Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther lit the lamp for the 40th time this season, but the wind was at Carolina’s back in final contest against an Eastern Conference foe. (AP News photo)

by Tom Walker April 11, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY–The playoff bound Utah Mammoth (42-30-6) and Eastern Conference leading Carolina Hurricanes (51-22-6) squared off Saturday afternoon for a matinee matchup which gave Utah an opportunity to test their post-season readiness against an elite opponent. Unfortunately the Mammoth didn’t past the test with the Hurricane bowing to them in a three goal deficit 4-1 at the Delta Center.

Carolina enjoyed an early scoring opportunity when Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for holding against Seth Jarvis just 3:27 into the contest. Hurricane forward Andrei Svechnikov cashed it in a minute later on a backhand past Karel Vejmelka for his 31st goal of the season, assisted by Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere.

At 13:23, Jordan Staal made it 2-0 on a wrist shot for his 20th of the season, assisted by Ehlers and Jordan Martinook. Utah Captain Clayton Keller appeared to get one back for the Mammoth late in the frame, but the goal was nullified due to off sides. Frederik Andersen stopped all seven shot attempts in the period by Utah, while Vejmelka turned away 11 of 13.

The second period was extremely uneventful, unless defense is one’s favorite facet of the game, with neither squad able to muster much on offense. The respective netminders each shut out the other side, with Andersen blanking the Mammoth in seven attempts and Vejmelka stopping five.

Sebastian Aho opened the door for a Utah comeback early in the third, going to the sin bin two minutes into the frame for high sticking against Nate Schmidt. Dylan Guenther didn’t disappoint, netting his 40th goal of the season on a slap shot, assisted by Keller and Sergachev, to bring the Mammoth to within one.

Guenther is the first Mammoth player to reach the 40 goal mark, the 12th NHL player to do so this season, and it is the first time in his career that he has done so. On the power play goal, Utah established a new franchise record with power play goals in eight straight games.

Perhaps the loudest fan reaction of the evening came at 14:48 of the third, when rookie 6’4″ defenseman Dmitri Simashev dropped the gloves for the first time in his NHL career, tangling with Charles Alexis Legault. The Mammoth kept the game remarkably close despite the seeming mismatch on the ice for most of the game, but at 15:31 Aho tipped in the puck for his 27th of the year, assisted by Shayne Gostisbehere and Jaccob Slavin, to put the game virtually out of reach.

With Vejmelka pulled for the extra attacker, Utah continued to keep pressure on the Canes in the offensive zone but couldn’t solve Anderson in the Carolina net. With 23 seconds remaining in regulation, Sean Walker scored his ninth of the season into an empty net to send fans to the exits.

With the regulation loss, the Mammoth maintain their streak of being the only team in the NHL which has not participated in a shootout this season.

Defenseman Sean Durzi, who skated in his 300th career contest on Saturday, spoke to the media in the locker room about his team’s slow start. “I mean, that’s the Carolina Hurricanes. That’s what you’re getting with that team. We know that you have to be patient. Not much, not many plays there to be made, and I thought that’s what you saw. I think they always come out pretty hard, and we knew that, we knew what to expect. I thought we found our game in the second and then, yeah, that hockey game. It’s a couple bounces the other way, and pucks go in the net. But listen, that’s the Hurricanes. We’ve got to stay patient, and that’s the way the hockey game went.” Many of the post-game questions centered around being a test for the playoffs, and the importance of patience. “We say it all the time. Patience is so important in these games,” said Durzi. “Especially a team like us, a young, skilled, fast team. We want to make plays, and there are plays to be made, but at the same time, we can’t force it. Not to say that we did, and that we were trying to force plays. But again, that’s hockey where we stay patient, we stay on them, we put pucks in, and then let our skill take over from there. And you know what? That’s a good test for us today. And again, that’s a lot of what’s to come.” On Guenther’s 40th goal, Durzi added, “First off, as a guy, he’s unbelievable. I mean, we can talk about him forever, just you know how much he means to this team, as a person, and the energy he brings, the competitiveness, the fire, all that stuff. But as a hockey player, he’s special. I remember the first time that I met him, you see his release. And then if you compare it to now, it gets better every day. So he’s an awesome guy, awesome player. Couldn’t be more happy for him. I think a lot of the guys wanted him to hit that milestone, even though they wouldn’t say it. But we’re all rooting for him, trying to find him out there, and for him to get 40, it’s only a little bit of a teaser of what’s to come. He’s a great hockey player and a great person, couldn’t be happier.”

“Yeah, I mean, it feels good, definitely something that I was eyeing down the stretch, said Guenther of his milestone. “So really great play by those guys again [Keller & Sergachev], and it’s definitely nice to have.” Asked about what Utah learned in the game, Guenther said, “Yeah, I think just being ready, and I think we didn’t necessarily do all the right things right tonight. But when we do the right things, we’re one of the best teams in the league. And I thought that we outplayed them for bits and parts of the second. If we do that, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was asked if having a 40-goal scorer gives his teammates more confidence. “I don’t know if the number is something that effects our confidence,” Bear said, “but having Gunner in our lineup, knowing how he can play, how he can shoot, his release, his shooting ability, all of that, that for sure helps our confidence, because you know what he can do. I think he’s a great weapon for us. The growth in his game, it’s clear. I think this year, like I said many times, we wanted him to become the player he is right now. Being able to contribute in different ways, score goals in different ways, contribute in a whole lot of different ways, from checking, to producing offensively, so on and so forth.” On his key takeaways from the game, Tourigny said, “There’s a few things like I said, the start, the intent you need to be able to match the intensity or take the momentum early on is one. There were some moments of frustration at some points where we needed to stay even keeled. I think the guys reacted really well after that was pretty good. They are a pretty tight checking team. I liked the way that we progressed in the game of playing against that style. If there’s space, we have the skill and we can make plays, but when there’s no space, you have to be able to generate different ways. Creating space behind the D and stuff like that. I like the way we generated in the second half of the game. Generate that way, and that was positive. So there’s a few takeaways.”

Utah (43-30-6) hits the road for one final away game on Sunday against the Calgary Flames before finishing out the season at home on Tuesday and Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues.