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.
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