Tag: Utah Mammoth

San Jose Sharks-Utah Mammoth post game wrap: Sharks Surmount Slow Start to Slay Mammoth 6-5 In Shootout

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Eric Pohlkamp (48) fights for position with Utah Mammoth center Liam O’Brien (38) during the second period at the Delta Airlines Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Nov 14, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth down in the back to back shootouts after a 105 game streak without playing in one. The San Jose Sharks Erick Pohlkamp records his first NHL goal in San Jose’s 6-5 shootout comeback win.

The Mammoth (10-8-2) welcomed the Sharks (8-11-2) to Delta Center on Saturday night for the first of three regular season tilts as both teams sought to overcome recent struggles. Since moving to Utah, the Mammoth entered the game with a 3-1-2 record against San Jose. Utah was in desperate need of secondary scoring with Dylan Guenther, Nick Schmaltz, and Logan Cooley all out of the lineup with injuries.

A reliable source of offense for Utah this season has been the defense. In 20 games this season, Mammoth blue liners have scored 48 points including 16 goals to share the league lead with the Edmonton Oilers. In his post-game interview on Thursday, new arrival Zac Jones commented about how he likes to get involved with the offense, and in the first period on Saturday he made good on his remarks.

Just over two minutes into the game, Jones tipped in a perfect pass from Kailer Yamamoto for his first goal of the season and first as a Mammoth, with the additional assist by Clayton Keller. The last time Jones lit the lamp in the NHL was almost exactly two years ago against the Kraken when he was with the Rangers.

At 8:24 of the frame, Will Smith went to the sin bin for tripping against Jones, and a half minute later Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev made it 2-0 on the power play with his sixth of the season, also assisted by Yamamoto and Keller.

San Jose was able to get one back on the power play when Tyler Toffoli netted his sixth of the season with MacKenzie Weegar in the box for delay of game, assisted by Dmitry Orlov and Will Smith. Barely a minute later, however, the Mammoth restored their two-goal lead when a blast from Jones trickled through the legs of Yaroslav Askarov and across the goal line for his second of the night and the season, assisted by Anders Lee.

It was his first career two-goal game, having previously scored four goals in 116 NHL contests. Piling it on for the Utah blue liners, the three goals marked the first time the franchise has had 3 goals from defensemen in the same game, let alone the same period. Askarov finished the period stopping 9 of 12 Utah shots, while Karel Vejmelka turned away 4 of 5.

The Sharks began to stage a comeback early in the second period, going on the power play at 1:19 when Jack McBain was whistled for tripping against Macklin Celebrini. With 12 seconds remaining on the man-advantage, Adam Gaudette cashed it in for his first goal of the season, assisted by Orlov and Michael Misa.

Six seconds later, Zack Ostapchuk silenced the Delta Center crowd tying the game at 3-3 with his second goal of the season, assisted by Darnell Nurse. Nine minutes into the period, Jack McBain became the first Utah forward to find the back of the net since his second period goal against the Golden Knights on Wednesday to put Utah ahead 4-3.

Apparently taking his cues from Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting,” Mammoth defenseman Andrew Peeke spent half the period in the penalty box, drawing 5-minute majors for fights with Ty Dellandrea and Gaudette.

Prior to the second period, Peeke had had a grand total of 2 fights in his entire NHL career. In addition to Peeke doubling his pleasure, Utah took the NHL lead in fighting majors this season with 12. At the end of two, Utah led by one with Askarov stopping 7 of 8 shots in the frame while Vejmelka turned away 6 of 8.

San Jose made it a new game at 5:23 of the third period when Eric Pohlkamp came through with his first career NHL goal, assisted by Celebrini, to tie things up at 4. That’s where things stood until 5:43 remained on the clock and Dmitry Orlav gave the Sharks their first lead of the night with his 3rd goal of the season, assisted by Collin Graf and Mason Marchment.

With 4:30 remaining, however, Ivar Stenberg opened the door for a Mammoth comeback, going to the sin bin for slashing against Anders Lee. Less than a minute later Utah drew even again at 5-5 when Barrett Hayton deflected a shot into the net for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Yamamoto and Sergachev, ultimately forcing overtime.

With no scoring in the overtime period, the Mammoth went to their second straight shootout on the heels of having gone 105 consecutive games without one. For the second straight game, Vincent Trocheck led off with a shootout goal to give Utah the early advantage.

In the second round, Celebrini put the puck past Vejmelka to draw even. In Round 5, Mason Marchment put a wrist shot past Vejmelka to seal the win for San Jose as Utah fell in their fourth consecutive shootout appearance, the last win in the skills competition having come February 9, 2025, against the Washington Capitals.

Prior to Saturday night’s tilt, the Mammoth had been a perfect 7-0-0 this season when leading after one, and 7-0-1 when scoring first while San Jose had been 3-7-1 when trailing after one and 5-9-2 when allowing the first goal.

“I think it’s frustrating right now,” said Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton in the locker room after the game. “Obviously, having a good start, getting a lead. I think we just have to manage the game better. I know we’ve talked about that a lot, but just little instances make a difference. You never know when they are, but ultimately, there’s gonna be games like that where it’s a fine margin of error, and yeah, it’s just not good enough.” With regard to the challenges the team has been going through, Hayton remarked, “I mean, that’s the NHL. There’s always adversity. It’s no unique situation. Every team goes through it, and I think we talked about it a couple of days ago. I thought against St. Louis, we did a good job showing that. I think it just needs to be more consistent every night. It can’t be ups and downs, and we just have to stay with it, regardless of the kind of situation, and kind of have that kind of cliché, but an overtime mentality throughout, no matter what the score or situation is.”

Defenseman Zac Jones spoke of the positive takeaways from the game. “Yeah, I mean, for me personally, it gives me confidence, and I think that being a guy who is coming in the lineup with all these injuries, it kind of fuels the group a little bit. You know, obviously, nobody’s kind of necessarily expecting me to put up two goals, and I really am not expecting myself. But it’s good for me personally, and I think it was good for the team.” Of his first NHL goals in nearly two years, Jones said, “I saw a break where Yanni got the puck, and he’s obviously one of the fastest players in the league. I just tried to catch up to him, basically, and he made a great pass. All I had to do was just tap it in. And the second one was just, you know, a puck that popped out. I just tried to get it on net. And the biggest thing for me is just getting my shots through and getting it past that first layer, and then letting the forwards do their job. And luckily, that one kind of squeaked through.”

“I think our guys worked really hard,” began Mammoth head coach André Tourigny in his opening statement. “We achieved, we showed character, and we came back. Jonesy had a great night. Scored two big goals for us which was a key moment. When they had a push in the second period, I thought we regrouped well and scored a big goal. It’s frustrating. We have nothing to show for. It’s not a league of moral victory. I think we generated a lot of offense, we almost doubled them in scoring chances. Obviously, Veg has to be better. I don’t want to say that about any of our players, but that’s just the way it is. So it is what it is. … It’s tough for me to go in front of you right now and complain. We played really good. So Bainer’s line again against Celebrini, they did a really good job. We need to find a way to win. We need everybody on board. We cannot have subpar performances from anybody if we want to win in that stretch. Nonetheless, it’s two points in our last two games. It’s not what we want. We want more than that, but that’s something to build on.”

In the winning locker room, Sharks forward Adam Gaudette said, “It was a big win, battled some adversity out there, and did a lot of things that we’ve been trying to improve on, and looking to do in order to win games. It’s starting to come together here, and we just got to keep our foot on the gas pedal and keep chugging away.” Having had a frustrating start to the season, Gaudette remarked, “It’s definitely relieving, it has been a little frustrating, but I’m just trying to do whatever I can to get in the lineup and stay in the lineup. That’s how they say they go in, off your foot, off your stick, whatever, eyes closed. You just got to keep trying to do the right things and good things will happen. On linemate Zack Ostapchuk’s goal, he added, “Absolutely, that was a big goal too. That goal gave us a ton of momentum in the game, it was a great shot he picked that corner there, and it’s good for our line to get a little confidence and momentum on the score sheet there. We’re trying to play the right way and not get scored on out there, but you know it’s a bonus when we can contribute offensively.”

Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky commented, “Found a way, ugly one to be honest with you, but back and forth it went. Found a way.” Do ugly wins lead to better hockey? “That’s the hope. We obviously need to do some things a little more consistently, I thought we had some positives in the game that we did, and some things we need to get cleaned up.” On the positives playing five-on-five, Warsofsky said, “I thought in the second we got back to playing quicker. To the neutral zone we were playing fast, got on our speed a little more, put them on their heels a little bit. Just gotta get more consistent with that.”

San Jose (9-11-2) is already back at it on Sunday night against the Nashville Predators (11-4-5). The Mammoth (10-8-3) continue their five-game homestand on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks (3-17-1), and no, that is not a misprint. Vancouver is presently on course to have the worst NHL season record in several decades, having lost 17 of their past 18 contests.

San Jose Sharks podcast Mary Lisa: Sharks need to shore up their offense against a physical Mammoth team

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) looks towards the puck against the Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Nick Robertson (14) in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Wed Nov 11, 2026 (AP News photo)

San Jose Sharks podcast Mary Lisa:

#1 Can Macklin Celebrini lead the Sharks offensively against Utah?

#2 Will Will Smith find the back of the net against the Mammoth?

#3 Can Michael Kesselring make a difference with his speed and playmaking?

#4 Will Tyler Toffoli provide the Sharks with a big goal?

# 5 Can Alexander Wennberg help San Jose control the pace of the game?

#6 Will Darnell Nurse deliver a strong defensive performance?

Mary Lisa does the San Jose Sharks podcasts Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast Lincoln Juarez: Sharks face off against Utah Saturday night at the Delta Airlines Center

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Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell (67) reaches for the puck against the San Jose Sharks defenseman Michael Kesselring (7) and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) in the second period at the Delta Airlines Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Nov 11, 2026 (AP News photo)

San Jose Sharks podcast Lincoln Juarez:

#1 Can Macklin Celebrini lead the Sharks offensively against Utah?

#2 Will Will Smith find the back of the net against the Mammoth?

#3 Can Michael Kesselring make a difference with his speed and playmaking?

#4 Will Tyler Toffoli provide the Sharks with a big goal?

# 5 Can Alexander Wennberg help San Jose control the pace of the game?

#6 Will Darnell Nurse deliver a strong defensive performance?

Join Lincoln Juarez for the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast Len Shapiro: Bolts Holmberg’s four points help beat Jets 6-4; Cooley’s hat trick rallies Mammoth over Pens 4-3 in OT; plus more NHL news

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Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Ilya Mikheyev (95) breaks out ahead of Winnipeg Jets left wing Alex Iafallo (9) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP photo)

NHL podcast Len Shapiro:

#1 Winnipeg Jets at Tampa Bay Lightning: Pontus Holmberg had four points an NHL career high as Lightning beat the Jets 6-4 at Benchmark International Arena for the Jets seventh loss in a row on Thursday night.

#2 Utah Mammoth at Pittsburgh Penguins: The Utah Mammoth Logan Cooley picked up a hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night for a 4-3 overtime win. The Mammoth had to rally to get back in the game and win it.

#3 The Caroliina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov has got the hot hand making 24 saves and picked up his ninth consecutive win beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at Lenovo Center Thursday night. Kochetkov’s win is the longest winning streak in Hurricane’s history passing former Cane goaltender Frederik Andersen who had eight wins back in 2021-22.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings former Captain Dylan Larkin told the team before the game against the Chicago Blackhawks that he was no longer willing to play for the Wings further Larkin was suspended by Detroit. The Wings Viktor Arvidsson got fired up and scored a hat trick beating the Hawks 4-1 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday night.

#5 The St Louis Blues finally got on the scoreboard with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins at Enterpirse Center in St Louis on Thrusday night. The Blues had been shutout in their two previous games. The Blues Robert Thomas and Phillip Broberg had a goal a piece and two assists in the win.

#6 Len take a look at the standing at this early part of the season.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Minnesota knocks out Mammoth 3-1 in wild fight night at Delta Center

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Minnesota Wild goaltender Jasper Wallstedt (30) makes a behind the back save shot from the Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton (27) in the second period at the Delta Center on Tue Oct 27, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

October 27, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY– The Utah Mammoth delivers punches against Minnesota Wild in literal slugfest, but Minnesota wins the scoresheet 3-1 to increase Central Division lead.

The Mammoth (8-4-0) hosted the Wild (8-3-2) on Tuesday night with the Central Division lead on the line.  Making his first appearance of the season for Utah was forward Liam O’Brien who recorded three goals and an assist in 38 regular season games last season. 

Returning to Delta Center for the first time since being part of the trade which brought MacKenzie Weegar to the Mammoth from the Flames was defenseman Olli Määttä.  During his time in Utah, Määttä recorded 19 points (2g, 17a) in 92 games.

The first period offered no scoring but plenty of punch. O’Brien marked his return to the ice exchanging blows with Wild forward Michael McCarron. The fight was O’Brien’s tenth with Utah, second only to Jack McBain’s 17.  It was the second time O’Brien has tangoed with McCarron, the first coming back on March 9, 2023, when the then-Arizona Coyotes played in Nashville. 

Less than 90 seconds into their reciprocal five minute major penalties, Mammoth defenseman Mikhail Sergachev dropped his gloves for the first time in Utah with Minnesota forward Matt Boldy as his dance partner. Sergachev’s last fight took place over three years ago while he was with Tampa Bay as he battled Max Jones of the Anaheim Ducks.

With a combined six penalties in the opening period, what did the two teams do for an encore in the second?  Eleven.  Unfortunately for the home team, seven of those eleven came at their expense, castrating their offense and incapacitating their ability to roll four lines at any point in the entire frame.

The constant merry-go-round to the penalty box notwithstanding, Utah surrendered just one goal in the period when Joel Ericksson Ek scored his fourth of the season on the power play, assisted by Quinn Hughes and Kirill Kaprizov. Vincent Trocheck’s fight with Danila Yurov at 18:15 of the period marked the first time that Utah has been involved in three fights in a single game, and their eight fights overall on the season lead the NHL. Trocheck’s last fight was two seasons ago while with the Rangers against New Jersey’s Paul Cotter.

Having accumulated a combined 17 penalties in the first two periods, naturally the final period was completely penalty free.  With Utah captain Clayton Keller still riding the bench in the sin bin for an additional “abuse of officials” penalty late in the second period, Minnesota came through again on the power play 48 seconds into the third as Kiprizov put a wrist shot past Karel Vejmelka for his 14th goal of the season, assisted by Boldy and Hughes, to increase the Wild lead 2-0. 

At 11:44 of the period, Maxim Shabanov knocked in a loose puck in front of the Mammoth net for his fourth of the season, unassisted, to put Minnesota up 3-0.  In the final minutes of the game, Utah pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker if for no other reason than to practice six on five situations, having only been successful once in franchise history when Clayton Keller scored against Philadelphia last January.

With 81 ticks left on the clock, Logan Cooley banged in a rebound of a shot by Nick Schmaltz with banked off the far goal post and slid across to the opposite side where it found Cooley’s stick. Mikhail Sergachev picked up the additional assist on Cooley’s fourth goal of the year, breaking up Jesper Wallstedt’s shutout as the horn sounded with a 3-1 final score. Having managed only five and four shots respectively in the first two periods, Utah put 18 shots on goal in the third to no avail.

Clayton Keller was dispatched as the first to face the media following the loss. “I think we gotta be hungrier in their zone,” the captain began.. “We got to win more battles. We’ve got to have good dumps and good pucks. Our forecheck is good so I think that is something that we focus on. But I think we can be better being more connected, coming up the ice together, and supporting our line mates. I feel like at times we’re a little disconnected, they squeeze us off and we’re one and done. It’s tough to create like that.” Asked if it was fun to play in such a spirited contest, Keller responded, “Yeah for sure, lots of emotion. A lot of guys stepped up today with the fights and blocked shots, things like that. So for sure, those are the fun ones.”

“Overall, we need to do a better job of getting our shots through,” lone goal-scorer Logan Cooley said. “Props to them; they blocked a ton of shots on the PK and five-on-five. I mean, their goalie played unbelievable too. When he’s playing that good, you’ve got to get in front of his eyes and get shots through, and that’s what we didn’t do tonight.” With the two teams atop the Central Division, do these teams have the makings of a new rivalry? “Yeah, if you look at the standings, we’re right there neck and neck, and in our division, tough team to play against, and they’re always in the playoffs,” Cooley said. “For us, I think it’s a good measuring stick to compare against them. As I said, they’re always in the playoffs; they’ve got unbelievable players, always in the top of the league. So anytime we play them, we’re definitely up for it.”

In his opening statement, head coach André Tourigny began, “I think the big story, for me, is the number of penalties we got. First of all; you get in the box seven times against that kind of a power play, you’re going to get hurt. It’s (also) the momentum we lost in our rotation. From the end of the first period until the third period, we did not have one time where we could go with our four lines one after the other. That was a lot of guys that could not get into their rhythm, couldn’t get our physicality, our pace, our forecheck going. We played better in the third period where we had an opportunity to get going and having some rhythm. We need to learn (with our) discipline as well. I think (Karel Vejmelka) played really good. I’m happy he’s back on track. That’s what I think.” On balancing the emotions of the game, Bear added, “I think it was alright. It was tough to stay even keel. But I think we stayed focused for long parts. It’s a lot of adversity when you get that many penalties; [it’s tough] to stay in the game. (Barrett Hayton’s) line has been really good; at some point they could not play. They’d been sitting out there for a long time. Other guys would play only PK for most of the second period. They didn’t play much 5-on-5; maybe one or two shifts. It’s tough when you don’t have the opportunity to get into the rhythm of the game. That’s self-inflicted. I’m not deflecting. We take responsibility on that and we need to learn from it.” On the performance of Vejmelka, Tourigny commented, “He gave us a chance for a long time. I think they beat him on really, really good plays. Our PK was solid. You’ll tell me we gave up two goals; (Minnesota) had to take a perfect shot to score their first goal. The second goal, we blew a tire. That’s the kind of thing that’s unfortunate, but was not a structure thing. It’s just really unfortunate because we were right there and one shot away.”

Utah (8-5-0) now embarks upon their longest road trip on the schedule, with six games in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Las Vegas before returning to Delta Center on November 12 to face the St. Louis Blues.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Oilers Strike Back 6-2; Mammoth loss ends 3 game win streak

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Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (left) pulls no punches on Edmonton Oilers center Trent Frederic (right) in first period action at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Oct 17, 2026 (AP News photo)

Oilers Strike Back 4-2; Mammoth loss ends 3 game win streak

Sat Oct 17, 2026

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth were unable to repeat their 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton on Thursday, falling victim to Connor McDavid’s 5-point night 6-2 on Saturday.

On a night where the attention of the State of Utah was focused on the Notre Dame/BYU college football game in Provo (BYU prevailed 28-24), the Central Division leading Utah Mammoth (6-2-0) returned to Delta Center on Saturday for the first of two games on the current homestand against the Edmonton Oilers (5-1-1) who they had beaten 4-2 on Thursday in Canada. Utah’s hot start this season had given them an early bump in The Athletic’s NHL Power Rankings which listed them seventh overall in the league behind Carolina, Vegas, and Edmonton.

In Saturday’s game, the hot start went to the Oilers who hit the scoreboard just 40 seconds into the contest as Connor McDavid put a backhand shot past Karel Vejmelka for his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. At 13:13 of the first period, Kailer Yamamoto was whistled for interference against Colton Dach, and eight seconds into the power play Zach Hyman made it 2-0 for Edmonton with his first goal of the season, assisted by McDavid and Podkolzin.32 seconds later, Mathiew Joseph made it 3-0 with an unassisted snap shot for his first goal of the season, and the game did not get any better for the home team.

At 10:57 of the second period, Kasperi Kapanen got into the action for the Oilers, putting a snap shot past Vejmelka for his third goal of the season, assisted by McDavid and Evan Bouchard.  Three minutes later Leon Draisaitl turned the game into a laugher netting his sixth of the season, assisted by McDavid and Matthias Ekholm, to put Edmonton up 5-0 as Vejmelka got pulled for backup Sebastian Cossa.

Mammoth defenseman John Marino broke up the shutout at 4:25 of the third period, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Daniil But, for his second of the season. Marino, who was originally drafted by Edmonton in 2015, has recorded points in his last three games against the Oilers.

95 seconds later Mikhail Sergachev took the puck all the way up the ice from the Utah defensive zone, driving right down the middle into Edmonton defensemen. His shot attempt deflected off the stick of Ryan Shea, floated over the head of netminder Tristan Jarry, bounced off the top of the net onto the back of Jarry, and then trickled into the net for his third goal of the season.

ESPN referred to it as a “snap shot.”  It is worth checking out the video on the internet to see this fluke goal for oneself. With the score 5-2, the Mammoth briefly appeared to have some life. They came close to a third goal on a couple of occasions, but Connor McDavid put the death nail in any hope of a comeback when he stripped the puck from John Marino near the blue line and beat Cossa to put the game completely out of reach with his 6th goal of the season halfway through the third, with the final score being 6-2.

In a subdued Mammoth locker room, defenseman Dmitri Simashev was asked about playing against McDavid and Draisaitl. “They’re probably some of the best. He’s the best player in the world,” Simashev said. “You need to be ready because he can do some magic there, but just be in the right spot in the right position. I’m not playing alone against him, we had five guys tonight, if everybody plays in the system and we’re going to be good.” Simashev was asked what changed from the previous game in Edmonton where Utah came out victorious. “We didn’t change,” the defenseman said. “The effort, of course, it’s 2-6 out there, and the effort wasn’t good today. But we did make a couple mistakes. Maybe sometimes we were unlucky, like the first three goals, but it doesn’t matter. We have to fight on the ice.” Simashev’s takeaway from the matchup, “That’s the first time we played the same team back-to-back. Next time we just need to be ready because every team, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, they will come in the next game and they want to beat you, especially at home. It’s going to be a lesson for us, just the small details.”

“It’s a little disappointing,” began associate captain Lawson Crouse at his stall. “It kind of feels a little bit similar to the Boston game where we fell behind and then opened the game up and did it to ourselves. So we can talk about learning, but we need to  take those strides. It’s a decision, and I think the third period proves that. It’s a decision to go out there, play fast, play to our identity, and win battles. I love the response. Not giving up, it seems like we never do, but we need that from the drop of the puck.” On bouncing back, Crouse said, “To be honest, it’s just about having open conversation, realizing there’s no finger pointing. Everyone can be better, and that’s the best part about this group. Everyone’s hungry to get better, but like I said, it’s just unfortunate. You can’t fall asleep early in games here, it bites you in the butt and that’s proof. But like I said, that third period was a decision on our behalf, and we need that effort from the drill.”

In his opening statement to the media, Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny said, “We knew it would be challenging. They will be ready on the other side. I didn’t like our compete at all in our battles. The kind of game it was in Edmonton, we knew it would be the same thing here tonight. I didn’t like the way we were in our one-on-one battles. The way we were with the dirty pucks. Our physicality was not at the level, and again, I want to make sure I’m clear: when I talk about physicality, I’m not talking about body checking necessarily. I’m talking about how heavy we were in our battles; they owned the net front in our zone and in their zone, so that’s physicality for me. That’s the way to be heavy in the game. I talked about it with the team this morning; it would be a challenge for the second game in a row where we will have that level of physicality and compete. Kudos to Edmonton; they did it for two games in a row, and we didn’t.” A silver lining to an otherwise forgettable evening was the relief performance of Sebastian Cossa. On his performance, Bear said, “Yeah, that’s cool. He was playing next game, so I think it was an opportunity for him to get some ice and to get his leg under himself.”

Were there any valuable lessons from such a beating this early in the season? “That’s absolutely the goal,” Tourigny said. “I think there’s one thing our players show every time is a lot of pride and the level of care was to the roof, so it’s not like that loss will fly easy in our room. I know the guys will take a lot of pride in it. We will do like we do every day, win or lose. We’ll analyze it, talk about it, figure out what we need to be better at and sort it out. I think if you look, the way we play against the Leafs was a little bit like that. We addressed it and we played a hell of a game in Edmonton. There’s a little fatigue right now, which is every team. I’m not saying that in terms of that’s why it happened. It’s okay if there’s a little bit of fatigue. Well, you need to manage it the right way, and you need to make sure you dig in. There’s days you wake up in the morning and you are fatigued. It’s not a reason to have a bad day. You need to say, ‘Okay, maybe I have a little bit less today. What can I do? How do I have to manage my day to have a great day and make sure I bring energy for the people around me, and be a good leader or be a good husband or father?’ You need to deal with it. We’re not looking for excuses. We’re looking to assess the situation. Make sure you find a solution, and you’re better from it.”

The Mammoth, now 6-3-0, have an opportunity to bounce back on Monday against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins after which they will travel to Seattle for a single game before returning home for a pair against Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Outlast Maple Leafs 5-4 To Remain Unbeaten At Home 

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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.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Batter Blackhawks 6-0 in Dominant Season Opener 

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Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) fights for the puck against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom (40) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Salt Lake City.Melissa Majchrzak/AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY– Dylan Guenther opened the scoring for the third straight season with a pair of power play goals, and Karel Vejmelka was perfect in net for Utah in 6-0 victory over Chicago.

Almost exactly five months to the day from the night the Utah Mammoth were eliminated from their first playoff run by the Vegas Golden Knights, the Mammoth opened the 2026-2027 season at home on Thursday night at Delta Center against the Chicago Blackhawks in a repeat matchup of the squad’s inaugural season home opener in which they defeated Chicago 5-2.

Making their Utah debuts on the evening were former New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, former New York Ranger and Team USA gold medalist Vincent Trocheck, and former Boston Bruin Andrew Peeke.

Delta Center completed Round 2 of major renovations during the offseason in which the sight lines of the upper bowl were much improved and steep.  The media have relocated to a brand new press box with a completely unobstructed view of the entire ice sheet.

From the moment the puck dropped, the Mammoth dominated the ice in mid-season form while the Blackhawks appeared to have suffered from a shortened pre-season.

Chicago netminder Arvid Soderblom initially managed to keep Utah off the scoresheet for most of the opening frame, but at 15:53 Artyom Levshunov was whistled for holding against Lawson Crouse, awarding the Mammoth their first power play opportunity of the season. 

At 16:40 Dylan Guenther cashed it in for his first goal of the season which has become a franchise tradition for the star forward who also registered the first goal in each of the previous two seasons against Chicago (10/8/24) and Colorado (10/9/25).

Guenther is the only Mammoth player to record two multi-goal performances in season openers, with the other one also coming at the expense of the Blackhawks. Of the 11 goals scored by Utah in its first three season openers, Guenther accounts for 5 of them.

His snap shot was assisted by captain Clayton Keller and forward Logan Cooley. Before the completion of the goal announcement, Utah forward Michael Carcone quickly made it 2-0 on a wrist shot assisted by Kevin Stenlund.  The period ended with the Mammoth scoring twice on 13 shot attempts, and Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka stopping all 7 Blackhawk shots on goal.

At 9:47 of the second period, Utah forwardNick Schmaltz made it 3-0 on a snap shot assisted by newcomer Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.  Anders Lee got into the action a few minutes later tipping in a shot by Andrew Peeke for his first goal in Mountain Blue to put Utah up 4-0 with the additional assist credited to Dmitri Simashev.

With Blackhawk forward Frank Nazar in the sin bin for cross-checking against Jack McBain, Guenther picked up his second power play goal of the game at 15:28, assisted by Keller and Lawson Crouse, giving the Mammoth a commanding 5-0 lead and matching their offensive output from the home opener two years ago. Utah finished the period with an additional 13 shots on goal while Chicago was held to just two attempts.

The Mammoth continued to control the pace of the game well into the third period when Daniil But tipped in a shot by Michael Carcone at 12:50 of the final frame to make it 6-0 in favor of the home team, with the additional assist to defenseman Nate Schmidt. 

From that point onward Utah played solid defense in front of Karel Vejmelka who stopped all 15 shots he faced in the win. For the Mammoth, a four-game pre-season was all they needed to hit the ground running. The Blackhawks might be wishing they’d had more time to  prepare

In the winning locker room, Guenther was asked which areas of the team’s season opener he liked the most. “I think just consistency and attacking them the same way,” the Mammoth forward responded. “We had a game plan going in, wanted to get a lot of shots and a lot of good forechecks, and probably just get going after that goal.” As for the team’s defensive effort, he added, “Good tracking, good gaps. Forcing them to dump it in, and just playing our game. We’re fast, so just trying to keep applying pressure on them.” On the team’s depth, Guenther said, “Yeah, it’s great to see. I think everyone’s anxious to get the season going. So to start like that is a good feeling. I hope we can just take that momentum into the long roadie.”

Captain Clayton Keller commented on what his squad did well.  “I thought we had good pace from the start. We knew they were a fast, skilled team, and I thought we put pucks behind them, used our speed. Every single line was playing the same way, and just kept rolling it over and didn’t get away from our game.” On holding Chicago to 15 shots on goal, Keller said, “I think just having lots of pace in the D zone. We talked about that a lot, and trying to take away their time and space, so I think we did a good job tonight, and we got to continue to do that every single night.” As for getting that first win of the season, the captain remarked, “I think it’s a good start. It’s a start that you want to have a big one like that, and now we have to keep it going. Short memory, learn from the mistakes in the game tonight, and go into this road trip.”

A clearly pleased head coach André Tourigny opened his press briefing by saying, “Very good game, obviously. But what I retained is the pace we had; we were on pucks, we were on them. We made it really tough, as tough as possible on (Chicago). The other thing I really liked is the way we were at the net. A lot of our goals were through traffic, with traffic, traffic [to] create rebounds or deflections. (Logan Cooley) is at the net screening the goalie; (Anders Lee) is driving the net and creating a deflection…Same thing on (Nick Schmaltz’s) goal; (Vincent Trocheck) is at the net screening the goalie, gives a rebound for (Schmaltz). (Schmaltz) was driving the net, put the rebound in. I liked our D. We took a lot of shots. (Mikhail Sergachev) took a lot of shots, (Dimitri Simashev) and all our [defensemen]. They throw pucks at the net. I could go one by one…They put pucks on the net, so that was really good. The power play scored a big goal to start. We had a chance at the start of the game, could not get it in. But our power play got us going. From there, I think we were really comfortable in the game.” On Karel Vejmelka’s poise and calmness in a quiet game, Bear said, “He was confident out there; he was solid. When he had to come up big, he made the big save. I like his performance; no doubt about it, but I like how the guys wanted to do the right thing for him at the end. They played the right way, and we kept them on the outside. I think it’s a good team mentality, and I think we played for each other.” When asked how the crowd response felt in light of the recent renovations to the arena, Tourigny said, “Every game that I coach in (this) building, it’s been amazing. They are supportive, they are into it, they’re loud. They’re great. We get spoiled. We knew what to expect tonight. They did not disappoint. They were great. They showed up, like usual in Utah. It was great.”

The Mammoth (1-0-0) now embark on a five game road trip through Columbus, New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Buffalo before returning home for another single-game homestand on October 13 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast Mary Lisa: Lightning close win 1-0 ties series 3-3 with Canadiens; Knights put away Mammoth 4-2; plus more NHL news

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Tampa Bay Lightning Gage Concalves (93) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (bottom) during overtime in game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Belle Centre in Montreal Fri May 1, 2026 (Canadian Press via AP News)

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast Mary Lisa:

#1 How did Andrei Vasilevskiy perform in Tampa Bay’s Game 7 push against Montreal, and what made his shutout performance significant?

#2 What impact did Mitch Marner have in helping Vegas eliminate Utah, and how many points did he record in the decisive game?

#3 Which players—such as Alex Tuch and Josh Norris—contributed to Buffalo’s series-clinching win over Boston, and why is this victory historically important for the franchise?

#4 In the upcoming second-round matchup, how will stars like Nathan MacKinnon and Kirill Kaprizov influence the Colorado vs. Minnesota series?

#5 What questions are being raised about Connor McDavid after Edmonton’s early playoff exit, and how might this affect his future with the team?

Join Mary Lisa for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Golden Knights end Mammoth Playoff Run With 5-1 Win

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Utah Mammoth defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) controls the puck against the Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden in first period action in game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff first round on Fri May 1, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) dominated all but a few moments of play while clinching their Round Two postseason berth against the Anaheim Ducks. The Knights put away the Utah Mammoth (2-4) on Friday night with a 5-1 win.

It was do or die Friday night at Delta Center for the Mammoth, down three games to two in the best-of-seven Western Conference First-Round Series.

Game 5 in Las Vegas on Wednesday was a microcosm of the series overall, with leads going back and forth until Vegas emerged with the edge.

Both squads learned Thursday night who the winner of this series will face in the next round as the Anaheim Ducks convincingly disposed of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 to win their opening round matchup in six games. Anaheim went 2-1-0 against Utah during the regular season, and a perfect 3-0-0 against Vegas with each game decided by a 4-3 score, two of which were in overtime.

Per Utah’s stat crew, five Mammoth players have previously scored goals in a playoff elimination game: Nate Schmidt, MacKenzie Weegar, Kevin Stenlund, Sean Durzi, and Clayton Keller.

It took until the final five minutes of the opening period for the first goal of the game which came at the hands of Game 5 double-overtime heartbreaker Brett Howden who put the Knights up 1-0 on his fourth goal of the series, assisted by Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.

With 62 seconds remaining in the frame, Alexander Kerfoot was whistled for a dubious goalkeeper interference penalty against Carter Hart. Replays showed the contact between them taking place outside the goal crease, nevertheless Vegas went on the power play.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, forward Pavel Dorofeyev shot the puck hitting the face of teammate Jeremy Louzon who skated slowly to his team’s bench with the period coming to a close. The Golden Knights outshot the Mammoth 10-6.

The second period’s scoring drought lasted longer than that of the first period, with both netminders holding the line for the first nineteen minutes of the frame. Though Vegas wasn’t on the power play, the final minutes of the period were a constant barrage of offense which felt like it, and with the Mammoth defense completely gassed Mitch Marner found the back of the net with 45 seconds remaining to give Vegas a 2-0 lead heading into the final period of play, which for the Mammoth had the potential to be the final period of play for the season. The Knights outshot Utah 9-8 in the frame, but in terms of puck possession and any sort of momentum it was overwhelming in favor of Vegas.

At 7:41 of the third period, Mammoth forward Kailer Yamamoto breathed life into his squad and the 16,000+ fans in attendance when he ended Carter Hart’s shutout effort with his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev.

For a moment it seemed as if Utah had some genuine momentum upon which to mount a comeback, but that optimism was squashed at 9:39 when Colton Sissons restored the two-goal Vegas lead with his second goal of the postseason, assisted by Brayden McNabb and Kaedan Korczak, to make it 3-1.

If that didn’t already begin to deflate the home team’s hopes of forcing a Game 7 in Las Vegas on Sunday, things went from bad to worse when Logan Cooley went to the sin bin for high-sticking against Nic Dowd. It took Mitch Marner all of 15 seconds on the man-advantage to make it 4-1, assisted by Shea Theodore and Jack Eichel, to seemingly put the game and the series away with 7:51 remaining.

If it weren’t a playoff game, the seats would have been emptying quickly at that point. Cole Smith added an exclamation point to the Golden Knights victory with an unassisted empty net goal at 16:24 to wrap things up 5-1.

“We were in it, and we battled,” said Assistant Captain Mikhail Sergachev. “We tried, and we failed. Maybe an eye-opener for a lot of us, and it’s going to take us time to digest all of that. And come back with a game plan to get better and come back stronger. … I have no doubt we’ll do some damage next year. I’m proud of this team; we battled, and our fans saw it. We got a lot of support from them, and we tried our best today. Very proud of this team.”

Associate Captain Lawson Crouse talked about the emotions following the series loss. “A lot of emotions, upset that we couldn’t get the job done, and fight for another day. Obviously, the fans have been great all season long. We owed it to them to fight right until the end.” Talking about how failure can help the team grow, Crouse added, “You have to go through the lows to get to the highs. We can be proud as a group of where we got to. Obviously, we have some things to learn, closing out games, but Vegas, they’re a great hockey team. They’re a veteran hockey team. They’ve won previously, and they know what it takes to win. They know how to win games and close them out. That’s something that we can learn from them. We gave it our all, we can all be proud of that. It wasn’t like we rolled over at any moments throughout the series and we just came up short. That’s the way it is. Obviously you got to learn from it and come back with another goal next year and try and replicate it, get a couple wins in the playoffs and advance to the next round.”

Captain Clayton Keller was transparent about his disappointment. “Yeah, it obviously sucks,” Keller began. “Terrible feeling right now for the guys. We fought, gave everything we had never quit, lots of ups and downs. It’s fresh right now, but I’ll have some time to reflect. Like I’ve said all series, we’re super confident in one another and our game plan and everything like that. It sucks, it’s a terrible feeling. When you lose and you go through that pain, that’s when you learn the most, not when you win.” One can’t help but think, we so many young players under contract for years to come, that the experience gained in the first round will benefit the team in the future. The captain continued, “Yeah, I believe so much in this group and the guys that we have, and the character and guys that love coming to the rink and getting better every single day. It’s so fun to come to the rink with these guys. Definitely super excited about the future. We are only gonna get better. Like I said, this sucks, but we’ll learn from it, we’ll break it down and the next time we’re in this situation, next year, we’ll get over the hump.” Of the fans who stuck it out through the end of the game, Keller added, “Like I’ve said all year long, the past two years, they’ve been unbelievable. They took it to a new level in the playoffs here. Their support means so much to all of us in this room, and gives us lots of energy. We love playing at home. We love playing at the Delta Center. It’s the best building to play in. I just love their passion and how much you know they appreciate and care for us.”

Those who have interviewed Head Coach André Tourigny throughout the season didn’t need him to open his mouth at the podium. His face communicated everything you needed to know. “I don’t really know what to tell you tonight,” he began. “It hurt. I didn’t have that on my bingo card. I was really confident we would go to Vegas tomorrow. I assume some will ask me questions about the season, and this and that. My head is not there at all. I’m mad. I’m disappointed. Not mad at the players. I’m mad at the fact we lost. I hate excuses. I hate taking the easy way out. I think I told you all year, your failure makes you stronger. You learn from it, and it makes you better. In order to make sure that happened, it has to hurt. I don’t even want to feel good about it. I want that to hurt, and I want to learn from it. There will be a ton of things we will unpack and learn and grow as a coach, as a player, as an organization. Our crowd was unbelievable for us all season long. In the playoffs, there were at another level. I would’ve loved to win it for them.” Speaking of the team’s no-quit mentality, Bear said, “There’s no doubt. I love our players, I love our team. They’re competitors. They’re proud to play for that team, that state, that ownership. They fight for each other. They love each other. There’s no doubt. An unbelievable group of guys in that room. Having said that, what we’re going through tonight is important for our future. It’s really important. Like I said, you need to let it hurt. You need to let it bleed a little bit. Has to hurt because that will be the fuel of tomorrow to bounce back and find a way to be better and to get to the next. There will be a time in a few days when we will talk together with you guys, and we’ll talk about what’s been achieved. For tonight, for me, personally, it hurts, and that’s the way it should be.” Describing the locker room after leaving the ice, Tourigny said, “After the game, I hugged all of them, and I care for them, and that doesn’t change. That doesn’t mean everybody played well. There’s a difference between the player and the person. Every single guy in that room are really good guys who care for each other, and they give everything they had for our team, our organization, our state, and for Utah. That means a lot to me. I appreciate all of that. I think that said, I don’t want to deepen that, but there will be things we need to learn to be better. We succeed in a few things. Cannot take it for granted. So there will be a time to talk about that. Tonight, it’s time to grieve a little bit.”

If one had to point out key moments where the Mammoth could have turned the tide, the first was in Game 4 at Delta Center when Utah scored four unanswered goals and had a lead in the third period, only to surrender the tying goal and eventually fall in overtime. A victory would have given the Mammoth a commanding 3-games-to-1 lead in the series. Instead they went back to Vegas with the series tied. But the bigger heartbreak came when leading in the third period of Game 5, Utah surrendered the tying goal with 53 seconds left, and then lost the game on a short-handed goal in double-overtime to force Friday’s elimination game. If either of those games turn out differently, Utah would be playing Game 7 in Las Vegas rather than making summer plans.

Mammoth players will return to Delta Center in the coming days to clean out their lockers, participate in exit interviews with the coaching staff, and meet with the local media. It is inevitable that some of them could be traded or otherwise not return.

Little did we know at the same time a year ago that Michael Carcone would be back after saying that he would be parting ways, or that Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, having been traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason for JJ Peterka, would be going to Round 2 of the playoffs after eliminating the Boston Bruins.

Under the tutelage of Tourigny, the then-Coyotes and current Mammoth have improved their performance in each of the past 5 years. The expectation is that 2026-27 will make it six as General Manager Bill Armstrong continues to improve the squad through free agent signings, trades, further development of Utah’s deep prospect pool, as well as the upcoming 2026 NHL entry draft which will be held in Buffalo on June 26–27.

Tom Walker covered the 2025-26 Utah Mammoth season for http://www.sportsradioservice.com