Category: Utah Hockey Club

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Celebrate No Kings With 6-2 Siege In Los Angeles

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (right) and defenseman Mikail Sergachev (98) celebrate Cooley’s goal in the in the first period at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sat Mar 28, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

Logan Cooley and Alexander Kerfoot each scored a pair as the Utah Mammoth (38-30-6) defeats the Los Angeles Kings (29-26-18) twice in six days. Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena in the Southland the Mammoth crushed the Kings 6-2.

On a day where so-called “No Kings” protesters took to the streets in many American cities to express their opposition to President Trump and ICE, the Mammoth (38-29-6) took to the ice in Los Angeles where they put their own spin on “No Kings” with a dominant 6-2 victory over L.A. who entered the game at 29-25-18, further solidifying their position atop the Western Conference Wild Card standings with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot gave the Mammoth an early lead at 2:31 of the first period, tipping in a perfect pass from John Marino as he attacked the net for his 4th goal of the season. With three and half minutes remaining in the frame, Mikhail Sergachev shot the puck from the far blue line all the way down the ice and banking off the end boards and in front of the net where a charging Logan Cooley slid the puck beneath the pads of Darcy Kuemper for his 19th of the year to make it 2-0.

Cooley had such a lead over the nearest defender that no icing was called on the play, and Dylan Guenther picked up the additional assist. With a little over 2 minutes remaining, Kings Captain Anze Kopitar brought L.A. back to within one with his 12th goal of the season, deflecting a shot in front of the net by Adrian Kempe. But a minute later, Kopitar went to the box for tripping Guenther, giving Utah the first power play opportunity of the game.

With 9 ticks left on the clock, Cooley had the puck down low with no one to pass to, so he drove to the net himself and flipped the puck top shelf over the right shoulder of Kuemper for his second goal of the game and 20th of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Sergachev, sending the teams to their locker rooms with the Mammoth taking a 3-1 lead. Cooley is the sixth Mammoth player to reach 20 goals this season, most of any team in the NHL, joining Guenther, Nick Schmaltz, JJ Peterka, Keller, and Lawson Crouse.

At 12:37 of the second period, Kerfoot made his way with the puck to the bottom of the left faceoff circle near the Kings net. As he looked for someone to pass to he realized that he had been left completely alone without a single defender challenging him, so he took his time to size up the angle between himself and Kuemper and placed a perfect shot over Kuemper’s right shoulder, a near mirror-image of Cooley’s earlier goal, for his 5th of the year assisted by Ian Cole as the Mammoth took a 4-1 lead.

At 16:17 of the period, with Scott Laughton riding the pine in the sin bin for slashing against John Marino, Nick Schmaltz made it a 5-1 game batting in a one-timer off a pass from Keller for his 27th of the season, further assisted by Sergachev.

The Kings got one back at 4:34 of the third period when Adrian Kempe launched a blast up the middle through traffic for his 27th of the season. Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka was completely screened and had no play on the shot which narrowed the score to 5-2.

With more than six minutes remaining in the game, Los Angeles rolled the dice in pulling Kuemper early for an extra attacker, but the gamble failed when Jack McBain scored an easy empty netter for his 9th goal of the year, assisted by Peterka and Sergachev, to effectively put the game away 6-2. The Kings hoisted the white flag at that point, leaving Kuemper in net for the remainder of the contest.

The Mammoth, who until last week had never defeated the Kings since moving to Utah, wrap up their L.A. season series with a 2-1-0 record.

“Obviously it’s a battle for the playoffs and they’re right behind us and it was kind of a four-point game for us and it’s huge,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in the locker room. Talking about Saturday’s success on the power play including the closing seconds of the first period, Sergachev said, “We had a shot mentality. Everything started with the shot and then it opened up and our elite players made some elite plays and it paid off. Simplicity is the key. … Our power play hasn’t been great this year and lately it has been, and scoring that big goal shows the composure of the guys and the guys are not going down easily.” Speaking of the team’s defensive effort and the Kings’ pressure on Vejmelka, Sergachev added, “I think he was in danger tonight and he made some key stops and he played unbelievable.” The Mammoth have discussed what needs improvement as they continue the playoff stretch. “We know what we gotta do,” Sergachev said. “We’re just a young team. Sometimes emotions get the best of us like last game, we talked about it and today when emotions were getting the best of us we settled down, leaders, coaches, and it worked.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks saying, “Offensively we did a good job of attacking through quick strikes, putting pucks at the net, winning battles down low.” Speaking of the Kings, Bear said, “L.A.’s a veteran team, a good team, they’re making a huge push. They’re have a ton of reasons to fight for it. Their experience of winning [and] pedigree in that room. … We believe in ourselves as well. I think we haven’t been as good as we wanted since we [last] played them, but I think tonight it’s an opportunity for us at the biggest stage in the season to come up big.” Talking about playing the same team six days apart, Tourigny said, “You see exactly how they attack you. Where was the hole and what they were trying to do. The other way around is true as well. They will know, they will make some adjustments, so you need to be proactive in your thinking and what can be the key point there. At the end of the day I think we knew what they will do. They knew what we will do. The best team will win and I think the players will fight hard on both sides and that will be a helluva game.”

The Mammoth (38-30-6) continue their three-game Pacific coast road swing next Thursday in Seattle followed by a Saturday tilt in Vancouver before returning home to face the Edmonton Oilers on April 7. Five of Utah’s final six contests will be at home.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Ovechkin’s 34th Career Hat Trick Knocks Out Mammoth In 7-4 Prize Fight

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Washington Capital Alexander Ovechkin takes a shot on net against the Utah Mammoth in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Mar 26, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Fists flew with a fury in a thrilling cage match which also happened to feature a little bit of ice hockey and eleven goals including a hat trick from the greatest sniper in NHL history. The Utah Mammoth just couldn’t keep up losing in a three goal difference 7-4.

The Mammoth (37-29-6) wrapped up their four-game homestand Thursday night at Delta Center against the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, and the Washington Capitals (35-28-9). Fans streamed into Delta Center expecting a hockey game, and got a wild one with a bonus measure of Wrestlemania.

To say that the first period was explosive would be an understatement. It began in fairly innocent enough fashion, with Capitals forward Ivan Miroshnichenko scoring his first goal of the season a couple of minutes into the contest, assisted by Hendrix Lapierre and Jakob Chychrun.

Just past the halfway mark of the frame the chippiness began when MacKenzie Weegar and Anthony Beauvillier mixed things up, earning the pair a couple of minutes in the sin bin for roughing. While they were riding the bench, Dylan Strome joined his Washington teammate upon being whistled for tripping against Mikhail Sergachev, giving Utah its first power play opportunity of the evening.

About a half minute into the man-advantage, Utah Captain Clayton Keller passed the puck from behind the goal line to Mammoth scoring leader Dylan Guenther who one-timed the puck past Logan Thompson for his 35th of the season, with the additional assist to Sergachev.

Four minutes later the same trio of Mammoth stars combined on Guenther’s second goal of the night and 36th of the season when Keller drove the puck through traffic and dished to an open Guenther who danced around Thompson and put the puck between his pads to give Utah a 2-1 lead.

At 18:38 of the period, Mammoth forward Brandon Tanev incurred a two-minute minor for boarding Ryan Leonard, but Washington enforcer Tom Wilson attacked Tanev from behind to earn a double-minor for roughing, with both Tanev and Wilson also receiving 10-minute misconduct penalties following a spirited, profanity laden, bloody fight, sending both players to their respective locker rooms for the rest of the period.

Tanev received a standing ovation from the Delta Center faithful as he skated to the locker room, while Wilson received an ear-splitting chorus of boos. With Ovechkin serving the additional penalty to Wilson, Logan Cooley batted in a rebound with seven seconds left to give Utah a 3-1 lead as Wilson surely heard the goal horn blasting from the bowels of the arena.

Thompson finished the period stopping 8 of 11 shots while Mammoth backup netminder Vítek Vaněček turned away 7 of 8. It was unclear whether Vaněček was in net as a reward for his third period shutout of the Oilers on Tuesday, of if primary goalie Karel Vejmelka was being held out after having been shaken up a bit during the previous game.

Five minutes into the second period, Alexander the Great brought the Capitals back to within a goal with his 27th of the season, tipping in a shot from Rasmus Sandin. At 11:28 Ovi added an encore with his 28th goal on a snap shot, assisted by Dylan Strome and Trevor van Riemsdyk to draw even with Utah at 3-3.

Immediately upon the post-goal puck drop, Tanev dropped his gloves again, this time dancing with Brandon Duhaime as both players earned 5-minute major penalties for fighting. Thompson finished the period stopping all 13 Mammoth shots while Vaněček turned away 6 of 8.

Utah began the third period on the power play with Tom Wilson serving the remainder of an interference call carried over from the second period. No sooner did Wilson emerge from the box that he was jumped by Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse in retaliation for Wilson’s earlier physical play.

After yet another fight, both players were assessed major fighting penalties, with Crouse picking up an additional 2-minute instigator penalty. Washington quickly capitalized on the disciplinary lapse, with Beauvillier tipping in his 13th of the season on the power play, assisted by Cole Hutson and Connor McMichael, to put the Capitals up 4-3.

At 6:02 of the frame, Rasmus Sandin gave Washington a 2-goal lead on a snap shot, assisted by Beauvillier. Two minutes later, newly acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar brought the Mammoth back to within one with his first Utah goal and fourth overall on the season, assisted by Keller and Alexander Kerfoot. Hope began to fade, however, when Ivan Miroshnichenko slipped a backhand shot past Vaněček for his second of the night and season, assisted by Chychrun at 9:54.

Down 6-4 with under ten minutes remaining, Mammoth head coach André Tourigny pulled Vaněček in favor of Vejmelka. Veggie did his part to shut down Washington the rest of the way, but gave way for an extra attacker in the closing minutes. With the game effectively out of reach, Ovechkin received an ovation from fans of both teams which he completed the hat trick into an empty net with six seconds remaining on the clock for a final score of 7-4.

“I think it was obviously an emotional game and great fight by our guys sticking up for each other the entire game no matter what happened,” Mammoth Captain Clayton Keller said after the game. “It’s a tight brotherhood in here, and every guy will do that for one another. I was proud of the fight we showed, and that’s a different game, one maybe we haven’t experienced with a lot of penalties and a lot going on. I think we have to learn to just stay mentally focused and calm in those situations. I thought we had good chances and things like that. Everyone’s gotta look in the mirror, we all got better and we all know that. Still super confident with our group. This is the most exciting part of the year and the most exciting hockey. We’re all positive, and we’ll learn from it and go to L.A.” On the team’s physicality, Keller said, “Our team, we can play any style. We can play heavy, we can play the skilled game, and I think that’s what makes us good. We always bounce back, we always seem to rise to the challenge most nights. I thought we did that tonight. Obviously not the result that we wanted, but super pumped. It’s a good feeling when you see your teammates do that for one another and for other guys, that goes a long way.”

Forward Logan Cooley addressed the brotherhood of the team in the hard fought contest. “It’s awesome. Crouser sticking up, Turbo gives us a ton of energy, and like you said, it’s a brotherhood in here, and we stick up for each other. It was great to see and that’s something that we take and build off of.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game comments saying, “It is tougher to talk with emotion and everything, but I will try to keep it brief. I am disappointed in the way we controlled our emotions. I am a big believer in team toughness, showing up for your teammates, and stuff like that. But there is a way to do it. The more important thing is that we got carried away emotionally. It’s part of the game, but you need to stay composed, and you need to keep playing. We got carried away from there, and that cost us. That’s the first thing. The second thing is we need to be better at staying present and staying focused on what we have to do. We take leads, then we focus on the outcome we want instead of on what we have to do to keep playing well and paving our way. Instead, we focus on the outcome and get paralyzed. That is the situation of the standings and everything. We need to apply pressure and react to it in better ways.” Continuing to talk about passion and emotion, Bear said, “It’s positive as long as it doesn’t take you out of your game. That is just the way it is. We think that was emotional… If you play in the playoffs, it will be like that in the warm-up. So you cannot get carried away with that emotion. It is great to have emotion, but you need to stay in control. So I love the mindset of showing up for each other and everything. I am a huge believer in team toughness. I talk about that all the time. I love that. But that cannot take you away from what you have to do. And we talk about that, like I said, it is more when we have the lead 3-1, and we are playing really well and applying a lot of pressure, and then we start to be less aggressive in our play and give some hope. They’re just that, we need to be able to sustain our play, but now our focus is more on the result, and that is stuff that gets you away from what you have to do. So we need to reprogram the brain to focus on what we have to do, period. Whatever the circumstance, whatever the adversity, the emotion of the game, or so on and so forth. That doesn’t mean you don’t have team toughness. That doesn’t mean you don’t have emotion. You just control that stuff.”

The intensity level between Tuesday and Thursday was night and day. When asked how the team can carry Thursday’s intensity into the next game in Los Angeles while maintaining discipline, Tourigny commented, “I like the way you brought it. I think we – you could see the passion of our players tonight, you could see the work, you could see the intensity, the emotion and all of it. It’s always … whatever the situation, sustaining something, consistency, right? That’s a secret of success. You know, it’s not about doing one great thing one time in your life. For once again, or one day, or one hour, is being capable of sustaining elite every day. We had great, great emotion today. Now it’s important to unpack what we need to do better, but we need to find that emotion [in] our work and put it under control for the next game.”

The Mammoth (37-30-6) will square off against the Kings (29-25-18) in Los Angeles on Saturday, followed by the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks before returning to Delta Center on April 7 to face the Edmonton Oilers.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Flattened By Oilers In 5-2 Beatdown

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid (97) takes the puck up the ice against the Utah Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz (8) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Mar 24, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Edmonton Oilers capitalized 5-2 on a sloppy Utah Mammoth performance with Connor McDavid picking up his 39th and 40th goals, and 400th in his career, in a game which was never really contested.

The Mammoth (37-28-6) squared off against the Oilers (34-28-9) at Delta Center on Tuesday night for the third of four games on the current homestand. The Oilers entered the matchup as one of just two NHL teams which Utah has never defeated, the other being the Dallas Stars.

At 11:12 of the first period, Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot kicked off the scoring with his third goal of the season, technically assisted by Sean Durzi and Ian Cole, but his drive ricocheted off the bodies of Edmonton defensemen Darnell Nurse and Connor Murphy before sailing like a knuckleball over the shoulder of a helpless Tristan Jarry in the Oilers net who couldn’t keep up with the rapid fire changes of puck direction.

Jack Roslovic evened things up a few minutes later when his wrist shot got past Karel Vejmelka for his 18th goal of the season, assisted by Jake Walman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, resulting in a 1-1 tie as the two squads entered their locker rooms. Jarry stopped 2-3 Mammoth shots in the frame, while Vejmelka turned away 7-8.

11 minutes into the second period, Edmonton forward Zach Hyman gave Utah the first power play opportunity of the game, going to the penalty box for high-sticking against Clayton Keller. Hyman’s teammate Matt Savoie bailed him out, scoring a short-handed goal 24 seconds later, his 12th of the season assisted by Evan Bouchard, to put the Oilers ahead 2-1.

35 seconds later, Utah Assistant Captain Lawson Crouse cashed in on the power play with his 20th goal of the season, the fourth time he has reached this milestone in his career, assisted by Michael Carcone and MacKenzie Weegar, evening things up 2-2.

That lasted all of eight seconds when Connor McDavid won the ensuing faceoff and then scored his 39th goal, and 400th of his career, assisted by Matthias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard. The Oilers continued to step on the gas, with Roslovic netting his second goal of the game at 15:04, assisted by Hyman and Bouchard, to give Edmonton a 4-2 lead.

All four goals for the two squads came in a span of 3 minutes and 40 seconds. André Tourigny called a 30-second timeout to settle his team down, and both teams shut down the other side the rest of the frame, with Jarry stopping 6 of 7 shots in the period and Vejmelka turning away 4 of 7.

The third period began with Vítek Vaněček replacing Vejmelka in goal for Utah, and he did his part to keep the Oilers off the scoreboard going 10-for-10 in stopped shots until the end when he was pulled for an extra attacker. The Mammoth have only ever scored once in a 6-on-5 situation, and Edmonton kept that streak of futility alive. With eight seconds remaining in the game, Connor McDavid sent everyone to the exits with an unassisted breakaway empty net goal, his 40th overall on the season, to give the Oilers a 5-2 victory in a game which wasn’t even that close. Edmonton continued its perfect domination of Utah, with the two squads scheduled to face one another for the final time this season on April 7 at Delta Center.

“It was tough, for sure,” said defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the locker room after the game. “I thought [the] first half of the game was good, showed some compete and then obviously the power play goal that we tied up was big. Then they scored right after that, and then again quickly right after that, and then I thought we lost the momentum. We didn’t have the energy after that. The compete level in 50/50 battles wasn’t really there either. Definitely something that comes within, it’s not something that you can teach. That’s definitely look yourself in the mirror type stuff, but I trust in this group and we’ll bounce back the right way.”

Alexander Kerfoot, who opened the night’s scoring with a pinball machine shot caroming off of two Edmonton players, addressed the team’s lack of follow through in the game. “We obviously just didn’t have enough of a pushback, in the third especially. We’re down two goals in a game, fighting for a playoff spot against a team who’s also fighting, and we didn’t even make them work for it, didn’t make them earn it. Disappointing. It’s on us,” Kerfoot said. When asked why Utah hasn’t been able to defeat the Oilers, Kerfoot responded somewhat indignantly, “How many games have we played, like six? We were winless against LA, won last game. They’re a good team. They’ve been in the cup finals twice in a row. It’s hard to beat good teams in this league. They’ve got some elite players. We’d like to do a better job against them, and it’s no excuse.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny, who coached his 400th career game on Tuesday night, said, “We did a lot of good stuff defensively, but I think we didn’t have our usual aggression and our pace, and we gave up too much time and space. Not that it cost us defensively, but it cost us offensively in a sense that we didn’t recover any puck play, we didn’t have the puck enough so that we let them maneuver too much with the puck. I will have loved us to be more aggressive on the puck carrier and generate turnovers or generate takeaways and stuff like that. So that’s what I think of the game.” Talking about the third period, Bear continued, “We didn’t have the puck enough. I think defensively, we were in contain mode. I have talked about that before, and I will repeat it. Your biggest enemy when you trail, is when you think you want to score, so instead you keep your tank, your energy for to go on offense. So what happens is you don’t have the puck, so you defend because you don’t have the same aggression. You don’t create a stop, you don’t create a hit where there’s a battle, then you can recover the puck and go on the offense. So you end up spending all your energy defending instead of spending quick energy defensively, recovering pucks, and then you can go on the offense. Instead of that, it’s a little bit of a human reaction, you get passive defensively. You keep your energy from going on the offense, and then you’re not going in the offense, because you end up not recovering the puck and the team and the other side keeps the puck below the goal line, and they play low, high, and so on and so forth. So you end up defending for the entire period. That’s what I think of the third period. We did not have the right aggression without the puck, so we had to defend away too much, and that took our offense away. That’s the period we generated the least, because we’re waiting for the offense instead of making it happen.”

Tourigny’s career won/loss record through Tuesday night is 164-191-45, with his Arizona record being 89-131-26 and his Utah record standing on the positive side of the ledger at 75-60-19.

The Mammoth (37-29-6) close out the current homestand on Thursday against the Washington Capitals (35-28-9) before embarking on a trio of Pacific coast games against Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver.

Schmaltz And Crouse Crown Kings 4-3 In Overtime

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Los Angeles Kings right wing Mathieu Joseph (17) lands on the ice after getting block by the Utah Mammoth during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in Salt Lake City. Melissa Majchrzak/AP

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Lawson Crouse scored twice in the first period and Nick Schmaltz added a pair including the overtime game winner as the Utah Mammoth defeat the Los Angeles Kings for the first time in franchise history 4-3 in overtime.

The Mammoth (36-28-6) welcomed the Kings (28-25-16) to Delta Center on Sunday evening, with Utah looking to reverse the result of their previous four encounters with L.A., all losses, since moving to the Beehive State.

Eight days ago, Kings captain Anže Kopitar passed legendary Hall of Fame forward Marcel Dionne, who last suited up for L.A. four decades ago in 1987, to become the team’s all-time points leader. In 20 NHL seasons, the two-time Stanley Cup champion also leads the team in career games played, entering Sunday’s contest with 451 goals and 860 assists for 1311 points in 1508 games. Off the ice, Kings Head Equipment Manager Darren Granger was recognized for working his 2500th NHL game.

The first period provided plenty of fireworks as Utah and Los Angeles put up four goals in a span of two minutes and 43 seconds. Mammoth Associate Captain Lawson Crouse got things going at 7:04 of the frame with his 18th goal of the season, set up perfectly from behind the net by defenseman John Marino.

Just 36 seconds later, Kings forward Alex Laferriere evened things up with his 18th goal, assisted by Quinton Byfield. At 9:19 it was Crouse striking again for his second of the game and 19th of the season, assisted by Alexander Kerfoot and Kevin Stenlund, but before the public address announcer could complete announcing the goal to the fans, Byfield launched a bullet unassisted past Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka for his 15th on the year at 9:47 to even the score at 2-2. Both teams’ defenses held the other side in check for the latter half of the period which ended with Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper stopping 13 of 15 shots and Vejmelka turning away 8 of 10.

The second period seemed as if it would end scoreless, but with less than four minutes remaining Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz was able to bat a rebound off a shot by Clayton Keller past Kuemper for his 25th goal of the season, his career high for a season, with Crouse picking up his 3rd point of the night with an assist, his eighth career three-point game, to take a 3-2 lead to the locker room. Karel Vejmelka was a perfect 10 in turning away L.A. shot attempts.

The third period was a carbon copy of the second, with neither team scoring until Artemi Panarin broke through for the Kings with three and a half minutes left, his 25th goal of the season assisted by Drew Doughty, to send the game into overtime.

At 1:46 of overtime, Schmaltz struck again with the game-winner for his 26th goal, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Kevin Stenlund, to deliver Utah’s first ever victory over L.A., setting a new career high in goals and tying his career high in points in the process.

“Huge. Obviously, this is a team that’s right on our heels, and we face them two times within a week,” said Lawson Crouse in the locker room after the game. On playing on a line with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz, Crouse said, “Obviously, with Kells and Schmaltzy, they’ve played together so long, they know each other like the back of their hands.

That chemistry, it’s great to jump in there and just play and just try to play fast for them. Be smart and heavy and try to win battles. Get to the net, and open the ice up for them. Obviously, they’re elite-level playmakers and finishers, so there’s a happy balance of getting to the net and trying to open up ice, but also being available for them to make quick plays to get shots on goal.”

Schmaltz talked about the squad’s determination and patience late in the game. “They had a push there in the third, we knew that was going to happen. At this time of year, I feel like every game’s super tight, so we didn’t really hold our heads down when they tied it up, we just took it to overtime. Huge two points for us.” When asked if the games are beginning to have a playoff feel, Schmaltz responded, “Guys are super competitive. Everyone wants to push their team into the playoffs, so guys are fighting for their lives out there. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of competitiveness, a lot of stuff after the whistles, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun out there. … It’s way more fun playing these games than knowing you’re going to tee it up at the end of April or whatever it may be. Super exciting to be in this position that we put ourselves in. We got some work to do left, but we put ourselves in a good spot.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny opened his postgame comments, saying, “I loved the urgency and I loved the intensity of our game. That’s a heavy team on the other side. It was important for us to be (competitive) in our battles. I think that in the first period we had unbelievable pace and we got the momentum. (Los Angeles) retaliated twice after we scored; it was a little bit unfortunate, but I really liked our first period. Then in the second, we were not as fast moving the puck. We were not as connected and we slowed down a little bit. They were playing well as well, so that helped them to apply a little bit of pressure on us. But we stayed with it and we found a way to score a big goal. I liked the way we played in the third period. I think we were still aggressive offensively and we made good plays. All in all, I’m really proud of the guys. I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line with (Mikhail Sergachev) and (MacKenzie Weegar) did an unbelievable job against their first line. (Nate Schmidt) was sick and could not finish the game. We finished at five (defensemen) and they were strong; played really well. Really proud of our D corps and obviously (Lawson Crouse’s) line with four goals, tough to ask for more.” With regard to the playoff feel, Bear commented, “It’s really important. We all know L.A. is fighting to catch up (to us). It’s a really important game. We have two games against them this week. We lost the last game at home. It’s important for us where we take a lot of pride in that. But it was a big game. They’re heavy. They play a helluva game. They’re competitive. They’re tough to play against. They put a lot of pucks on the net. You need to be hard around the net. I’m really proud of the way we responded.”

The Mammoth (37-28-6) will take on the Edmonton Oilers (34-28-9) for the third game of the homestand on Tuesday.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear In 4-1 Utah Home Loss To Anaheim

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

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.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: No Crosby, No Malkin, No Problem For Penguins In 4-3 Comeback Win Over Mammoth

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Pittsburgh Penguins center Tommy Novak (18) takes a shot on goal agianst the Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Mar 14, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah got off to a hot start on two first period goals by Dylan Guenther, but fell victim to undisciplined play as Pittsburgh fought back to deliver a fourth straight loss to the Mammoth 4-3.

The Utah Mammoth (34-26-6) closed out its brief two-game homestand on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins (32-18-15). Absent from the Penguins lineup were future Hockey Hall of Fame forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and it was noticeable on the ice as the game unfolded, or so it seemed in the beginning.

Dylan Guenther single-handedly accounted for all scoring in the opening frame. At 5:06 of the first, Guenther stole the puck from Penguins forward Blake Lizotte at the blue line and shot the puck under the outstretched pads of Pittsburgh goalie Stuart Skinner for his team-leading 32nd goal of the season, unassisted.

91 seconds later, with Anthony Mantha in the penalty box for cross-checking against Mikhail Sergachev, Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton put the puck off the goal post behind Skinner, and as the puck trickled along the goal line Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton knocked it away but directly into the skate blades of Guenther who was crashing the net.

Both the puck and Guenther crossed the goal line as the net came off of its moorings. The call on the ice was no-goal, but upon video replay it was determined that the puck had first crossed the goal line followed by Guenther.

Pittsburgh did not challenge whether the puck was kicked into the net, resulting in Guenther’s 33rd goal of the season, again unassisted, and the second-fastest two goals in franchise history. Earlier this season he established the fastest franchise two-goal mark in 78 seconds against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

According to NHL States, he is just the second NHL player to record two unassisted goals in under two minutes since the 2018-2019 season. With the ice sheet seemingly tilted in the direction of the Penguins goal throughout the period, Utah took a 2-0 lead into the locker room. Karel Vejmelka turned away all 7 shots by Pittsburgh, while Skinner turned away 12 of 14.

The Mammoth were sailing through the first half of the game when they ran into penalty trouble beginning at 13:39 of the second period when Lawson Crouse went to the sin bin for high sticking against Parker Wotherspoon.

A half minute later, Alexander Kerfoot joined him when he was whistled for interference against Rickard Rakell, giving the Penguins a lengthy 5-on-3 power play. Pittsburgh didn’t squander the opportunity as Anthony Mantha scored his 25th goal of the season, assisted by Erik Karlsson and Egor Chinakhov. Up to that point the game had seemed rather one-sided but with 2:34 remaining in the frame, Thomas Novak tied things up with his 15th goal of the season, assisted by Wotherspoon and Mantha. Utah managed only four futile shots on goal in the period while Vejmelka stopped 4 of 6 by the Penguins.

Utah began the third period on the penalty kill due to a late second period hooking penalty by Ian Cole against Bryan Rust. At 1:24, Rust converted the power play for his 24th goal of the season, assisted by Rakell and Chinakhov to take their first lead of the game 3-2.

Not quite three minutes later, Mammoth defenseman Ian Cole tied things up again 3-3 with his 3rd goal of the season, assisted by Alexander Kerfoot and Kevin Stenlund. Just past the 8-minute mark of the frame, the Penguins regained the lead on forward Noel Acciari’s 8th goal of the season, assisted by Wotherspoon and Karlsson, which ended up being the difference in the game.

“I think we’ve been trying to make a concerned effort to stick with the game plan, even though there were stretches of that game where we did a really good job sticking to it, and there were stretches where we kind of deviated and we got away from it,’ said defenseman Ian Cole in the locker room following the loss. “They ended up cutting out plays and transitioned back on us and, you know, call it ‘unforced errors, so yeah, we’re going to have to do some soul-searching and figure out how we want to win.”

Dylan Guenther opined, “I think you learn from stuff like this, but as much as you want to break everything down, you can’t beat yourself up for too long–there’s 15 games left, so make sure we learn from it, but it doesn’t bleed into our other games. … Learning’s important. But you don’t want it to bleed, you don’t want to get too emotional, if we get down 2-0 in the next game, you don’t want that to kind of snowball, I think it’s just the next shift. And being aware of the things that we have to fix, but making sure that it’s a clean slate going into every game.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks saying, “(It’s) disappointing. The first angle is that we had full control of that game, and instead of playing a mature, simple – get above them, put pucks deep and stuff like that – we forced the play with the puck and tried to do way too much. We took penalties in the (offensive) zone – most of them, except one – five in a row in the second. We gave them hope (with) bad line changes and stuff like that. So it’s not like we played (badly). Even if you play well but you (make) the wrong decisions and you don’t manage the game the right way, it’s a song we (sang) two months ago, before the break. The guys fixed it, we had success, but now we have to do it all over again. The lack of maturity today in our game and our management cost us the game. We were in full control, we had no reason.”

In his sober analysis of his team’s performance, Bear conceded, “It would have been unfair to win today, the way we managed the game. And I believe we generated way more offense than them – at five-on-five, we were the better team. It doesn’t matter, if you don’t manage the game the right way. It’s too good of a league. It’s not a league where you can gamble, and we gambled and we lost the game. … We had a great start, scored a big goal on the track on a strip, scored on the power play. We’re playing well, putting pucks at the net, we have traffic, we have opportunities – we’re in control. That has to be enough, and it wasn’t.”

The Mammoth (34-27-6) play a pair of games on the road next week in Dallas and Las Vegas before returning Friday for a four-game homestand beginning with the Anaheim Ducks.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Chicago Steals Season Sweep Against Utah In 3-2 Overtime Win

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Utah Mammoth Logan Cooley (92) take control of the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks Ryan Greene (20) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Mar 12, 2026 (Utah Mammoth X photo)

March 12, 2026

by Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Nick Schmaltz was cheered following his 8-year contract extension, as was MacKenzie Weegar in his Utah Mammoth home debut, but the Chicago Blackhawks completed the 4-0 season sweep in overtime with a 3-2 win Thursday night.

The Mammoth (34-26-5) returned to action at Delta Center on Thursday following a successful 3-1-1 road trip.  The team made headlines a day earlier when it was announced on Wednesday that forward Nick Schmaltz had signed an 8-year $64 million contract extension, locking up one of the final key pieces of the team’s core for the long term.  

At the conclusion of Utah’s inaugural season, several players remarked during exit interviews how much they enjoyed moving to Salt Lake City, particularly the players with young families who had integrated with their neighborhoods and had found so many activities for their children.  A short recap of some of their remarks at the time:

Defenseman Sean Durzi (signed through 2028): “One thing I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about is how well the organization has handled things and treats us, and then you look at the group and the direction we’re heading in, it’s gotta be a destination. I can’t say enough good things, from top to bottom, what this organization has done for myself and for the guys.”

Forward Liam O’Brien (signed through 2027): “It’s such a great city to have a family. My wife and my daughter really enjoy it. … It’s been great and I think there’s so much to do, too, with the kids in this area as well, so we really appreciate that. … We’ve got four or five guys with kids all within maybe six months of each other.”

Forward Logan Cooley (signed through 2034): “Right when we got here in the summer last year, the whole ceremony of welcoming us and the whole place is sold out and you could feel the excitement right away, and the first game was just unbelievable. … Neighbors have been great.”  

Forward Dylan Guenther (signed through 2033): “I think the ownership group is unbelievable, everything’s first class, our new practice facility is crazy nice, and the players they want to be here and they want to play here and they want to win in Utah.”  

Goalie Karel Vejmelka (signed through 2030): “I love the nature here, I love Utah. … It’s really easy to live here and I really like to spend some time outside when I have a day off. … The community and the hockey fans are great. We couldn’t ask for a better organization as a brand new team, so it’s just fun to play here and to live.”

Defenseman Ian Cole (UFA at end of 2026): “I feel like [Utah] is very family oriented.  There’s trampoline parks and play places, and a ton of fun stuff.” A teammate’s daughter was having a birthday party at a trampoline park later that day, to which Cole added, “that’ll be a ton of fun and I think that it’s something that kids love and there’s so many options, … so it’s a great place to raise a family for sure.”

Forward Lawson Crouse (signed through 2027): “I think when you take a look at our team, where we’re headed, the abilities and the skills that we have, that this is going to be a top place to play in the league. … I love waking up to the mountains every day. I find a sense of calming in that. Obviously we get a lot of sun here which is huge outside of the rink, and it’s just so beautiful when you drive around here, it’s a beautiful place. People are so friendly, and I couldn’t think of a better spot to raise my daughter here.”

Forward Alexander Kerfoot (UFA at end of 2026): “We’re building a lot of good things here. It’s an exciting time to be a part of this team and a part of this organization … we’re excited for the future. … I think that the trajectory that this team is on right now is something that we want to be a part of. I want to be on a team that’s trending in the right direction, and I think that the future here is really bright, and we want to be a part of that.”

Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (signed through 2030): “Utah is my home now. I could live here after I’m retired. I love this place.  People are very nice. It’s great. … Especially the guys who have families, I think this is the place to be. I haven‘t seen anything better yet.” 

Head Coach André Tourigny (signed through 2027): “What impressed me most are the people. Everywhere I go, from the restaurant, from everywhere in the crowd, even when I was coming in the Jazz game, it’s not necessarily the same fans, but people were talking about how much they embrace hockey, they didn’t know hockey and now they love the game, they love the team, and they love to come to the game. You never know, you’re going in a new city, people were talking about the culture of hockey, it’s not the same – we didn’t feel that at all. We didn’t feel we were kind of unknown or whatever, we really feel the people embrace our team and how excited they were. When you go somewhere and you feel people want you, that makes you feel really damn good. It’s tough to not get up, get out of your bed and not be excited, you’re excited, let’s get better today, let’s get at it, and I think that’s a credit to the people I just mentioned before, from our players to our ownership, but especially the fans.” 

General Manager Bill Armstrong: “The experience for myself, my family, my wife, it’s been incredible in Utah. Our neighborhood, the kids.  We went to the grocery store the other day, and a lady was petting our dogs and we were walking and she found out that we were with the hockey club, and she couldn’t thank us enough, ‘Thank you for coming!’ I can’t express the gratitude we have for our fans and the people of Utah.” 

Other key players under contract for several years to come include Captain Clayton Keller (2029), forwards JJ Peterka and Jack McBain (2030), newly acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (2031), and now Nick Schmaltz, Keller’s longtime linemate, signed through 2034 when the Winter Olympics come to Salt Lake City. “Getting guys locked in long-term just shows the commitment to winning here,” Schmaltz said to the assembled media at the new Mammoth practice facility in Sandy. “I think we’re right on the edge of being a really great team.” Of linemate Keller, Schmaltz said, “We’ve got a special bond. I think me and Keller have a special chemistry that you can’t really find around the league. He’s definitely a guy that I want to play with for the rest of my career. He makes my job a lot easier and we read off each other super well.” 

“There was never a doubt that Utah is where I want to play the rest of my career, and I’m thrilled to sign an eight-year extension,” Schmaltz said.  “We have a great core of players, and I know we can do some special things together here in Utah. We have a very bright future, and I am thankful to Ryan and Ashley Smith for wanting me to be a part of the group that will one day bring a Stanley Cup to Utah.” Of the Mammoth ownership, Schmaltz added, “Ryan and Ashley, they’ve given us every single tool to get better every single day. They built this amazing practice facility, they’ve done stuff at the Delta Center, renovations to make the building better. It just seems like they’re all-in on us. They do whatever it takes to win and they make our job easy, just to go out and perform.”  Schmaltz recalled his first impression of Utah when the players first arrived after the announcement of Smith Entertainment Group’s acquisition of the franchise. “Seeing hundreds of kids lined up, excited to have an NHL team, then going to the Delta Center that night with a sold-out crowd just to see us walk on the stage. It was eye-opening.”

With the new contract, which includes a full no-movement clause for the next two seasons, a no-trade clause for the following two seasons, and conditional no-movement clauses beyond that, Schmaltz can safely put down permanent roots.  “My fiancée and I love it here, so we’re super excited to get settled down and hope we can find some real estate here.” He shouldn’t have any difficulty doing that.

General Manager Bill Armstrong admitted that he had lost sleep over Schmaltz’s pending unrestricted free agent status. “The thought of losing Nick left me sleepless night after night after night, thinking about what he would get in free agency,” Armstrong said. “We didn’t want to lose him.” Armstrong joked about the text messages he would receive from Schmaltz’s agent when he had a hat trick or other noteworthy performances, and how at one point during a game he caught the glare of Schmaltz’s fiancée, telepathically messaging to him to get the contract done.

“We are thrilled that Nick chose Utah and wants to remain with the team for the next eight years,” Armstrong said. “Nick is a tremendous player and person who is very deserving of this contract. We expect him to continue producing on the ice and leading our young, skilled forwards for years to come.  This is another great day for Mammoth fans and our organization.”

“There’s a lot of momentum building around our team, and extending Nick Schmaltz is an important part of continuing that,” SEG Chairman and CEO Ryan Smith said at the press conference.  “Utah is becoming a true destination in the NHL, and Nick’s long-term commitment reflects the excitement around what we’re building here.”  Smith continued, “I think people are starting to see, ‘Utah’s actually a place I want to live. You leave this facility, you’ve got that beautiful mountain range right in the back. You can get anywhere around here. You can fly anywhere. Utah’s pretty special and I think everyone is starting to see that.”

Getting back to Thursday night’s hockey game between the Mammoth and the visiting Chicago Blackhawks (24-29-11), Utah had gone 0-2-1 against them in their three prior encounters this season, two of them having taking place just this month.  In the starting lineup for the Mammoth was MacKenzie Weegar, acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames during the road trip.

The opening period was a scoreless draw, with Spencer Knight stopping all 6 Utah shots on goal, and Karel Vejmelka turning away all 4 shots from Chicago.

Dylan Guenther opened the scoring in the second period, netting his team-leading 31st goal of the season on a snap shot at close range over the right shoulder of Knight into the top corner of the net, assisted by Logan Cooley and Mikhail Sergachev, who returned to the lineup after a four game absence with a lower body injury. Guenther becomes the first player in franchise history to score 31 or more goals, surpassing Clayton Keller’s inaugural season tally of 30.  The remainder of the frame remained scoreless, with Knight stopping 6 of 7 Mammoth shots and Vejmelka turning away all 8 attempts by Chicago.

19 seconds into the third period, Jack McBain and Ilya Mikheyev got into a tussle and went to the penalty box for roughing against one another. During the 4-on-4, Chicago’s Sam Rinzel used his arm to raise Clayton Keller’s stick into his own face, and was miraculously awarded the benefit of a high sticking penalty against Keller.  Replays showed just how blatant Rinzel’s self-harm was, but the Blackhawks cashed in on the 4-on-3 advantage to tie the score when Tyler Bertuzzi put the puck past Vejmelka for his 28th of the season, assisted by Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, as the booing fans made clear their contempt for the officiating. Near the midpoint of the third, Chicago pulled ahead 2-1 when Frank Nazar scored his 10th og the season, assisted by Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, JJ Peterka tied things up again at 2-2 with his 22nd of the year, assisted by Michael Carcone, which ultimately sent the game into overtime.  

The Mammoth and Blackhawks traded chances for nearly four minutes of the bonus frame, but with just over a minute remaining, Nick Schmaltz went hard at the Chicago net and crashed into the boards as the Blackhawks recovered the puck and drove the length of the ice with a 3-on-2 where Connor Bedard completed Chicago’s season sweep over Utah with 63 seconds left on his 27th goal of the season, assisted by Alex Vlasic and Nick Lardis. 

Mammoth forward Jack McBain, who recorded a career-high 10 hits in the game (Liam O’Brien owns the franchise record with 11), faced the media in the locker room after the game.  “I thought our group had a really good effort, we were really physical,” McBain began.  “It’s a team that’s gotten the best of us so far this year, and again tonight, but I thought we played a good game.” Of teammate Michael Carcone, who registered 8 hits of his own, McBain said, “[Carcone] is a good player, he’s feisty, he gets into battles, he’s really good on the forecheck, he’s obviously really fast, and he’s a fun guy to play with. I thought he had a strong game tonight. He made a great play on the backcheck there. It’s a huge point for us, obviously, two would’ve been better, but we’re going to be proud of the effort and carry on.”

JJ Peterka, who initially tied the game in the third period, spoke on the challenge of playing the Blackhawks this season. “They play with a lot of speed, they’re obviously a highly skilled team. They make a lot of good plays. I think they had very good chances. I think that’s what we’ve been struggling with.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game comments by saying, “Not the result we wanted, but we played a hell of a game. We hit, we were physical, we’re fast. We generated a lot of offense. We actually had 33 shot attempts from the slot, probably our highest of the season. Jack McBain was a force out there, physical. It was huge for us. I think there’s a lot of positives, a lot of stuff I like about that game. Carcs, hell of an effort on the tying goal, tracks, trip. Timely goal from JJ, but we’re in that stage where we need to find a way to get two points, no doubt. But as well, we got a big point, and we played a hell of a game. I liked the way we played, and if we play like that, the result will follow. Proud of the guys, proud of the effort. The attitude on the bench, chatting in the room, four lines going, four lines buying pressure and being tough to play against. Other than the score, there’s not much I didn’t like.” Speaking of Chicago, who rank 30th out of 32 teams this season, Bear said, “Yeah, they’re a better team than people think. Look at their game, before they played us last game, they had just lost in overtime against Dallas. They’re in the game every night. Before the break, they had a hell of a stretch where they were in the game all the time. They can skate, they have size, and their goaltending is really good, so they’re in the game every night, so you need to be as close as possible to perfection. It’s a good team. We’ve been there where we were the younger team, where we were in the probably 60 games during the season, where we were in the mix, but we had a stretch of games where we lost too many games and that got us out of the race. That’s exactly what has happened to Chicago. They had a stretch where they could not win games. They won something like two or three games on a stretch of 15 and 16 games that pushed them out of the race. Other than that, if you look at their record, every other stretch of the season, they are as good as any team who are in the mix to make the playoffs. So they’re a good team. There’s no excuses. We are capable of beating that team. I don’t want to use excuses. I want to give them credit, and I know tonight, we played well enough to win. It was not like that during all the games against them, but tonight, I liked our effort.” Tourigny skillfully declined comment about Rinzel’s lifting of Keller’s stick into his own face.

Utah (34-27-5) wraps up a brief two-game homestand on Saturday with an evening tilt against the Pittsburgh Penguins (32-18-15), after which they’ll hit the road for a pair in Dallas and Las Vegas.  The Penguins are tied with the Los Angeles Kings for the most overtime losses this season.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Blackhawks Blank Fossilized Mammoth 4-0 at the Delta Center

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

 Arvid Soderblom #40 and Tyler Bertuzzi #59 of the Chicago Blackhawks celebrate after a game against the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center on March 1, 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Eli Rehmer/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah was never really engaged in sluggish Sunday matinee performance to wrap up Olympics-interrupted homestand which began in January.

The Utah Mammoth (31-21-4) took to the ice early Sunday afternoon for the first of three games against the Blackhawks (22-28-9) in a 12 day span, the next one taking place in Chicago on March 9 following three days later when Utah returns to Delta Center on March 12 from a five-game road trip. The Blackhawks behind the goaltending of Arvid Soderblom shutout the Mammoth 4-0 on Sunday.

The first period seemed destined to end in a scoreless draw, until Utah defenseman Nate Schmidt was whistled for tripping against Frank Nazar to give Chicago their fourth power play opportunity of the opening frame. Teuvo Teravainen was able to convert the man advantage for the Blackhawks with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Tyler Bertuzzi, to give Chicago a 1-0 lead heading into the locker room. Blackhawks Soderblom went 8-for-8 in turning away Mammoth shots on goal, while Karel Vejmelka stopped 11 of 12.

Utah has often struggled in second periods of play this season, but in this game the lack of potency was even more evident than usual. At 11:38, Mammoth defenseman Ian Cole attempted to clear the puck in a battle behind the net with Chicago forward Landon Slaggert, but sent it right up the middle and straight to the stick of Blackhawk forward Nick Foligno who easily beat Vejmelka for his third goal of the season, unassisted, to double the lead at 2-0.

89 seconds later, Slaggert would lob a shot at the net which bounced off of Vejmelka’s glove and over his shoulder into the back of the net for Slaggert’s third goal of the season, assisted by Oliver Moore and Artyom Levshunov, to make it 3-0 Chicago against the listless Utah defense. Soderblom finished the period a perfect 10-for-10 in saves, while Vejmelka stopped seven of nine.

A minute into the third period, the Blackhawks opened the door for the Mammoth when Louis Crevier went to the sin bin for tripping against Clayton Keller. But continuing the defensive meltdown of the second period, Utah promptly coughed up a shorthanded goal to Teravainen, his second goal of the game, to put Chicago up 4-0, which is where things ended up at the end of 60 minutes. Throughout the game, the Mammoth skated as if chained to anvils on both legs.

Possibly the most serious, competitive athlete in Utah’s lineup, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, was dispatched to face the media in the locker room. “Obviously, it’s a tough, tough performance, and our fans deserve better, a lot better than that,” Sergachev began. “But, you know, it just happens to everyone. We’ve been playing really good hockey lately, and we just got to get back to that, and through hard work. And we’re gonna do it.” What was the difference between Sunday afternoon and Thursday night’s dominant victory over the Minnesota Wild? “We just felt connected against Minnesota, Sergachev said. “We were trying to get open for each other, we were working for each other in the D-zone, when our guy got beat, the second guy would always be there to help. Today just didn’t feel like that, and throughout the whole game.” Of course, it is difficult to get an offense going when taking so many penalties, albeit the only Utah penalty the remainder of the game was a 10-minute misconduct awarded to Sean Durzi with 58 seconds left in regulation, and did not result in a shorthanded situation. Sergachev addressed that, saying, “when you’re disconnected, you’re chasing the game, and when you’re chasing the game, you’re taking penalties. Then just one goes over the other, and you’re losing the game that way. And we’ll let it slip, obviously, and in the second period, we just can’t do that. Obviously, we didn’t play well throughout the whole game, but that moment in the second period, I think we could have helped a little better, maybe score a goal. But it doesn’t really matter. Give Chicago credit, they played a hell of a game. They’re a good, fast team.”

Head Coach André Tourigny stated to open his post-game remarks, “I am obviously extremely disappointed about all of us: coaches and players. I think we have to be much better. There is no reason that (game) should ever happen. That kind of effort in front of fans… I am really disappointed in us, and it is on all of us, starting with me. That cannot happen again.” Tourigny agreed with the sentiment that the team just didn’t have their head in the game. “I don’t know how you play like that. I do not have much explanation for why our head was in that space. I don’t know. … Other than JJ’s line, I don’t think we did one good thing tonight. … I don’t think anyone was good. JJ’s line was alright. I don’t think about the goaltender or power d, power forward, forecheck, our back check, our d-zone, our power play, our PK.. I cannot find you a bright spot.”

Utah (31-22-4) plays its first road game since January 29 on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals (31-24-7), followed by games in Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago, and Minnesota before returning home on March 12 where they hope to give the fans a better performance against the Blackhawks than they experienced on Sunday.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Make Minnesota Weary In 5-2 Drubbing

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Utah Mammoth Clayton Keller (9) shot gets pass Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (30) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Feb 27, 2026 (photo by Tom Walker)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–A tired Minnesota Wild squad, coming off of a 5-2 win in Colorado on Thursday, were outpaced start to finish by Utah’s high energy performance February 27, 2026 this tine losing to the Utah Mammoth 5-2 at the Delta Center.

The Utah Mammoth (30-24-4) squared off on Friday night against the Minnesota Wild (35-14-10) for the second of three contests between the teams this season. Back in October the Mammoth defeated the Wild in Minnesota by a score of 6-2. Two Utah players reached significant milestones during the game, with defenseman Nate Schmidt appearing in his 800th career game and forward Jack McBain suiting up for his 300th.

Schmidt is one of just six active undrafted players to reach the 800 game milestone. Matt Boldy, who scored the opening goal of Team USA’s victory over Canada in the Olympic gold medal game in Milan last Sunday, leads the Wild with 34 goals, while Team USA teammate Quinn Hughes leads his squad averaging 28:13 in time on the ice.

Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot gave Minnesota a power play opportunity at 11:38 of the first period, going to the penalty box for hooking against Ryan Hartman. The Mammoth did a great job of intercepting and clearing the puck, enabling a steady stream of fresh bodies with multiple short shifts.

With a half minute remaining in the penalty kill, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev took the puck up the ice from Utah’s defensive zone and across the Wild blue line where he dished the puck to McBain who skated the puck around the backside of the net before passing to Logan Cooley who then sent the puck back to Sergachev at the top of the blue line.

Sergachev put the puck back up the middle where McBain deflected it to Cooley who found the five-hole of Minnesota netminder Jesper Wallstedt for a shorthanded goal with 15 seconds remaining in the penalty kill. Cooley’s 15th goal of the season is his first since November 28 in Dallas, coming in his second game back from Injured Reserve.

The shorthander was the second of the season and third overall in Cooley’s career. The Mammoth took the 1-0 lead into the locker room, with Wallstedt stopping 14 of 15 Utah shots in the period, and Karel Vejmelka turning away all 5 Wild attempts.

At 4:26 of the second period, Mammoth Captain Clayton Keller doubled Utah’s lead with his 18th goal of the season, a wrist shot, assisted by Nick Schmaltz. A few minutes later, Associate Captain Lawson Crouse beat Wallstedt with a backhand for his 15th on the year, assisted by Keller and Schmaltz, to put the Mammoth up 3-0.

At 14:03 of the period, with Kailer Yamamoto in the sin bin for tripping Danila Yurov, Kirill Kaprizov got one back for the Wild with his 33rd goal of the season, assisted by Boldy and Mats Zuccarello. Later in the frame, Utah’s leading scorer Dylan Guenther thought he had his 28th goal of the season, but upon video review it was clear that the play was offside. Nevertheless, the Mammoth finished the second period holding onto a 3-1 lead. Shots were more even during the frame, with Wallstedt stopping six of eight and Vejmelka turning away nine of ten.

Barely over a minute into the third period, with a power play carrying over from the second when Minnesota defenseman Zach Bogosian was whistled for interference against Michael Carcone, Barrett Hayton put Utah up 4-1 on a slap shot for his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Sergachev and Keller.

With the assist, Keller becomes the first Utah player to reach 100 assists with the team since relocating from Arizona. With just over seven minutes remaining in regulation, the Mammoth spent what seemed like an eternity passing the puck around in the Wild zone, which often leads fans to scream “Shoot the puck!” to no avail as one too many passes results in the defending team thwarting the scoring effort.

This time, however, Lawson Crouse found the back of the net for his second goal of the game and 16th of the season, assisted by Sean Durzi and Jack McBain, to give Utah a commanding lead with time slipping away for the Wild. Crouse already has four more goals this season with March and April to go than he had in all of 2024-2025. Minnesota managed to scrounge up one final sign of life when Matt Boldy scored his 35th of the season, assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson, but they completely ran out of steam afterward.

Trailing 5-2, the Wild never bothered to pull Wallstedt for an extra attacker in the closing minutes. Vejmelka stopped 21 of 23 shots for his 28th win of the season which ties him with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the most NHL wins so far this season.

In the visitor locker room after the game, defenseman Brock Faber was asked about his Team USA teammate, Clayton Keller. “Playing against him every time, it feels like the past two years he’s definitely had our number. He’s so skilled, so fast. He was put in a little different role there, and he still bought into that role, and that just shows the person he is, how unselfish he is, and how bad he wanted to help that team win. I’ve said it so many times, he’s definitely one of the hardest players, in my opinion, to play against in this league. It shows his character, too, when he’s put in a little different role and still found a way to make the most of it.”

In the Mammoth locker room, Lawson Crouse talked about coming back after Wednesday’s loss to Colorado. “Yeah, just a great bounce-back game. The game the other night was a little bit difficult. Obviously, coming in after that much time off, we felt that we were playing towards our identity. We have talked a lot about that the last couple days. And just such a great answer from our group to go out there and play the way that we did for a full 60 minutes.” Asked about Keller’s persistent success against the Wild, Crouse said, “seems like it doesn’t matter what team we’re playing and he’s still picking up points. He’s just a lot of fun to play with, and a lot of credit to Schmaltz too. They play so well together, reading off each other. It’s just a lot of fun to play with them and a lot of fun to watch.”

For his part, Keller told the media, “We’re obviously a really fast team and can make a lot of plays, but I think the biggest thing for us is sticking to our identity as much as we can. It’s hard to do. I think we’ve gotten better as the years have gone on. The good teams are the most consistent. Even when you don’t feel your best, you find a way. I think we’re showing steps in the right direction. There’s got to be more consistency.” Keller continued to break down the game. “Obviously, a good first. Then in the second, there are times this year where we’ve kind of let off for whatever reason, if we didn’t score a few or they make a big save, but tonight, we just kept rolling it over shift after shift in the second. Just tried to play direct, simple, make them work for everything. I think we did a good job of that tonight.” Of his own line, he said, “Since we’ve been together, there’s some chemistry. We’re always talking about different things that we see in practice days, morning skate, and throughout the games. I think Crouser has been so big for us. He creates so much space for me and Schmaltzy. He does the little things that separate us. It’s great to see that he can finish too. He’s a really smart player, and I really enjoy playing with him.”

Of Keller and Schmaltz’s line, head coach André Tourigny said, “They have that sense, and they can hunt pucks and create turnovers and are good on the forecheck and stuff like that. They’re hungry, they want to go at it, and they stay on top of their opponent. What I like about them, and through the years, when they started to play together a few years ago, they were a rush line. I believe if you want to be a really good line, you need to be more in there, even if you’re productive on the rush. When the game gets tight and push comes to shove, you need to be able to be good at creating traffic by the net, be good on the forecheck, be good at playing in the dirty area and playing that grind game. That line became really good with the years of doing it. You saw today, the goal of Kells is a turnover caused by a lot of pressure on one of the best defensemen in the world. That shows how good, how good they can be when they have that aggression.” Asked about Cooley’s skating ability in his second game back from injury, Bear said, “It’s elite. I think what makes that kind of player special is he’s not just fast, but he’s smart. He can change direction, he can jump in the hole, he can see the space, he can be elusive, and he can make you think he’s going there, and then he’s going there. That makes him special. His skating is really, really good, but there’s other good skaters in the league, I’m not saying at his level, he’s probably in the top tier of the league and even more, but it’s more about adding the IQ to that. That’s what makes the difference. What I did like about his skating today, it was not fast and in the corner. It was fast and at the net, and that play will set up the next play and the next time where he can make a pass and so on and so forth.”

Tourigny spent some time talking about Lawson Crouse’s return to form this season. “It starts with his mindset. I don’t have enough time to express how much I respect this guy. Last year, rightfully so, he was feeling bad, and you see this year he was ready. You see how good he is, but more importantly, he handled that like a man, like a character, like an elite individual when you have adversity. When things are going well, this doesn’t need a university class to indulge yourself. It’s just a little bit of common sense and you’re good. When push comes to shove and it’s really tough and it’s really hard, and things are not going well, and you end up indulging yourself the way you did last year, he took ownership, took responsibility, stood in front of you, stood tall, head up and owned it. That means a lot. That meant a lot for me, I’m sure it meant a lot for you, for our fans, for our players in that room, for our management, everybody was kind of like okay that not a guy who points fingers and looks for excuses. He’s a guy who takes responsibility. He said to me in my exit meeting, we don’t need to talk. I will do my talking when I am back for training camp. I think he’s speaking really loudly this year. The respect I have for a guy who goes through adversity, everybody stumbles in life like it’s how you react to adversity. That’s why he’s one of our leaders and we’re really proud of him.”

Utah (31-24-4) closes out the homestand on Sunday with a 2:00pm tilt against the Chicago Blackhawks (22-27-9), whom they will play three times over a period of twelve days. The Mammoth continue to hold onto the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference standings.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Buried By Avalanche 4-2 In Return From Olympic Break

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Utah Mammoth Clayton Keller is a celebrated Olympian returning from the 2026 Winter Olympics to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Feb 25, 2026 (photo by Tom Walker-Sports Radio Service)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah Captain Clayton Keller was celebrated for his Team USA gold medal, but Colorado came out on top in return to NHL action. February 25, 2026 by Tom Walker

Three weeks ago the Utah Mammoth (30-23-4) wrapped up a trio of home games prior to the Olympic break with a dominating 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, giving Utah a 12-4-1 record in the new year. With play resuming Wednesday night at Delta Center against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche (37-9-9), the Mammoth hoped to revive their momentum for the back half of the monthlong homestand which will also include games against the Minnesota Wild on Friday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. In a fluke of the schedule, Utah did not have a single road game the entire month of February.

One of the biggest questions entering Wednesday night’s contest was the impact on each team resulting from numerous players having recently returned from Olympic play in Milan. Mammoth captain Clayton Keller returned to Utah sporting gold for Team USA.

Olli Määttä brought home bronze for Finland, while JJ Peterka and Karel Vejmelka gained valuable experience while representing Germany and Czechia. Eight Avalanche players also participated in the 2026 Olympic games including gold medalist Brock Nelson, whose family has participated in each of the 3 Team USA gold medal squads going back to 1960 and 1980; Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Devon Toews who represented Canada in their silver medal effort; and Määttä’s Finnish teammates Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen, and Joel Kiviranta. Gabriel Landeskog also competed for Sweden.

Returning to the ice for the Mammoth from Injured Reserve were Logan Cooley, who had been out since December 5, and Alexander Kerfoot. In 29 games prior to his injury, Cooley had recorded 14 goals and 9 assists for 23 points. During Cooley’s absence, Utah went 16-11-1.

Shortly before game time, an Avalanche team spokesman told the Denver Post that Nathan MacKinnon would be scratched because of “maintenance.” We can safely rule out a hangover following a Team Canada victory celebration.

During the first TV timeout in the opening period, the Mammoth showed a video tribute to their Olympians on the Jumbotron, concluding with the entire ice sheet turned into an American flag as Clayton Keller and Team USA were honored to the roar of the crowd and the sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”

When play resumed, Colorado was able to put the puck past Vejmelka to seemingly take a 1-0 lead, but Utah successfully challenged for goaltender interference with the video replay clearly showing an Avalanche stick knocking the glove of Veggie just prior to the puck flying past him.

The Mammoth have been successful in 6 out of 7 coach’s challenges on the year. The first period ended in a scoreless draw as Vejmelka and Colorado netminder Scott Wedgewood each turned away eight shots.

The second period was anything but a scoreless draw. Colorado drew first blood at 3:26 on Parker Kelly’s 13th goal of the season, assisted by Brent Burns and Josh Manson. At 9:13, Victor Olofsson made it 2-0 with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Sam Malinski and Kelly. Just past the halfway mark, Gabriel Landeskog was whistled for holding against Lawson Crouse which opened the door for Dylan Guenther to cut the deficit in half with his 26th goal of the season, a wicked one-timer top shelf blast over the right shoulder of Wedgewood, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Keller. 91 seconds later, Brock Nelson restored Colorado’s two-goal lead with his 30th of the season, assisted by Landeskog and Martin Nečas.

Exactly one minute later, Guenther went top shelf over the right shoulder of Wedgewood once again for his second of the game and 27th of the season, matching his career high which was set last season, courtesy of some great moves by Logan Cooley who brought the puck up the ice, with the further assist to Jack McBain, closing the gap to 3-2.

McBain gave the Avalanche a power play opportunity late in the period when he went to the sin bin for tripping Valeri Nichushkin, opening the door for Nečas to score his 23rd of the season on the power play, assisted by Cole Makar and Nichushkin, sending the teams to the locker room with Colorado leading 4-2.

If one missed the second period, one would never know that a goal had ever been scored because the third period was a replay of the first, with both netminders completely shutting down the opposition, albeit Wedgewood faced only three Mammoth shots compared with Vejmelka stopping 13 from the Avalanche.

With the win, Colorado takes the season series with Utah winning three of four. Each of the previous three matchups were decided by a single goal. Of the Olympians on the ice, the only points in the game came from Nelson with his goal, and Keller, Landeskog, and Makar each with an assist.

“I think no matter the result, we want to make sure that we get back to our game as quick as possible. I just don’t think that was us,” said Dylan Guenther in the locker room after the game. “I think just the little intangibles, the battles and stuff like that, but we actually did a better job in the third, but I think just getting back to how hard we have to work to win games.”

Asked about how it felt to be back on the ice after his long rehab, Cooley said, “Personally, it felt pretty good. It’s good to be back out there with the guys. It’s no fun sitting in the stands watching them, and it kind of felt like a long journey. There’s a lot of hard work that went into it, big thanks to the trainers and everyone, my family supported me coming back and it felt good to be back, but now it kind of shifts to the team and how we need to be better.” Coming off of the Olympic break, the Mammoth do not yet fully have their groove back. Cooley noted, “You could tell there was some rust out there, and I don’t think it was just small details. It was losing battles, not coming back quick enough, not defending in front, little things like that that are our identity and what makes us successful. And we didn’t do that tonight.” Talking about Guenther, Cooley said, “He’s a pure goal scorer, you know? He could score from anywhere. You just try to find him when you’re in the O-zone, and, like I said, he could score from anywhere. It’s so fun playing with him, so smart, and hopefully he can keep a few more coming here.”

Head coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks by saying, “We played a good team, but I didn’t like our grind. I didn’t like our physicality. I thought we didn’t have the pace we should have in our zone and on the forecheck. I don’t think we were the fastest team tonight, and that’s what makes us special. We need to realize that and be much better next game. … There’s a lot of man-on-man, and you need to win those battles. If you don’t win those battles, you don’t possess the puck enough, and you obviously have to defend too much.” On Cooley’s return, Bear commented, “Like everybody else, I think I saw a lot of rust and tough decisions with the puck. Not playing fast at all with and without the puck.”

Utah (30-24-4) returns on Friday to face the Minnesota Wild (34-14-10) which sports a lineup including Matt Boldy, who scored the opening goal for Team USA in the gold medal match, and Quinn Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Sweden in the Olympics quarterfinals.