.

At the Milan Olympics in February, Gudas was involved in a collusion with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby which resulted in the future Hall of Famer missing his next 11 NHL contests. The Ducks defenseman is eligible to return to action next Wednesday against Vancouver. Another Ducks defenseman, Ian Moore, was born in Salt Lake City and made his first appearance at Delta Center, joining Trevor Lewis as the second Utah-born player to suit up for an NHL game in the state.

Missing from the Anaheim Ducks broadcast team was Steve Carroll, who has called Anaheim’s radio play-by-play for the past 27 seasons extending all the way back to when I still worked in the Ducks press box a quarter century ago. Earlier in the week, Steve announced his retirement at the end of the season, marking 50 years overall in sports broadcasting.

On a personal note, Steve is one of the finest men I have ever known in broadcasting and he will be sorely missed by Ducks fans. He is expected to call Anaheim’s final regular-season home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, April 12. Here’s wishing him, his wife, and family all the best in his retirement.

Mammoth sniper Dylan Guenther drew first blood at 1:48 of the opening frame with his team-leading 34th goal of the season, assisted by Sean Durzi and JJ Peterka. It was the fastest goal to start a game in Guenther’s career. He is fourth in the NHL in goals scored for players aged 22 and under, behind Wyatt Johnson of Dallas, Macklin Celebrini of San Jose, and Cutter Gauthier of Anaheim.

At 13:37, with Ducks forward Chris Kreider in the penalty box serving a too many men on the ice penalty, Ryan Poehling broke away with the puck to even the score with a slick wrist shot, shorthanded, to even the score at 1-1. Poehling’s 9th goal of the season was assisted by Alex Killorn and Pavel Mintyukov. Lukas Dostal turned away 13 of 14 Mammoth shots in the period while Vítek Vaněček stopped 4 of 5 Ducks shots on goal.

Anaheim took their first lead of the night at 9:09 of the second period when Alex Killorn took advantage of Vaněček being screened by Lawson Crouse to net his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Beckett Sennecke. The Mammoth took 3 penalties in the frame and the Ducks were whistled for one, but there was no further scoring as the Ducks went to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Dostal was stopped a perfect 10 Mammoth shots in the period, while Vaněček turned away 9 of 10.

The third period remained tightly contested with neither team scoring until Cutter Gauthier registered his 36th of the year into an empty net at 18:24 to essentially put the game away. The Mammoth continued to fight back with Vaněček pulled for an extra attacker, but Mikael Granlund drove his 13th of the season into the empty net with 55 seconds remaining to send fans to the exits. With the 4-1 victory, Anaheim (38-27-4) maintains its first place lead in the Pacific Division by 3 points over the Edmonton Oilers and 4 points over the Vegas Golden Knights. Utah falls to 36-28-6 while maintaining a 6-point edge in the Western Conference Wild Card chase over the Los Angeles Kings.

“I think our push was great; we just didn’t finish,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in the Mammoth locker room after the game. “We had a lot of chances, a couple of breakaways, a couple going against the goal in front of the net, and we didn’t finish. That was the difference in the game.”

“Solid effort, back to back, they had a good push, we had a good push, and we just got to bear down a little bit more on some plays,” said the lone goal-scorer Dylan Guenther. ““It was solid, and I thought the crowd was really good too. It is easier to play when they’re really loud, and it helps us a lot. So yeah, we knew it was an important game, and even though we didn’t get the win, I thought it was still a solid effort.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was proud of his team’s effort despite the final outcome. “Yeah, you can see the way we played in the third we generated a lot of offense,” Bear said. “We had great opportunities. We had momentum, we were aggressive and all of it. We were not on our heels, so really the only thing I don’t like is the scoreboard. The rest of it is tough to complain about. Proud of the guys, proud of their resilience, proud of their mental toughness. The six on five and the power play at the end, I would have loved to do something different. Other than that, there’s not much to complain about.”

The Mammoth homestand continues on Sunday as former Utah players Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring return with the Atlantic Division leading Buffalo Sabres for a 6:00pm tilt.