The Utah Mammoth’s Makail Sergachev (98) yells in celebration after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche for the win in overtime at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 21, 2025 (AP News photo)
Utah completed the 4-0 sweep of their opening homestand in an overtime nailbiter against the NHL’s top team.
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth (4-2-0) closed out its opening homestand on Tuesday night against the Central Division leading Colorado Avalanche (5-0-1), entering the matchup a perfect 3-0-0 at home with previous victories against the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and Boston Bruins. The Mammoth battled and came away with a 4-3 over the Avalanche at the Delta Center.
Less than 30 seconds into the contest, Utah forward Logan Cooley blasted a snap shot at Colorado netminder Scott Wedgewood at point blank range, but Wedgewood was able to turn it away. At 5:29 of the first, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar gave Colorado the first lead of the game, putting the puck past Karel Vejmelka for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Parker Kelly and Zakhar Bardakov. Both teams exchanged several scoring opportunities throughout the period, but Wedgewood and Vejmelka stopped 10 and 12 shots respectively to keep the score at 1-0.
Forty-two seconds into the second period, Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog appeared to put his squad ahead 2-0 but Utah head coach André Tourigny challenged the goal for offsides. A video review confirmed that Colorado had not completed a line change when the puck initially crossed into their offensive zone, nullifying the goal. A few minutes later, Utah defenseman John Marino appeared to tie the score but his goal was also waived off as Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien brushed up against Wedgewood in the crease, though it appeared O’Brien was pushed into the Avalanche goaltender by a defender. At 8:49 of the period, Colorado forward Gavin Brindley was whistled for tripping against Clayton Keller. On the ensuing power play, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz continued his recent chemistry with Keller to score his 4th of the season with the second assist to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, tying things up a 1-1. The pairing of Schmaltz and Keller have combined on 8 goals this season, second only to Mark Stone and Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights. A few minutes later, Mammoth associate captain Lawson Crouse put Utah ahead 2-1 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Michael Carcone. Vejmelka turned away all 7 Colorado shots in the frame, while Wedgewood stopped 14 of 16.
Colorado began the third period with 43 seconds remaining on a power play with Utah defenseman Dmitri Simashev in the penalty box for high-sticking against Valeri Nichushkin. Though the Mammoth were able to kill the penalty, they were unable to kill the Avalanche momentum as Jack Drury potted his first of the season at 1:10 of the 3rd, assisted by Ross Colton, to even the score at 2-2. At 5:20 of the period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blasted a loose puck past Wedgewood for his first goal of the season, unassisted, to restore the one-goal Mammoth lead. It was technically the first goal by a Mammoth defenseman this season, though head coach André Tourigny made no bones in his post-game interview that the first goal from a defenseman should have gone to Marino earlier in the game. With a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation, Wedgewood skated to the bench for an extra attacker, but before he could make it to his bench, Martin Necas put the puck past Vejmelka, unassisted, to even the score at 3-3 and send the two squads to overtime.
The Avs began the overtime period taking the puck into their offensive zone, but Utah was able to recover the puck and streaked down the opposite end where Clayton Keller sent a pass slightly behind Dylan Guenther at the net. Guenther reached back to swat the puck on the backhand and into the net at the 33 second mark for back-to-back game-winning goals and his 3rd of the season. Sergachev picked up an additional assist on the goal to give him 3 points on the night (1G, 2A).
The Mammoth media relations team swiftly summarized Guenther’s offensive stats following the game. Tonight’s goal was his third game-winning goal and second overtime winner of the season, both of which are team highs. Guenther leads the NHL in both game-winning goals (9) and overtime goals (4) over his last 37 contests dating back to February. His 5 overtime goals over the past 2 seasons are more than every other Utah skater combined (Sergachev-2, Keller-1, Michael Kesselring-1).
The four-game sweep of the season opening homestand is the first sweep of a multi-game homestand in Utah franchise history, and they are the first NHL franchise since the 1925-26 Montreal Maroons to win its first four home games in either of its first two seasons.
Once the celebratory sounds of “Funky Town” in the Utah locker room subsided, Mikhail Sergachev met with the media. Asked about what it took for the team to get 2 points tonight, the alternate captain responded, “It didn’t matter if we were up or down; we kept the same mentality. They pushed in the third, and it was expected from them. Our goalie played his best, and we stayed with it. Blocked some shots. Obviously gave up a goal that no goalie can save. I just like that mentality of staying with it no matter what.” Sergachev downplayed recording a perfect 8 points on the homestand. “We don’t want to feel good. We want to improve every game. There are still a lot of areas where we should improve, especially in that third. When they pushed, we should do a better job of not letting them get in our zone and try to play in their zone a little bit more. Obviously, they got world-class players, but we’ve got to try to limit chances.” Nevertheless, he agreed that it is meaningful to beat a Stanley Cup contender. “It’s a measuring stick for us. They’re one of the best teams in the league. They’re showing it every year. They’re consistent. Their best players are consistent. We want to be that and we want to grow into that. Obviously, it’s nice to get a win, but it’s got to be on a consistent basis.”
Hero of the night, Dylan Guenther, addressed what it took to earn the victory. “Just resilience, obviously started really well and just kept with it throughout the whole game. So it was a big win, a good way to win too.” Responding to a question about the performance of Sergachev, Guenther responded, “He’s our horse back there. I think he’s a huge part of this team. And, you know, did a lot of good things to start and didn’t hit the sheet. It’s huge to get a guy like that going.” As for his back-to-back game winners, Guenther added, “I said it before, those little moments you want to play in. I didn’t think I played well throughout the whole game, just kind of fighting it all game. But just that next shift mentality. What can I do on the next shift to help this team? I think it’s just continuous repetition on that.”
At this point, defenseman Dmitri Simashev crashed the interview. “I have a question,” the Russian rookie asked. “What do you think about the last goal?” Guenther responded, “I think it was a good one,” and then jokingly added, “The pass [from Clayton Keller] was a little soft behind me, but …” as everyone in the locker room chuckled.
Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was pleased as he made his opening statement. “There’s so much to say about this game, other than the score. A tough matchup for Cooley to play against MacKinnon, started the game really well. They had some adversity, and the way they responded after, that was super positive for us. I’m glad they were able to regroup and finish the game really strong. A very strong game from Carcs [Michael Carcone]. Carcs and Crouser [Lawson Crouse] played really well. I really liked their game as well as Kells [Keller]. Kells’ line played well. We have a lot of guys, but I’ll have to talk about Sergy [Sergachev] as well. I think he was a force out there. Not just his production, his play was assertive. It was aggressive. He really played a solid game and that changed the game. The other thing is, as a team, I think our d-core played really solid. Colorado is a team that doesn’t give a lot of goals. They gave up only nine goals in six games before this game. I’m proud of the offense we created and the way we clogged the middle, especially from the second period on.” Tourigny’s praise was also extended to his goaltender. “I think the key moment was when we had our bumps, when the boat was rocking, a little Veggie came up big and made key saves at key moments. So it was when you look at it, the performance of a team, everybody chipping in.”
With the overtime loss, Colorado (5-0-2; 12 points) is tied for the overall NHL lead with Vegas which has the identical record. Having improved their overall record to 5-2-0, Utah joins 7 other teams in a league tie for 3rd with 10 points apiece.
The Mammoth face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday followed by tilts on the road against the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers before returning to the Delta Center on Sunday, November 2, for a single home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning before heading out for another four-game road trip.
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