Utah Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz takes a shot on goal before their game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Delta Center on Fri Dec 12, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists as the Utah Mammoth goes back on the win column to close out homestand with a win over the Seattle Kraken 5-3.
Fresh off the news that team-leading goal scorer Logan Cooley is expected to miss the next 8 weeks with a lower body injury, the Utah Mammoth (14-15-3) took to the ice on Friday night against the visiting Seattle Kraken (12-10-6) hoping to overcome a stretch in which they have lost seven of nine.
Seattle hasn’t fared much better of late, having lost seven of their last seven. Returning to the ice for Utah was defenseman Olli Määttä who had sat out the previous eight games with an upper-body injury.
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in the opening period, with each side failing to score on the power play. Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer stopped all 11 Mammoth shots, and Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka turned away all nine shots by Seattle.
Kraken forward Mason Marchment got Seattle going at 3:35 of the second period with his third goal of the season, assisted by Freddy Gaudreau and Chandler Stephenson. At 8:09 of the frame Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz snagged a loose puck in the Utah defensive zone and went the distance on a breakaway to even things up with his 12th goal of the season, unassisted.
At 13:24, a shot by Mammoth forward Kailer Yamamoto which got past Grubauer was waived off for goaltender interference by Liam O’Brien. Fans in the arena were vocal as the in-house replay showed O’Brien outside the crease and not engaging in any particular physical contact with Grubauer.
Utah head coach André Tourigny challenged the call, and the replay officials agreed with him to overturn the referee on the ice to the roaring approval of the Mammoth faithful. Yamamoto’s goal was his 4th of the season, assisted by O’Brien and Kevin Stenlund.
Utah has won five of six coach’s challenges so far this season, most in the NHL. Utah took the 2-1 lead to the locker room, with Vejmelka having stopped 14 of 15 Seattle shots while Grubauer turned away 11 of 13.
The Mammoth put themselves in a tight spot at 5:13 of the third period when defenseman John Marino took a slashing penalty against Jordan Eberle followed 18 seconds later with a delay of game penalty by defenseman Ian Cole who shot the puck over the glass from the defensive zone.
Utah’s penalty killing unit fought off the minute and 42 seconds 5-on-3, with Vejmelka making four great saves in addition to the defensive efforts of his teammates. A couple of minutes later, however, Mason Marchment struck again for the Kraken to double his season goal total at four, assisted by Ryan Lindgren and Brandon Montour, evening the score again at two apiece.
Lindgren gave the Mammoth a man-advantage opportunity at 12:34 when he took a trip to the sin bin for cross-checking against John Marino. The struggling Utah power play unit capitalized on the penalty with Dylan Guenther drilling a slap shot past Grubauer for his 14th goal of the season, tying him for the team lead, assisted by Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev putting the Mammoth ahead 3-2.
With Grubauer pulled for an extra attacker with a little more than two minutes to play, Utah forward JJ Peterka took a short pass from deep in the Mammoth defensive zone and flew down the ice, dodging four different Seattle skaters as he drove coast-to-coast and backhanded a shot while diving to the ice into the empty net to ice the game 4-2.
Peterka’s goal was his 13th on the season, assisted by Kevin Stenlund. With Grubauer still sitting on the bench for an extra attacker, Lawson Crouse made it 5-2 with 62 seconds left, launching his 8th goal of the season into the empty net, assisted by Schmaltz and Kevin Stenlund.
With 43 seconds remaining in the game, Kraken forward Ben Meyers flung a wrist shot past Vejmelka to make the score 5-3, but that would be the end of the Seattle threat as Utah finished the homestand on a winning note, sporting a 8-5-1 home record so far this season.
After the game, Nick Schmaltz talked about the “it” factor for the team in playing a complete game. “When we’re moving our feet, making plays, using our transition game against teams…We knew they weren’t as good off the rush and so we wanted to exploit that. I thought we did a good job tonight. Whether they scored or we scored, I thought we managed our emotions pretty well and kept fighting. It was a big two points.” Commenting on the mindset of playing with a lead in the third period, Schmaltz remarked, “I feel like we’ve been on the wrong side of a lot of one-goal games lately. It’s huge for our confidence to be able to (win one). Even though they tied it up, we get one on the power play and the power play wins it for us. That’s huge for our team and for the power play…We’ve got to be better, myself included. That was huge.” Schmaltz invoked the word “huge” again when talking about the 5-on-3 penalty kill. “That’s huge. 5-on-3 for a minute and 40 seconds is no joke. It’s usually your goalie that’s your best penalty killer in those situations, and (Karel Vejmelka) was great. He made some crazy saves with guys ringing one-timers off his head and whatnot. He was great.”
“(Everyone) was really good. It’s tough when you’re out there for a minute and 30 seconds. You get tired,” said forward Dylan Guenther. “They hung in there and they blocked shots. (The PK) was a big part of that win.” When asked about his power play goal, Guenther explained, “We’ve talked about loose puck recoveries. We did a really good job getting (the puck) back. When (Nick Schmaltz) got in the middle there, it was a tough play for them. He made a really nice pass.” With Logan Cooley out of commission through the Olympic break, Guenther said, “I think everyone has to step up. It’s not like one player is going to fill that space. That’s a huge role to fill. We just need a little bit better from everybody.”
Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks by saying, “I liked the result, that’s an easy one. I liked the way we went at the net, and we generated offense against a super stingy team. They are a little bit like Florida and LA. I think we keep improving offensively. I liked that part. There are things to clean up for us defensively, but I think we’re progressing offensively. We play with a lot of energy around the net, and now we break down teams with more shot volume and net presence. I like the fact that we have more weapons for us.” Special teams came up big for the Mammoth when it mattered most. Bear commented, “It’s not just producing, it’s producing when you need a goal. It’s when it’s a key opportunity. That they did on the power play. On the flip side, the PK was unreal. Five-on-three like that, when you lead by one, lose the lead after, but we’re leading by one at the moment. That was huge. Veg (Karel Vjemelka) was rock solid, but the entire PK unit was rock solid. There were block shots, good reads, good sticks, and good clearings. There was a lot of good stuff.” When asked about Schmaltz who recorded 3 points on the night, Tourigny said, “He works so hard. Sometimes it goes under the radar. He’s always at the net offensively. He drives that line, no doubt about it, in the sense that he is at the net all the time. He does all the dirty work, and he’s elite defensively. He’s always the first guy back, and he’s playing down low. He will sleep well tonight, and I guarantee that. He works really hard.” Tourigny also credited the video team for recommending the challenge to Yamamoto’s goal. “I think Hunter Cherni and Alec Rippetoe (video coaches) did very well. What you have to understand is the follow-up of daily calls in the NHL, and to stay on top of the rules and how every call goes. When I saw that, I’m not studying as much as them. When I saw the play, I said we need to make sure. He was really adamant about it. There was no doubt in his head. Really good job, and it was a key call at a key time, and that turned the game around a little bit.”
Utah (15-15-3) now hits the road for a trio of games against Pittsburgh, Boston, and Detroit before returning to Delta Center next Friday to face the New Jersey Devils.
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