The Utah Mammoth Nick Schmaltz (8) takes the puck up ice against the Ottawa Senators at the Delta Center on Wed Jan 7, 2026. Schmaltz scored two goals for the Mammoth against the visiting St Louis Blues on Fri Jan 9, 2026 in Salt Lake City. (AP News photo)
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Utah Mammoth netminder Karel Vejmelka held the St. Louis Blues to two goals and becomes first in the league to pick up 20 wins in a 4-2 Mammoth win at the Delta Center.
The Mammoth (21-20-3) laced up on Friday night for the second of seven games on the current homestand against the visiting Blues (17-19-8). The Mammoth, coming off of a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, are enjoying a positive start to the new year entering the game having won three of four contests.
Utah struck first late in the first period on Nick Schmaltz’s 15th goal of the season, banging in a snap shot rebound off a shot by Clayton Keller with the additional assist to Mikhail Sergachev. Karel Vejmelka was perfect in net for the Mammoth as Utah carried a 1-0 lead into the locker room after one.
At 7:45 of the second period, Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse increased Utah’s lead to 2-0 with his 11th goal of the season from the top of the left faceoff circle, assisted by Keller and John Marino. But St. Louis got one back just ten seconds later when Iskar Sundqvist put the puck past Vejmelka for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Nathan Walker, before the arena announcer could even finish announcing the Crouse goal.
Less than four minutes later, however, Mammoth forward Schmaltz passed a rebound across the ice to the stick of defenseman Sean Durzi who one-timed a shot past Joel Hofer of the blues to regain Utah’s two-goal lead with his 3rd goal on the year, with the additional assist to Crouse.
With three and a half minutes remaining in the second period, the Blues cut their deficit to one goal as Pavel Buchnevich netted his 8th of the season with an extra attacker on the ice due to a delayed penalty call against Utah, assisted by Jimmy Snuggerud and Robert Thomas.
Seven minutes into the third period, with Snuggerud in the sin bin for high-sticking against Keller, JJ Peterka sent a pass from the right goal post up the middle in front of the crease to Schmaltz who struck again for the Mammoth with his 16th of the season, with Keller picking up the additional assist.
As reported by the Utah stat crew, Schmaltz and Keller have now factored on the same goal for the 199th time for the highest total by a pair of U.S.-born teammates in NHL history. That would be all Utah would need to go 4-1-0 in the new year, with Vejmelka stopping 26 of 28 on the night en route to becoming the first goaltender to reach 20 victories this season.
In the locker room, Nick Schmaltz talked about winning tight games. “It’s great, we’ve talked about it the last little bit here, about maintaining pressure when we’re up. I thought earlier in the year, we gave up some leads and kind of sat back and watched teams kind of dictate the play. I thought tonight was another big win. We kind of shut it down and scored a big goal, and it mattered. So it shows a lot about this group, and we got to keep it going. … I think we’re making more plays. We’re hitting each other’s tape instead of just kind of flicking it and standing around, not moving our feet. I think we’re being assertive. We’re making plays when it’s there, and when it’s not we’re putting pucks in good areas and making sure we’re putting our teammates in good spots.” With regard to his record with Keller for America-born players, Schmaltz said, “Yeah, it’s great. It feels like we’ve been playing with each other for a long time. We know where each other are at all times on the ice and we’re always looking for each other. It’s been a heck of a ride playing with him, and hopefully we have many more great memories ahead.”
Netminder Karel Vejmelka, when asked about the Mammoth being more comfortable in tight games responded, “I think so. Usually it’s all about focus and being in the right place. So, it’s the same for everybody. And we played a huge game last game. We played another big game tonight. Those one-goal games are really important for the rest of the season.” The penalty kill was big for Vejmelka, who said, “I think it’s huge for me, they cover like other guys on the rebounds. So I just need to focus on the guy who got it by. So it’s kind of easy for me and again, I just focus on what’s going to happen next.” So how does it feel to become only the second Czech native to be the NHL’s first goaltender to reach the 20-win mark in a season? “It’s a big accomplishment. Hašek is one of the best goalies in NHL history. It’s an honor, and I’m glad about it and happy for it.”
Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks by saying, “A very good game early, but Veggie made key saves. They obviously played hard, and they knew how important that division game is and everything. … Schmaltzy was possessed. He was really, really good. He won battles, the speed he had defensively, his face off, his PK, everything. I liked our power play and the movement. Obviously, our PK came up big at a key moment. But I think the answer from Jack McBain, and what happened in the last game. I think that’s probably the highlight of the night for the Bear,” referring to himself. When asked about maintaining composure down the stretch, Tourigny responded, “It’s important to stay even-keeled, to stay humble, and to play the game the right way. … You cannot get carried away, you cannot get complacent, but you have to be honest. We had a level of confidence in our play defensively. And that doesn’t mean the other team cannot score, cannot have a great scoring chance, or cannot get lucky at some point. I’m not saying they need to get lucky to have a scoring chance; it can be good as well. My point is, I had the feeling we weren’t going to beat ourselves, and they will need to beat us; they will need to do the right things to beat us. And when we made some mistakes, Veggie came up big. So we expect to play good, we want to play good, and trust in each other’s stuff to win. Our opponent tonight showed up, and they played hard, but (I’m) proud of our group.”
Next up for the Mammoth (22-20-3) are the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
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