Utah Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny watches the action behind the bench against the Nashville Predators at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Apr 9, 2026 (AP News photo)

Utah punched its ticket to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in a convincing win over Nashville, with a little help from Anaheim.

by Tom Walker

April 9, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY–It became official at 10:27pm Mountain Daylight Time.  Following a solid 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at Delta Center, the Utah Mammoth stuck around a few extra minutes to celebrate the franchise’s first trip to the post-season as the Ducks eviscerated Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks 6-1 in Anaheim.  With the victory, the Mammoth take the so-called Ice Age series over the Predators winning 3 of 4 on the season. Utah becomes the third franchise in the past 45 years to make the playoffs in their second season, joining the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken.

Logan Cooley sparked Utah’s opening score late in the first period, stealing the puck in the defensive zone and then passing up the ice where Dylan Guenther and Kailer Yamamoto were crossing the offensive blue line. Guenther laid down a perfect pass to Yamamoto who was charging the net, and then rammed the puck underneath the pads of Nashville netminder Juuse Saros for his 12th goal of the season.  Saros finished the period stopping 8 of 9 Mammoth shots while Utah’s Karel Vejmelka was perfect in stopping all 7 Predators shot attempts.

At 5:16 of the second period, Nashville defenseman Justin Barron was whistled for tripping against Michael Carcone. Nineteen seconds later on the ensuing power play, Mammoth captain Clayton Keller fired the puck across the goal crease to the waiting stick of Nick Schmaltz who knocked it in for his 31st goal of the season, with Cooley picking up his second helper of the night. Utah has scored on the power play in seven consecutive games, matching their franchise record.  The period would end with Utah leading Nashville 2-0.  Saros turned away 5 of 6 in the frame while Vejmelka remained perfect in stopping all 12 attempts by the Predators. Scoreboard watchers paying attention to the game in Anaheim noted that the Ducks finished the first period leading the Sharks 2-0.

Lawson Crouse made it 3-0 three minutes into the third period, one-timing a pass from Clayton Keller from below the faceoff circle dot, for his 22nd goal of the season, with Mikhael Sergachev picking up the additional assist.  The Mammoth, which had scored 25 goals in their previous four games, continued to step on the gas with Dylan Guenther netting his 39th goal at 6:05. Keller picked up his third assist on the night and Schmaltz collected the other for his second point. Sergachev gave Nashville their one real scoring chance at 8:29, going to the sin bin for hooking against Matthew Wood. With just seven seconds remaining in the man-advantage, the Predators ended Vejmelka’s shutout when Erik Haula scored his 4th on the season, assisted by Zachary L’Heureux and Brady Skjei. But that would be all for Nashville as Utah won their fifth game in a row 4-1. The Mammoth have scored at least four goals in a franchise-record six consecutive games, with 33 goals during that span. With his goal and assist, Guenther joins Nick Schmaltz in passing the 70 point mark on the season for the first time in his career with 39 goals and 32 assists. Vejmelka finished the game stopping 29 of 30 shots by the Predators for his 37th win, tying him with Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL lead in victories.

In the locker room after the game, Lawson Crouse was asked about how fun it is to play in these meaningful late-season games. “I think we’ve been playing meaningful hockey for a while now,” the Associate Captain said. “So, these are the games we want to be in. These are the games that we want to get up for. So it’s been a lot of fun.” Talking about tonight’s game, Crouse continued, “We started the game pretty well, and then obviously, let it kind of get away from us a little bit in the second period. A huge answer back in the third, and we got rewarded for doing so. Veggie played an incredible game. He made some very timely saves, some big saves. Obviously, a pretty crappy bounce on that power-play goal coming back through his legs. He gave us a true chance to win right from the drop of the puck.” Asked about linemate Keller’s three primary assists in the game, Crouse said, “Are you surprised? No, he’s an incredible playmaker. He’s got incredible vision, incredible skill, and most importantly, passion for the game. Put all three of those together, and that’s our captain.”

Keller responded to a question about how proud he is of his teammates, saying, “I think it’s a step in the right direction. We’ve been playing some good hockey lately, very confident. A couple of lapses there in the second, but we fought back. Had a great third. Veg was unreal all game. Made some timely saves and kept us in the fight there in the second. So, just a great effort by everyone.” Asked about the pride he takes in being a playmaker and setting his teammates up, Keller said, “Yeah. I think I’ve always tried to be a very unselfish player. I like setting my teammates up, and I like to score also, but I think it just goes back to how I was coached when I was young. We were always the most unselfish team. We were always told by Jeff Brown and Keith Tkachuk, we want to be on SportsCenter. We always kind of made that extra pass. Sometimes it can bite you a little bit. I think you have to have that shot-first mentality. Yeah, it’s part of my game. I want to get my teammates involved and give them good looks.” On his teammates stepping things up during the playoff run, Keller added, “I think everyone’s been great. Everyone’s chipped in. We’re playing for one another. It’s the most fun time of the year. It’s fun to come to the rink when you’re winning, especially. Every guy that steps in when guys have gone down, Desi and Tuna, and everyone who’s chipped in has made a huge impact. I think that’s how deep of a team we are. We trust one another and believe in one another.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game media availability, “Our first period was a little bit slow but played well against their forecheck. Obviously in the second period, we didn’t move our feet as much, so we allowed them to forecheck a little bit better. We were a bit too careful and a bit too passive, but we got back in the third with way more aggression, moving our feet, better breakouts, and building more speed and scoring big goals at key moments. So very happy and very proud of the boys and the way they reacted in the third.” Speaking of Keller’s performance, Bear said, “I will say this about Clayton, he’s really tuned in and playing rock solid. He’s making the right decisions with the puck and his ability has always been there to make those plays. But the way he led in the third and moving his feet on the breakout, having great track, putting pucks behind defense, getting on the forecheck. That’s what you want from your leader.” On the team’s improvement in their second season in Utah, Tourigny added, “Well, I think we have a very good team. The guys are getting older, more mature, and they learn from what happens. The GM does a great job to improve the team every year. It’s easy now to look back and see we started from scratch. It’s a privilege when you start the process where you start. It’s not every time you have that much runway, so I feel fortunate and try to keep improving every year for the next.”

Utah (42-30-6) wraps up the three-game homestand with a Saturday matinee against the Metropolitan Division leading Carolina Hurricanes (51-22-6), and will then head out for their final road game of the season in Calgary before wrapping the the regular season home schedule against Winnipeg and St. Louis.