Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) fights for the puck against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom (40) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Salt Lake City.Melissa Majchrzak/AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY– Dylan Guenther opened the scoring for the third straight season with a pair of power play goals, and Karel Vejmelka was perfect in net for Utah in 6-0 victory over Chicago.

Almost exactly five months to the day from the night the Utah Mammoth were eliminated from their first playoff run by the Vegas Golden Knights, the Mammoth opened the 2026-2027 season at home on Thursday night at Delta Center against the Chicago Blackhawks in a repeat matchup of the squad’s inaugural season home opener in which they defeated Chicago 5-2.

Making their Utah debuts on the evening were former New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, former New York Ranger and Team USA gold medalist Vincent Trocheck, and former Boston Bruin Andrew Peeke.

Delta Center completed Round 2 of major renovations during the offseason in which the sight lines of the upper bowl were much improved and steep.  The media have relocated to a brand new press box with a completely unobstructed view of the entire ice sheet.

From the moment the puck dropped, the Mammoth dominated the ice in mid-season form while the Blackhawks appeared to have suffered from a shortened pre-season.

Chicago netminder Arvid Soderblom initially managed to keep Utah off the scoresheet for most of the opening frame, but at 15:53 Artyom Levshunov was whistled for holding against Lawson Crouse, awarding the Mammoth their first power play opportunity of the season. 

At 16:40 Dylan Guenther cashed it in for his first goal of the season which has become a franchise tradition for the star forward who also registered the first goal in each of the previous two seasons against Chicago (10/8/24) and Colorado (10/9/25).

Guenther is the only Mammoth player to record two multi-goal performances in season openers, with the other one also coming at the expense of the Blackhawks. Of the 11 goals scored by Utah in its first three season openers, Guenther accounts for 5 of them.

His snap shot was assisted by captain Clayton Keller and forward Logan Cooley. Before the completion of the goal announcement, Utah forward Michael Carcone quickly made it 2-0 on a wrist shot assisted by Kevin Stenlund.  The period ended with the Mammoth scoring twice on 13 shot attempts, and Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka stopping all 7 Blackhawk shots on goal.

At 9:47 of the second period, Utah forwardNick Schmaltz made it 3-0 on a snap shot assisted by newcomer Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.  Anders Lee got into the action a few minutes later tipping in a shot by Andrew Peeke for his first goal in Mountain Blue to put Utah up 4-0 with the additional assist credited to Dmitri Simashev.

With Blackhawk forward Frank Nazar in the sin bin for cross-checking against Jack McBain, Guenther picked up his second power play goal of the game at 15:28, assisted by Keller and Lawson Crouse, giving the Mammoth a commanding 5-0 lead and matching their offensive output from the home opener two years ago. Utah finished the period with an additional 13 shots on goal while Chicago was held to just two attempts.

The Mammoth continued to control the pace of the game well into the third period when Daniil But tipped in a shot by Michael Carcone at 12:50 of the final frame to make it 6-0 in favor of the home team, with the additional assist to defenseman Nate Schmidt. 

From that point onward Utah played solid defense in front of Karel Vejmelka who stopped all 15 shots he faced in the win. For the Mammoth, a four-game pre-season was all they needed to hit the ground running. The Blackhawks might be wishing they’d had more time to  prepare

In the winning locker room, Guenther was asked which areas of the team’s season opener he liked the most. “I think just consistency and attacking them the same way,” the Mammoth forward responded. “We had a game plan going in, wanted to get a lot of shots and a lot of good forechecks, and probably just get going after that goal.” As for the team’s defensive effort, he added, “Good tracking, good gaps. Forcing them to dump it in, and just playing our game. We’re fast, so just trying to keep applying pressure on them.” On the team’s depth, Guenther said, “Yeah, it’s great to see. I think everyone’s anxious to get the season going. So to start like that is a good feeling. I hope we can just take that momentum into the long roadie.”

Captain Clayton Keller commented on what his squad did well.  “I thought we had good pace from the start. We knew they were a fast, skilled team, and I thought we put pucks behind them, used our speed. Every single line was playing the same way, and just kept rolling it over and didn’t get away from our game.” On holding Chicago to 15 shots on goal, Keller said, “I think just having lots of pace in the D zone. We talked about that a lot, and trying to take away their time and space, so I think we did a good job tonight, and we got to continue to do that every single night.” As for getting that first win of the season, the captain remarked, “I think it’s a good start. It’s a start that you want to have a big one like that, and now we have to keep it going. Short memory, learn from the mistakes in the game tonight, and go into this road trip.”

A clearly pleased head coach André Tourigny opened his press briefing by saying, “Very good game, obviously. But what I retained is the pace we had; we were on pucks, we were on them. We made it really tough, as tough as possible on (Chicago). The other thing I really liked is the way we were at the net. A lot of our goals were through traffic, with traffic, traffic [to] create rebounds or deflections. (Logan Cooley) is at the net screening the goalie; (Anders Lee) is driving the net and creating a deflection…Same thing on (Nick Schmaltz’s) goal; (Vincent Trocheck) is at the net screening the goalie, gives a rebound for (Schmaltz). (Schmaltz) was driving the net, put the rebound in. I liked our D. We took a lot of shots. (Mikhail Sergachev) took a lot of shots, (Dimitri Simashev) and all our [defensemen]. They throw pucks at the net. I could go one by one…They put pucks on the net, so that was really good. The power play scored a big goal to start. We had a chance at the start of the game, could not get it in. But our power play got us going. From there, I think we were really comfortable in the game.” On Karel Vejmelka’s poise and calmness in a quiet game, Bear said, “He was confident out there; he was solid. When he had to come up big, he made the big save. I like his performance; no doubt about it, but I like how the guys wanted to do the right thing for him at the end. They played the right way, and we kept them on the outside. I think it’s a good team mentality, and I think we played for each other.” When asked how the crowd response felt in light of the recent renovations to the arena, Tourigny said, “Every game that I coach in (this) building, it’s been amazing. They are supportive, they are into it, they’re loud. They’re great. We get spoiled. We knew what to expect tonight. They did not disappoint. They were great. They showed up, like usual in Utah. It was great.”

The Mammoth (1-0-0) now embark on a five game road trip through Columbus, New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Buffalo before returning home for another single-game homestand on October 13 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.