Utah Mammoth left wing David But (50) scores in the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Oct 13, 2026 (AP News photo)
Mammoth Outlast Maple Leafs 5-4 To Remain Unbeaten At Home
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah Mammoth had leads of 3-0 and 5-2 but Toronto fought to stay in the game until the final buzzer as the Mammoth edged the Leafs 5-4 on Tuesday night.
The Utah Mammoth (4-2-0) returned to Delta Center on Wednesday for a one-game homestand against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2-1). Following their 6-0 shellacking of the Chicago Blackhawks in their home opener on October 1st, the Mammoth embarked upon a five-game road trip to Columbus, New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Buffalo in which they emerged victors in 3 of 5.
Utah entered Wednesday night’s contest leading the NHL in power play goals and second in the league in power play percentage, scoring in 10 of 25 man-advantage opportunities (40%). Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz began the night leading the league with four power play goals and tied for the league lead with six goals overall.
Toronto controlled the pace of the game for most of the first half of the first period, but at 14:55 it was Utah forward Daniil But who opened the scoring with a snap shot which got past Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz for his second goal of the season, assisted by Jack McBain and Andrew Peeke. Stolarz went on to stop five of six Mammoth shots in the frame, while Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka turned away all eight Maple Leaf shots on goal.
The Mammoth came out on fire in the second period, with Vincent Trocheck beating Stolarz on a wrist shot at the one-minute mark for his second goal of the season, assisted by Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. At 3:36 of the period Utah was whistled for too many men on the ice, but Mikhail Sergachev made the score 3-0 with a shorthanded goal 25 seconds into the penalty kill, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Kevin Stenlund. Sergachev’s goal extended the Mammoth consecutive home goal streak to start the season to nine.
While still on the power play, Toronto forward Auston Matthews snapped that streak with his 5th goal of the season, a backhand shot assisted by John Tavares, to make the score 3-1. The Maple Leafs had a chance to close the gap when Guenther was called for interference against Troy Stecher, but Utah was able to kill the penalty and with Guenther sprung from the box he put a snap shot past Stolarz for his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Sergachev and Kailer Yamamoto, to regain the three goal lead 4-1.
With three and a half minutes remaning in the frame, Jack Roslovic cut the deficit in half with his third goal of the season, a snap shot which beat Vejmelka, assisted by Kirill Marchenko and Matthews. The high scoring second period was still not over.
With 40 seconds remaining, MacKenzie Weegar scored his second goal of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz, to regain the three goal lead at 5-2. Utah’s six goals from the blue line this season are tied for second-most in the NHL.
The effects of a long Mammoth road trip began to show in the third period in which Toronto kept applying pressure and crept back into the game. With Trocheck occupying the sin bin for hooking against Easton Cowan, Utah made a major mental miscue, leaving Tavares wide open during a line change.
Stolarz passed the puck from his defensive zone all the way up the ice to the open stick of Tavares who charged the net virtually uncontested and put the puck past Vejmelka for his second of the season to make the score 5-3 with a little less than 13 minutes remaining in the game.
At 11:01, Gavin McKenna brought Toronto to within a single goal with his second of the season, assisted by William Nylander and Darren Raddysh. The Maple Leafs did not let up the rest of the game, putting constant pressure on Vejmelka and the Mammoth defense which was intensified when Guenther was whistled for tripping against Matthews at 18:14. Utah survived the 6-on-4 onslaught to come away with the 5-4 victory as the horn sounded. Vejmelka finished the night stopping 24 of 28 shots in the win.
In the winning locker room, Vincent Trocheck was asked about his team’s determination and riding the momentum of the game. “I thought we stayed even-keeled throughout the game,” the seasoned veteran said. “Obviously, these games after coming back from a long road trip are tough, but I thought we came out hot and, like you said, we rode the waves and stayed even-keeled.”
Asked about playing alongside Logan Cooley, whom he has known since Cooley was a kid, Trocheck said, “It’s actually awesome, it’s just a blast. I have so much fun it doesn’t seem real at times. Sometimes it just feels like we’re playing street hockey in the summer. Such a good kid, obviously such a phenomenal hockey player, so he makes things a little easier on me out there. It’s a lot of fun just being able to talk shop, talk about our game with each other, now just at an NHL level.”
First star of the game, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, spoke of holding on for the win. “We were resilient out there, but obviously we didn’t play the way we wanted to play in the third period. We were backing off a little bit, not attacking as much as we should have been. But it’s only game seven of the season, so I think it’s going to be a quick turnaround.”
On the crowd reaction, particularly as Utah struggled in the third, Sergachev remarked, “They always do a good job. They’re always behind us, cheering for us. Today in a tough situation, when they scored that fourth goal they were still cheering for us. Every good stick or blocked shot the crowd is on their feet. It means a lot to us.” Sergachev, who is never one to shy away from honest criticism, went on to say, “That was a very inconsistent performance by us. We gave up some tough goals on the PK that we shouldn’t have given up, we got to clean that up. Our power play we just got to talk more, stay focused out there and just do what makes us great. Shoot the puck, recover, and today I don’t think we had a shot on goal, so we just got to do better.”
Head Coach André Tourigny opened his post-game media remarks by saying, “After a long road trip like we had, it’s always tough to find your emotions and to find the second gear. And I think our guys did a really good job because we knew there was a challenge, but they made sure we showed up with that emotion, and that was not a problem. We found the way to get a big two points again, against a really good team, so I’m proud of that. Obviously, still early in the season, we can be much better than we were tonight in different areas. I think the mindset of increasing our pace and playing hard down low against them was good, not consistent, but we did a lot of good stuff.”
On the team’s defense, Bear remarked, “When we start to swing away or just not finish through, and try to poke and go, or try to play offense when you’re defending. I think that’s a disease we need to make sure we treat carefully. So I think our guys are fully aware of it, but sometimes humans are human, so need to remind them.”
With regard to letting Toronto back into a game wherein they held three three-goal leads, Tourigny said, “To be honest, we need to be better in that. That’s an area we need; there was no reason for them to come back, and we started the first five minutes of the third period the way we should be. That was textbook; it was perfect. Get the puck deep, get on the body, put a lot of pressure. They didn’t have the time to execute. We did what we had to do, and then for no reason, we turned the puck over at the blue (line), and gave them a chance to play in our zone. The next shift, we go. We have a good time in the O-Zone, and we take a penalty. Why? It’s 5-2. We have 200 feet above our net. Why? There’s no reason. Then they score, and now it’s 5-3. Whoops, now we start feeling it. Then we took another penalty, in the neutral zone when they’re skating towards their net. They’re not a threat, so we need to be much, much better than that. It’s the seventh game now, and twice we’ve had to kill a penalty to finish the game when we’re leading. Twice they’ve had six on four, so that’s something we need to be better in. I don’t want to sound negative because we won. I’m really happy, and we found a way after a long road trip. And if you look around the league, when teams are away for nine days like we were, their winning percentage is not really high. So our guys dug in, and they found a way, and they showed a lot of pride, so I’m proud of them for that. I think there are always things you need to be aware and manage to get better. It’s important for us; even if we have success, we need to manage it the right way and learn from what we need to do better, so that we can keep being successful. The number one thing that we can’t do is mismanage our success. That will lead to failure, so we don’t want to do that.”
The Mammoth (5-2-0) now head off to Edmonton for a single game against the Oilers on Thursday before returning Saturday for a season-long two-game homestand against Edmonton and Pittsburgh. The team’s first extended homestand will not take place until November 12 when they kick off five games at home against the St. Louis Blues.
