Tag: Utah Mammoth

Mammoth Sweep Season Series Against Jets In 5-3 Victory

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Utah Mammoth teammates celebrate a third period goal by center Nick Schmaltz (8) against the Winnipeg Jets at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Apr 14, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

April 14, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY–Winnipeg Jets fought back from 4-1 in the third to within striking distance, but Kerfoot’s empty netter sealed Utah Mammoth’s 5-3 win, securing the top Western Conference Wild Card berth. The Mammoth (42-32-6) began the final homestand of the 2025-2026 regular season Tuesday night against the visiting Jets (35-33-12).

Ironically, despite the legal technicality of being designated a new franchise when the Arizona Coyotes were sold to Smith Entertainment Group following the 2023-2024 season, the Mammoth DNA nevertheless traces to Winnipeg, whereas the Jets which currently play in the city began their existence in 1999 as the Atlanta Thrashers before becoming the Jets 2.0 beginning with the 2011-2012 season.

Logan Cooley kicked off the Mammoth scoring at 8:05 of the first period with his 24th goal of the campaign on a backhand, assisted by Nate Schmidt. Schmidt was at the top of his defensive faceoff circle when he launched a stretch pass up the middle of the ice where Cooley was positioned at the offensive blue line and drove straight to the net uncontested where he slipped the puck through the five-hole of Jets netminder Eric Comrie to give Utah a 1-0 lead.

16 of Cooley’s goals have come in the first period, fourth-most in the NHL despite having missed 28 games with a lower body injury. Courtesy of the Mammoth stat crew, he is also one of only four active American players to score 20 or more goals in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining an elite club consisting of Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, and Jack Eichel, and he ranks third with Adam Fantili for most goals of any NHL player 21 or younger. The Mammoth more than doubled up the Jets in shots on goal in the frame, outshooting Winnipeg 14-6.

At 4:13 of the second period, Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo was whistled for high-sticking against JJ Peterka, giving the hot Utah power play an opportunity to double up on their lead. Prior to the 4-1 road loss to Calgary on Sunday, the Mammoth set a new franchise record with power play goals in eight consecutive games.

31 seconds into Tuesday’s man-advantage, Nick Schmaltz gave Utah a 2-0 lead with his 32nd goal of the season, knocking in a rebound off the pads of Comrie who had stopped a blast by Mikhail Sergachev, with the additional assist by Dylan Guenther.

With under four minutes remaining in the period, Lawson Crouse went to the sin bin for holding against Josh Morrissey, enabling Kyle Connor on the power play to bring the Jets back to within one with his 39th goal, assisted by Gabriel Vilardi and Mark Scheifele. The period ended with the Mammoth leading 2-1. Shots on goal in the period were nearly identical to the first, with Utah putting up 15 and Winnipeg adding another six.

Six minutes into the third, the Mammoth power play was given another shot at extending Utah’s lead when Jonathan Toews was whistled for slashing against Brandon Tanev. Schmaltz, who already tallied a goal on the man advantage in the second period, came through again for his 33rd goal of the season, assisted by Cooley and Clayton Keller.

Keller’s assist gives him points in nine consecutive games, a new franchise record. 40 seconds later JJ Peterka picked up a loose puck near the Winnipeg net and put a wrist shot past Comrie, unassisted, for his 25th goal of the season, padding the Utah lead at 4-1.

In the final eight minutes the Jets made a push to get back in the game, with Scheifele halving the deficit with his 36th of the year, assisted by Kyle Connor and Vilardi. 13 seconds later Winnipeg went on the power play when Michael Carcone went to the box for high-sticking against DeMelo, which Isak Rosen was able to cash in for his sixth of the season, unassisted, suddenly narrowing the gap to 4-3 with 5:37 to play.

The previous two contests between these clubs were each decided by a goal, and this one seemed to trend the same direction, but with Comrie pulled for an extra attacker Alexander Kerfoot scored his seventh of the season into an empty net with 24 seconds remaining to seal the Mammoth season sweep of the Jets. Karel Vejmelka stopped 21 of 24 in the effort while notching his 38th win of the season, second most in the NHL. With one game remaining in the regular season, Utah is still contending to complete the schedule without a single shootout.

In the winning locker room, Nick Schmaltz reflected on the third period. “We had a little adversity there. They made a push, but we stuck with it. A big goal by JJ kind of gave us that extra cushion we needed. We hung on, and we fought to the end. Guys made some big blocks, and Veggie made some big saves at the end.” Of Vejmelka’s performance, Schmaltz added, “Yeah, it’s huge. He’s been good for us all year. You’re gonna need those saves this time of year, and it’s a big momentum shifter for either team. And he did a great job for us.”

JJ Peterka, whose goal was the difference maker in the game, talked about Utah’s pace. “I think you (saw) it today; the way we can play. We all play with speed. I think it’s like day and night, compared to other games we’ve played before. … We’re just trying to play North every time. I think seeing another goal from Cools, that’s the best example. We don’t hold it back there, we just move it up. I think no team can handle us if we play with that pace.”

Head Coach André Tourigny opened his post-game remarks, saying, “I’m really happy about the way we played. When we talk about our identity, we talk about how we want to play, and we talked about that this morning. We talked about the speed we played at, the battle we have, the net-front presence there, and the tempo we have, and I am really happy about that. Obviously, in the third period, we made it tougher than we should have, but it will be good learning for us. All of our guys are pros. We know that. So it is not like we learned something tonight. We knew that, so it just happened. I am glad it happened, though.” Bear continued, “we made it tougher than we should have. But when push came to shove and when it was tight, we played solid. No, we didn’t give much; we were stingy. Even when they had a shift around four minutes, they had the puck in our zone a lot, but nothing other than that. The guys were rock solid.”

The Mammoth (43-32-6) wrap up the 2025-2026 regular season on Thursday at home against the St. Louis Blues. Their opening round playoff schedule remains unknown, but they will open on the road against either the Edmonton Oilers or Vegas Golden Knights.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Hurricanes Blow Through Utah In 4-1 Win

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Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther lit the lamp for the 40th time this season, but the wind was at Carolina’s back in final contest against an Eastern Conference foe. (AP News photo)

by Tom Walker April 11, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY–The playoff bound Utah Mammoth (42-30-6) and Eastern Conference leading Carolina Hurricanes (51-22-6) squared off Saturday afternoon for a matinee matchup which gave Utah an opportunity to test their post-season readiness against an elite opponent. Unfortunately the Mammoth didn’t past the test with the Hurricane bowing to them in a three goal deficit 4-1 at the Delta Center.

Carolina enjoyed an early scoring opportunity when Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for holding against Seth Jarvis just 3:27 into the contest. Hurricane forward Andrei Svechnikov cashed it in a minute later on a backhand past Karel Vejmelka for his 31st goal of the season, assisted by Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere.

At 13:23, Jordan Staal made it 2-0 on a wrist shot for his 20th of the season, assisted by Ehlers and Jordan Martinook. Utah Captain Clayton Keller appeared to get one back for the Mammoth late in the frame, but the goal was nullified due to off sides. Frederik Andersen stopped all seven shot attempts in the period by Utah, while Vejmelka turned away 11 of 13.

The second period was extremely uneventful, unless defense is one’s favorite facet of the game, with neither squad able to muster much on offense. The respective netminders each shut out the other side, with Andersen blanking the Mammoth in seven attempts and Vejmelka stopping five.

Sebastian Aho opened the door for a Utah comeback early in the third, going to the sin bin two minutes into the frame for high sticking against Nate Schmidt. Dylan Guenther didn’t disappoint, netting his 40th goal of the season on a slap shot, assisted by Keller and Sergachev, to bring the Mammoth to within one.

Guenther is the first Mammoth player to reach the 40 goal mark, the 12th NHL player to do so this season, and it is the first time in his career that he has done so. On the power play goal, Utah established a new franchise record with power play goals in eight straight games.

Perhaps the loudest fan reaction of the evening came at 14:48 of the third, when rookie 6’4″ defenseman Dmitri Simashev dropped the gloves for the first time in his NHL career, tangling with Charles Alexis Legault. The Mammoth kept the game remarkably close despite the seeming mismatch on the ice for most of the game, but at 15:31 Aho tipped in the puck for his 27th of the year, assisted by Shayne Gostisbehere and Jaccob Slavin, to put the game virtually out of reach.

With Vejmelka pulled for the extra attacker, Utah continued to keep pressure on the Canes in the offensive zone but couldn’t solve Anderson in the Carolina net. With 23 seconds remaining in regulation, Sean Walker scored his ninth of the season into an empty net to send fans to the exits.

With the regulation loss, the Mammoth maintain their streak of being the only team in the NHL which has not participated in a shootout this season.

Defenseman Sean Durzi, who skated in his 300th career contest on Saturday, spoke to the media in the locker room about his team’s slow start. “I mean, that’s the Carolina Hurricanes. That’s what you’re getting with that team. We know that you have to be patient. Not much, not many plays there to be made, and I thought that’s what you saw. I think they always come out pretty hard, and we knew that, we knew what to expect. I thought we found our game in the second and then, yeah, that hockey game. It’s a couple bounces the other way, and pucks go in the net. But listen, that’s the Hurricanes. We’ve got to stay patient, and that’s the way the hockey game went.” Many of the post-game questions centered around being a test for the playoffs, and the importance of patience. “We say it all the time. Patience is so important in these games,” said Durzi. “Especially a team like us, a young, skilled, fast team. We want to make plays, and there are plays to be made, but at the same time, we can’t force it. Not to say that we did, and that we were trying to force plays. But again, that’s hockey where we stay patient, we stay on them, we put pucks in, and then let our skill take over from there. And you know what? That’s a good test for us today. And again, that’s a lot of what’s to come.” On Guenther’s 40th goal, Durzi added, “First off, as a guy, he’s unbelievable. I mean, we can talk about him forever, just you know how much he means to this team, as a person, and the energy he brings, the competitiveness, the fire, all that stuff. But as a hockey player, he’s special. I remember the first time that I met him, you see his release. And then if you compare it to now, it gets better every day. So he’s an awesome guy, awesome player. Couldn’t be more happy for him. I think a lot of the guys wanted him to hit that milestone, even though they wouldn’t say it. But we’re all rooting for him, trying to find him out there, and for him to get 40, it’s only a little bit of a teaser of what’s to come. He’s a great hockey player and a great person, couldn’t be happier.”

“Yeah, I mean, it feels good, definitely something that I was eyeing down the stretch, said Guenther of his milestone. “So really great play by those guys again [Keller & Sergachev], and it’s definitely nice to have.” Asked about what Utah learned in the game, Guenther said, “Yeah, I think just being ready, and I think we didn’t necessarily do all the right things right tonight. But when we do the right things, we’re one of the best teams in the league. And I thought that we outplayed them for bits and parts of the second. If we do that, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was asked if having a 40-goal scorer gives his teammates more confidence. “I don’t know if the number is something that effects our confidence,” Bear said, “but having Gunner in our lineup, knowing how he can play, how he can shoot, his release, his shooting ability, all of that, that for sure helps our confidence, because you know what he can do. I think he’s a great weapon for us. The growth in his game, it’s clear. I think this year, like I said many times, we wanted him to become the player he is right now. Being able to contribute in different ways, score goals in different ways, contribute in a whole lot of different ways, from checking, to producing offensively, so on and so forth.” On his key takeaways from the game, Tourigny said, “There’s a few things like I said, the start, the intent you need to be able to match the intensity or take the momentum early on is one. There were some moments of frustration at some points where we needed to stay even keeled. I think the guys reacted really well after that was pretty good. They are a pretty tight checking team. I liked the way that we progressed in the game of playing against that style. If there’s space, we have the skill and we can make plays, but when there’s no space, you have to be able to generate different ways. Creating space behind the D and stuff like that. I like the way we generated in the second half of the game. Generate that way, and that was positive. So there’s a few takeaways.”

Utah (43-30-6) hits the road for one final away game on Sunday against the Calgary Flames before finishing out the season at home on Tuesday and Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Defeat Predators 4-1 In Ice Age Season Finale; Clinch Western Conference Wild Card Berth As Ducks Defeat Sharks

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Utah Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny watches the action behind the bench against the Nashville Predators at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Apr 9, 2026 (AP News photo)

Utah punched its ticket to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in a convincing win over Nashville, with a little help from Anaheim.

by Tom Walker

April 9, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY–It became official at 10:27pm Mountain Daylight Time.  Following a solid 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at Delta Center, the Utah Mammoth stuck around a few extra minutes to celebrate the franchise’s first trip to the post-season as the Ducks eviscerated Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks 6-1 in Anaheim.  With the victory, the Mammoth take the so-called Ice Age series over the Predators winning 3 of 4 on the season. Utah becomes the third franchise in the past 45 years to make the playoffs in their second season, joining the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken.

Logan Cooley sparked Utah’s opening score late in the first period, stealing the puck in the defensive zone and then passing up the ice where Dylan Guenther and Kailer Yamamoto were crossing the offensive blue line. Guenther laid down a perfect pass to Yamamoto who was charging the net, and then rammed the puck underneath the pads of Nashville netminder Juuse Saros for his 12th goal of the season.  Saros finished the period stopping 8 of 9 Mammoth shots while Utah’s Karel Vejmelka was perfect in stopping all 7 Predators shot attempts.

At 5:16 of the second period, Nashville defenseman Justin Barron was whistled for tripping against Michael Carcone. Nineteen seconds later on the ensuing power play, Mammoth captain Clayton Keller fired the puck across the goal crease to the waiting stick of Nick Schmaltz who knocked it in for his 31st goal of the season, with Cooley picking up his second helper of the night. Utah has scored on the power play in seven consecutive games, matching their franchise record.  The period would end with Utah leading Nashville 2-0.  Saros turned away 5 of 6 in the frame while Vejmelka remained perfect in stopping all 12 attempts by the Predators. Scoreboard watchers paying attention to the game in Anaheim noted that the Ducks finished the first period leading the Sharks 2-0.

Lawson Crouse made it 3-0 three minutes into the third period, one-timing a pass from Clayton Keller from below the faceoff circle dot, for his 22nd goal of the season, with Mikhael Sergachev picking up the additional assist.  The Mammoth, which had scored 25 goals in their previous four games, continued to step on the gas with Dylan Guenther netting his 39th goal at 6:05. Keller picked up his third assist on the night and Schmaltz collected the other for his second point. Sergachev gave Nashville their one real scoring chance at 8:29, going to the sin bin for hooking against Matthew Wood. With just seven seconds remaining in the man-advantage, the Predators ended Vejmelka’s shutout when Erik Haula scored his 4th on the season, assisted by Zachary L’Heureux and Brady Skjei. But that would be all for Nashville as Utah won their fifth game in a row 4-1. The Mammoth have scored at least four goals in a franchise-record six consecutive games, with 33 goals during that span. With his goal and assist, Guenther joins Nick Schmaltz in passing the 70 point mark on the season for the first time in his career with 39 goals and 32 assists. Vejmelka finished the game stopping 29 of 30 shots by the Predators for his 37th win, tying him with Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL lead in victories.

In the locker room after the game, Lawson Crouse was asked about how fun it is to play in these meaningful late-season games. “I think we’ve been playing meaningful hockey for a while now,” the Associate Captain said. “So, these are the games we want to be in. These are the games that we want to get up for. So it’s been a lot of fun.” Talking about tonight’s game, Crouse continued, “We started the game pretty well, and then obviously, let it kind of get away from us a little bit in the second period. A huge answer back in the third, and we got rewarded for doing so. Veggie played an incredible game. He made some very timely saves, some big saves. Obviously, a pretty crappy bounce on that power-play goal coming back through his legs. He gave us a true chance to win right from the drop of the puck.” Asked about linemate Keller’s three primary assists in the game, Crouse said, “Are you surprised? No, he’s an incredible playmaker. He’s got incredible vision, incredible skill, and most importantly, passion for the game. Put all three of those together, and that’s our captain.”

Keller responded to a question about how proud he is of his teammates, saying, “I think it’s a step in the right direction. We’ve been playing some good hockey lately, very confident. A couple of lapses there in the second, but we fought back. Had a great third. Veg was unreal all game. Made some timely saves and kept us in the fight there in the second. So, just a great effort by everyone.” Asked about the pride he takes in being a playmaker and setting his teammates up, Keller said, “Yeah. I think I’ve always tried to be a very unselfish player. I like setting my teammates up, and I like to score also, but I think it just goes back to how I was coached when I was young. We were always the most unselfish team. We were always told by Jeff Brown and Keith Tkachuk, we want to be on SportsCenter. We always kind of made that extra pass. Sometimes it can bite you a little bit. I think you have to have that shot-first mentality. Yeah, it’s part of my game. I want to get my teammates involved and give them good looks.” On his teammates stepping things up during the playoff run, Keller added, “I think everyone’s been great. Everyone’s chipped in. We’re playing for one another. It’s the most fun time of the year. It’s fun to come to the rink when you’re winning, especially. Every guy that steps in when guys have gone down, Desi and Tuna, and everyone who’s chipped in has made a huge impact. I think that’s how deep of a team we are. We trust one another and believe in one another.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game media availability, “Our first period was a little bit slow but played well against their forecheck. Obviously in the second period, we didn’t move our feet as much, so we allowed them to forecheck a little bit better. We were a bit too careful and a bit too passive, but we got back in the third with way more aggression, moving our feet, better breakouts, and building more speed and scoring big goals at key moments. So very happy and very proud of the boys and the way they reacted in the third.” Speaking of Keller’s performance, Bear said, “I will say this about Clayton, he’s really tuned in and playing rock solid. He’s making the right decisions with the puck and his ability has always been there to make those plays. But the way he led in the third and moving his feet on the breakout, having great track, putting pucks behind defense, getting on the forecheck. That’s what you want from your leader.” On the team’s improvement in their second season in Utah, Tourigny added, “Well, I think we have a very good team. The guys are getting older, more mature, and they learn from what happens. The GM does a great job to improve the team every year. It’s easy now to look back and see we started from scratch. It’s a privilege when you start the process where you start. It’s not every time you have that much runway, so I feel fortunate and try to keep improving every year for the next.”

Utah (42-30-6) wraps up the three-game homestand with a Saturday matinee against the Metropolitan Division leading Carolina Hurricanes (51-22-6), and will then head out for their final road game of the season in Calgary before wrapping the the regular season home schedule against Winnipeg and St. Louis.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Utah Strikes Oil In Franchise First 6-5 Win Over Edmonton

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Utah Mammoth center Clayton Keller (9) shoots the winning goal 33 second into the overtime stanza to help defeat the visiting Edmonton Oilers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Apr 7, 2026 (AP News photo)

Utah Mammoth Game Wrap: The Mammoth have scored 25 goals over the past four games in their playoff push.

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth (40-30-6) returned to Delta Center Tuesday night following a successful three-game sweep of games against Pacific Division teams in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, scoring a minimum of six goals in each of the victories. The Mammoth came away with a 6-5 win over the Pacific Division’s best the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night.

In their win against the Canucks, Utah became the third team in NHL history to win 40 games in their second NHL season, joining the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken.The offensive surge couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment heading into the home stretch of the regular season. 

Though the Mammoth have been holding down the top Wild Card slot in the Western Conference for some time, a number of conference rivals remain in the hunt for the postseason, and Utah is not yet mathematically guaranteed to punch their card to make a Mammoth playoff debut. Utah went 1-3-0 on the previous homestand, and will now play five of their remaining six regular season games at home.

Squaring off against the Mammoth on Tuesday night were the Edmonton Oilers (39-29-9) who currently share the Pacific Division lead with the Anaheim Ducks, and who entered the contest a perfect 5-0-0 against Utah since the former Arizona Coyotes were rechristened as a new franchise in Salt Lake City.

Mammoth forward JJ Peterka got things going for Utah less than two minutes into the contest with his 24th goal of the season, a slap shot, assisted by Ian Cole and Michael Carcone. Before the goal announcement could even be completed, the Oilers tied things up 11 seconds later on a backhand by Edmonton forward Curtis Lazar, his fourth of the year, assisted by Adam Henrique and Matthias Ekholm.

It would only get worse for the Mammoth from there. With Clayton Keller in the penalty box for high-sticking against Curtis Lazar, Connor McDavid showed why he remains one of the game’s elite forwards, blowing effortlessly through the Utah defense and putting the puck past Karel Vejmelka for his 44th goal of the season, assisted by Evan Bouchard and netminder Tristan Jarry. 

At 14:43 the Oilers made it 3-1 on the 19th of the year by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, assisted by Kasperi Kapanen, which is where things concluded as the two squads headed to their respective locker rooms. Jarry turned away 10 of 11 Utah shots while Vejmelka surrendered three goals on seven shots by the Oilers.

Utah settled down a bit in the second period, keeping Edmonton at bay for the first half of the frame, and then at 10:28 forward Nick Schmaltz got the Mammoth to within one with his 29th goal of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse.

With a little more than four minutes remaining, Logan Cooley brought Utah back the rest of the way, scoring his 23rd goal of the season on a slap shot, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Sean Durzi. Unfortunately for Utah, for the second time in the game, the goal announcement could not be completed before the Oilers immediately went ahead 4-3 on Vasily Podkolzin’s 18th goal of the season, assisted by Darnell Nurse and McDavid.

Making matters worse, with less than two minutes left in the period, MacKenzie Weegar went to the sin bin for hooking against McDavid.  But rather than surrendering another goal on the power play, Schmaltz came through shorthanded for his second goal of the night and 30th on the season to even the score at 4-4, with John Marino and Alexander Kerfoot picking up the assists. 30 goals and 40 assists for 70 points are a new career high for Schmaltz, who signed an 8-year $64 million contract extension in March. The Mammoth flipped the script from the opening frame, this time outscoring Edmonton 3-1, with Vejmelka stopping 11 of 12 Oilers shots and Jarry turning away 7 of 10 by Utah.

Edmonton regained the lead 5-4 at 2:09 of the third period when Colton Dach registered his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Trent Frederic and Jason Dickinson, but Utah wasn’t done yet.  At 12:56, the Mammoth came back to tie the score for the third time in the game when Alexander Kerfoot, who was camped out in front of the Oilers net, tipped in a shot from Sean Durzi for his sixth goal of the season, with the additional helper to Michael Carcone, to make the score 5-5 and send the game to overtime.

Just 25 seconds into bonus hockey, Matt Savoie was whistled for tripping against Logan Cooley to give Utah a 4-on-3 power play.  The Mammoth wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity, with captain Clayton Keller netting the game winner eight seconds later to give Utah its first franchise victory over Edmonton, a possible first round playoff opponent. Keller’s 26th goal of the season was assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Dylan Guenther.

In the locker room, Schmaltz commented on the intensity level of the game, “It was pretty high. We kind of know where we stand and where they stand. These points are so valuable. We want to get that X by our name, as fast as we can. So we’re doing everything we can, and we’re battling every night, and two points is huge, especially against that team.”

Keller added, “I think we stuck with it all game, obviously being down 3-1, and I still feel like we were playing good hockey. A couple of bounces here and there, but just part of the way that we stuck with it. We had a big push in the third. We were playing our style of hockey. We get the goal there, and then we keep pressing. We don’t sit back and back up. It’s a good step in the right direction, and still got some games left, so it’s a huge win.” Of his linemate’s 30 goals, Keller said, “You guys know, I think the world of him. Him as a player and person and just so gifted, fast, skilled, thinks the game at such a high level, and has such a good stick. There’s so many things about his game that people don’t recognize or truly appreciate as much as all of us do in this room, and just how good he is. That’s huge for him, for sure. He’s got that sneaky little wrister, and he’s good in tight. He’s got good hands. That’s great to see him get that, and I don’t think that’s the ceiling for him honestly.”  On coming back from behind three separate times, the captain said, “I think just pressing when we were down. It still felt like we had lots of confidence all game. We never had that span of being down on ourselves, or whatever it may be. We just kept rolling it over and trusting that it would turn and I think that’s something that we’ve gotten better at as the year has gone on, so good on us.”

Head Coach André Tourigny was all smiles beginning his post-game session with the media, repeating a refrain from earlier in the season, “are we entertained?”  Talking about the lines of Schmaltz and Cooley containing McDavid, Bear commented, “those two lines shared McDavid all night long. I think they did a really good job … they played really well against 97, so I think they played a complete game.” Explaining why he started the overtime period with Cooley on the ice, Tourigny added, “I didn’t want somebody who couldn’t skate with McDavid. And he had the fire in his eyes; I got this, I got this. I said, ‘Hey, don’t take chase, don’t worry.’ He didn’t really even want to hear me. He was kind of just, just put me out there and don’t worry. He drew the penalty, and we scored on that. So, proud of the young guy.” On the team’s resiliency, Bear added, “People talk about going over the hump, and this and that; those guys want to win. They want to perform, and sometimes that gets in our way, because wanting to get a result sometimes makes you focus on the wrong thing. You need to focus on the process, but those guys have always been driven to achieve great things. They want to be a championship team. They know there’s growth to get there, but I never doubt their resiliency as a team, and they believe in each other. I like the fact that they believe in each other. They know we’re a good team and we can achieve good things together, so there’s a strong belief.”

Next up for Utah (41-30-6) on Thursday are the Nashville Predators (37-31-10), who shut out the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 on the road Tuesday night to leapfrog the Los Angeles Kings into the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.  

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Celebrate No Kings With 6-2 Siege In Los Angeles

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Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (right) and defenseman Mikail Sergachev (98) celebrate Cooley’s goal in the in the first period at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sat Mar 28, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

Logan Cooley and Alexander Kerfoot each scored a pair as the Utah Mammoth (38-30-6) defeats the Los Angeles Kings (29-26-18) twice in six days. Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena in the Southland the Mammoth crushed the Kings 6-2.

On a day where so-called “No Kings” protesters took to the streets in many American cities to express their opposition to President Trump and ICE, the Mammoth (38-29-6) took to the ice in Los Angeles where they put their own spin on “No Kings” with a dominant 6-2 victory over L.A. who entered the game at 29-25-18, further solidifying their position atop the Western Conference Wild Card standings with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot gave the Mammoth an early lead at 2:31 of the first period, tipping in a perfect pass from John Marino as he attacked the net for his 4th goal of the season. With three and half minutes remaining in the frame, Mikhail Sergachev shot the puck from the far blue line all the way down the ice and banking off the end boards and in front of the net where a charging Logan Cooley slid the puck beneath the pads of Darcy Kuemper for his 19th of the year to make it 2-0.

Cooley had such a lead over the nearest defender that no icing was called on the play, and Dylan Guenther picked up the additional assist. With a little over 2 minutes remaining, Kings Captain Anze Kopitar brought L.A. back to within one with his 12th goal of the season, deflecting a shot in front of the net by Adrian Kempe. But a minute later, Kopitar went to the box for tripping Guenther, giving Utah the first power play opportunity of the game.

With 9 ticks left on the clock, Cooley had the puck down low with no one to pass to, so he drove to the net himself and flipped the puck top shelf over the right shoulder of Kuemper for his second goal of the game and 20th of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Sergachev, sending the teams to their locker rooms with the Mammoth taking a 3-1 lead. Cooley is the sixth Mammoth player to reach 20 goals this season, most of any team in the NHL, joining Guenther, Nick Schmaltz, JJ Peterka, Keller, and Lawson Crouse.

At 12:37 of the second period, Kerfoot made his way with the puck to the bottom of the left faceoff circle near the Kings net. As he looked for someone to pass to he realized that he had been left completely alone without a single defender challenging him, so he took his time to size up the angle between himself and Kuemper and placed a perfect shot over Kuemper’s right shoulder, a near mirror-image of Cooley’s earlier goal, for his 5th of the year assisted by Ian Cole as the Mammoth took a 4-1 lead.

At 16:17 of the period, with Scott Laughton riding the pine in the sin bin for slashing against John Marino, Nick Schmaltz made it a 5-1 game batting in a one-timer off a pass from Keller for his 27th of the season, further assisted by Sergachev.

The Kings got one back at 4:34 of the third period when Adrian Kempe launched a blast up the middle through traffic for his 27th of the season. Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka was completely screened and had no play on the shot which narrowed the score to 5-2.

With more than six minutes remaining in the game, Los Angeles rolled the dice in pulling Kuemper early for an extra attacker, but the gamble failed when Jack McBain scored an easy empty netter for his 9th goal of the year, assisted by Peterka and Sergachev, to effectively put the game away 6-2. The Kings hoisted the white flag at that point, leaving Kuemper in net for the remainder of the contest.

The Mammoth, who until last week had never defeated the Kings since moving to Utah, wrap up their L.A. season series with a 2-1-0 record.

“Obviously it’s a battle for the playoffs and they’re right behind us and it was kind of a four-point game for us and it’s huge,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in the locker room. Talking about Saturday’s success on the power play including the closing seconds of the first period, Sergachev said, “We had a shot mentality. Everything started with the shot and then it opened up and our elite players made some elite plays and it paid off. Simplicity is the key. … Our power play hasn’t been great this year and lately it has been, and scoring that big goal shows the composure of the guys and the guys are not going down easily.” Speaking of the team’s defensive effort and the Kings’ pressure on Vejmelka, Sergachev added, “I think he was in danger tonight and he made some key stops and he played unbelievable.” The Mammoth have discussed what needs improvement as they continue the playoff stretch. “We know what we gotta do,” Sergachev said. “We’re just a young team. Sometimes emotions get the best of us like last game, we talked about it and today when emotions were getting the best of us we settled down, leaders, coaches, and it worked.”

Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game remarks saying, “Offensively we did a good job of attacking through quick strikes, putting pucks at the net, winning battles down low.” Speaking of the Kings, Bear said, “L.A.’s a veteran team, a good team, they’re making a huge push. They’re have a ton of reasons to fight for it. Their experience of winning [and] pedigree in that room. … We believe in ourselves as well. I think we haven’t been as good as we wanted since we [last] played them, but I think tonight it’s an opportunity for us at the biggest stage in the season to come up big.” Talking about playing the same team six days apart, Tourigny said, “You see exactly how they attack you. Where was the hole and what they were trying to do. The other way around is true as well. They will know, they will make some adjustments, so you need to be proactive in your thinking and what can be the key point there. At the end of the day I think we knew what they will do. They knew what we will do. The best team will win and I think the players will fight hard on both sides and that will be a helluva game.”

The Mammoth (38-30-6) continue their three-game Pacific coast road swing next Thursday in Seattle followed by a Saturday tilt in Vancouver before returning home to face the Edmonton Oilers on April 7. Five of Utah’s final six contests will be at home.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Ovechkin’s 34th Career Hat Trick Knocks Out Mammoth In 7-4 Prize Fight

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Washington Capital Alexander Ovechkin takes a shot on net against the Utah Mammoth in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Mar 26, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Fists flew with a fury in a thrilling cage match which also happened to feature a little bit of ice hockey and eleven goals including a hat trick from the greatest sniper in NHL history. The Utah Mammoth just couldn’t keep up losing in a three goal difference 7-4.

The Mammoth (37-29-6) wrapped up their four-game homestand Thursday night at Delta Center against the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, and the Washington Capitals (35-28-9). Fans streamed into Delta Center expecting a hockey game, and got a wild one with a bonus measure of Wrestlemania.

To say that the first period was explosive would be an understatement. It began in fairly innocent enough fashion, with Capitals forward Ivan Miroshnichenko scoring his first goal of the season a couple of minutes into the contest, assisted by Hendrix Lapierre and Jakob Chychrun.

Just past the halfway mark of the frame the chippiness began when MacKenzie Weegar and Anthony Beauvillier mixed things up, earning the pair a couple of minutes in the sin bin for roughing. While they were riding the bench, Dylan Strome joined his Washington teammate upon being whistled for tripping against Mikhail Sergachev, giving Utah its first power play opportunity of the evening.

About a half minute into the man-advantage, Utah Captain Clayton Keller passed the puck from behind the goal line to Mammoth scoring leader Dylan Guenther who one-timed the puck past Logan Thompson for his 35th of the season, with the additional assist to Sergachev.

Four minutes later the same trio of Mammoth stars combined on Guenther’s second goal of the night and 36th of the season when Keller drove the puck through traffic and dished to an open Guenther who danced around Thompson and put the puck between his pads to give Utah a 2-1 lead.

At 18:38 of the period, Mammoth forward Brandon Tanev incurred a two-minute minor for boarding Ryan Leonard, but Washington enforcer Tom Wilson attacked Tanev from behind to earn a double-minor for roughing, with both Tanev and Wilson also receiving 10-minute misconduct penalties following a spirited, profanity laden, bloody fight, sending both players to their respective locker rooms for the rest of the period.

Tanev received a standing ovation from the Delta Center faithful as he skated to the locker room, while Wilson received an ear-splitting chorus of boos. With Ovechkin serving the additional penalty to Wilson, Logan Cooley batted in a rebound with seven seconds left to give Utah a 3-1 lead as Wilson surely heard the goal horn blasting from the bowels of the arena.

Thompson finished the period stopping 8 of 11 shots while Mammoth backup netminder Vítek Vaněček turned away 7 of 8. It was unclear whether Vaněček was in net as a reward for his third period shutout of the Oilers on Tuesday, of if primary goalie Karel Vejmelka was being held out after having been shaken up a bit during the previous game.

Five minutes into the second period, Alexander the Great brought the Capitals back to within a goal with his 27th of the season, tipping in a shot from Rasmus Sandin. At 11:28 Ovi added an encore with his 28th goal on a snap shot, assisted by Dylan Strome and Trevor van Riemsdyk to draw even with Utah at 3-3.

Immediately upon the post-goal puck drop, Tanev dropped his gloves again, this time dancing with Brandon Duhaime as both players earned 5-minute major penalties for fighting. Thompson finished the period stopping all 13 Mammoth shots while Vaněček turned away 6 of 8.

Utah began the third period on the power play with Tom Wilson serving the remainder of an interference call carried over from the second period. No sooner did Wilson emerge from the box that he was jumped by Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse in retaliation for Wilson’s earlier physical play.

After yet another fight, both players were assessed major fighting penalties, with Crouse picking up an additional 2-minute instigator penalty. Washington quickly capitalized on the disciplinary lapse, with Beauvillier tipping in his 13th of the season on the power play, assisted by Cole Hutson and Connor McMichael, to put the Capitals up 4-3.

At 6:02 of the frame, Rasmus Sandin gave Washington a 2-goal lead on a snap shot, assisted by Beauvillier. Two minutes later, newly acquired defenseman MacKenzie Weegar brought the Mammoth back to within one with his first Utah goal and fourth overall on the season, assisted by Keller and Alexander Kerfoot. Hope began to fade, however, when Ivan Miroshnichenko slipped a backhand shot past Vaněček for his second of the night and season, assisted by Chychrun at 9:54.

Down 6-4 with under ten minutes remaining, Mammoth head coach André Tourigny pulled Vaněček in favor of Vejmelka. Veggie did his part to shut down Washington the rest of the way, but gave way for an extra attacker in the closing minutes. With the game effectively out of reach, Ovechkin received an ovation from fans of both teams which he completed the hat trick into an empty net with six seconds remaining on the clock for a final score of 7-4.

“I think it was obviously an emotional game and great fight by our guys sticking up for each other the entire game no matter what happened,” Mammoth Captain Clayton Keller said after the game. “It’s a tight brotherhood in here, and every guy will do that for one another. I was proud of the fight we showed, and that’s a different game, one maybe we haven’t experienced with a lot of penalties and a lot going on. I think we have to learn to just stay mentally focused and calm in those situations. I thought we had good chances and things like that. Everyone’s gotta look in the mirror, we all got better and we all know that. Still super confident with our group. This is the most exciting part of the year and the most exciting hockey. We’re all positive, and we’ll learn from it and go to L.A.” On the team’s physicality, Keller said, “Our team, we can play any style. We can play heavy, we can play the skilled game, and I think that’s what makes us good. We always bounce back, we always seem to rise to the challenge most nights. I thought we did that tonight. Obviously not the result that we wanted, but super pumped. It’s a good feeling when you see your teammates do that for one another and for other guys, that goes a long way.”

Forward Logan Cooley addressed the brotherhood of the team in the hard fought contest. “It’s awesome. Crouser sticking up, Turbo gives us a ton of energy, and like you said, it’s a brotherhood in here, and we stick up for each other. It was great to see and that’s something that we take and build off of.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny began his post-game comments saying, “It is tougher to talk with emotion and everything, but I will try to keep it brief. I am disappointed in the way we controlled our emotions. I am a big believer in team toughness, showing up for your teammates, and stuff like that. But there is a way to do it. The more important thing is that we got carried away emotionally. It’s part of the game, but you need to stay composed, and you need to keep playing. We got carried away from there, and that cost us. That’s the first thing. The second thing is we need to be better at staying present and staying focused on what we have to do. We take leads, then we focus on the outcome we want instead of on what we have to do to keep playing well and paving our way. Instead, we focus on the outcome and get paralyzed. That is the situation of the standings and everything. We need to apply pressure and react to it in better ways.” Continuing to talk about passion and emotion, Bear said, “It’s positive as long as it doesn’t take you out of your game. That is just the way it is. We think that was emotional… If you play in the playoffs, it will be like that in the warm-up. So you cannot get carried away with that emotion. It is great to have emotion, but you need to stay in control. So I love the mindset of showing up for each other and everything. I am a huge believer in team toughness. I talk about that all the time. I love that. But that cannot take you away from what you have to do. And we talk about that, like I said, it is more when we have the lead 3-1, and we are playing really well and applying a lot of pressure, and then we start to be less aggressive in our play and give some hope. They’re just that, we need to be able to sustain our play, but now our focus is more on the result, and that is stuff that gets you away from what you have to do. So we need to reprogram the brain to focus on what we have to do, period. Whatever the circumstance, whatever the adversity, the emotion of the game, or so on and so forth. That doesn’t mean you don’t have team toughness. That doesn’t mean you don’t have emotion. You just control that stuff.”

The intensity level between Tuesday and Thursday was night and day. When asked how the team can carry Thursday’s intensity into the next game in Los Angeles while maintaining discipline, Tourigny commented, “I like the way you brought it. I think we – you could see the passion of our players tonight, you could see the work, you could see the intensity, the emotion and all of it. It’s always … whatever the situation, sustaining something, consistency, right? That’s a secret of success. You know, it’s not about doing one great thing one time in your life. For once again, or one day, or one hour, is being capable of sustaining elite every day. We had great, great emotion today. Now it’s important to unpack what we need to do better, but we need to find that emotion [in] our work and put it under control for the next game.”

The Mammoth (37-30-6) will square off against the Kings (29-25-18) in Los Angeles on Saturday, followed by the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks before returning to Delta Center on April 7 to face the Edmonton Oilers.

NHL podcast Len Shapiro: Jets get three goal win over Knights 4-1; Blues Hofer shuts out Caps 3-0; plus more NHL news

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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save on Vegas Golden Knights Keegan Kolesar (55) as Elias Salmonsson (57) defends in the first period at the T Moblie Center in Las Vegas on Tue Mar 24, 2026 (AP News photo)

NHL podcast Len Shapiro:

#1 The Winnipeg Jets handled the Vegas Golden Knights in Edmonton on Tuesday night with a 3 goal win 4-1. The Jets Mark Scheifele kept busy with a goal and two assists and got it hit with a fighting major in the second period. It’s rare for Scheifele to get into a scrape not to mention a major. The Jets Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo and Cole Perfetti also scored for Winnipeg.

#2 St Louis Blues Jimmy Snuggerrud and Otto Stenberg scored goals and the Blues goaltender Joel Hofer saved 21 shots as the Blues got a shutout over the Washington Capitals 3-0 on Tuesday night. The Blues Jordan Kyrou scored his 17th goal on a empty netter with 41 seconds left to put the final touches for the win.

#3 The Calgary Flames edged the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night 3-2 at Scotia Place in Calgary defeating the Kings in a four round shootout on Yegor Sharangovich’s shootout goal. Olli Maatta and Zayne Parekh each had goals in the first period scoring their first goals of the season. The Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf saved 23 shots.

#4 The Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid reached 400 career goals Connor McDavid kept a straight face while making a curious revelation to a group of reporters after surpassing 400 career goals not to mention picking up a second goal his 401st goal of his career that helped the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-2 win over the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.

#5 Mikael Granlund of the Anaheim Ducks scored two goals and Alex Killorn picked up goal and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Mason McTavish and Troy Terry both scored for the Ducks and John Carlson picked up three assists while goaltender Lukas Dostal saved 27 shots.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts heard Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Mammoth Flattened By Oilers In 5-2 Beatdown

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Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid (97) takes the puck up the ice against the Utah Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz (8) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Mar 24, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Edmonton Oilers capitalized 5-2 on a sloppy Utah Mammoth performance with Connor McDavid picking up his 39th and 40th goals, and 400th in his career, in a game which was never really contested.

The Mammoth (37-28-6) squared off against the Oilers (34-28-9) at Delta Center on Tuesday night for the third of four games on the current homestand. The Oilers entered the matchup as one of just two NHL teams which Utah has never defeated, the other being the Dallas Stars.

At 11:12 of the first period, Utah forward Alexander Kerfoot kicked off the scoring with his third goal of the season, technically assisted by Sean Durzi and Ian Cole, but his drive ricocheted off the bodies of Edmonton defensemen Darnell Nurse and Connor Murphy before sailing like a knuckleball over the shoulder of a helpless Tristan Jarry in the Oilers net who couldn’t keep up with the rapid fire changes of puck direction.

Jack Roslovic evened things up a few minutes later when his wrist shot got past Karel Vejmelka for his 18th goal of the season, assisted by Jake Walman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, resulting in a 1-1 tie as the two squads entered their locker rooms. Jarry stopped 2-3 Mammoth shots in the frame, while Vejmelka turned away 7-8.

11 minutes into the second period, Edmonton forward Zach Hyman gave Utah the first power play opportunity of the game, going to the penalty box for high-sticking against Clayton Keller. Hyman’s teammate Matt Savoie bailed him out, scoring a short-handed goal 24 seconds later, his 12th of the season assisted by Evan Bouchard, to put the Oilers ahead 2-1.

35 seconds later, Utah Assistant Captain Lawson Crouse cashed in on the power play with his 20th goal of the season, the fourth time he has reached this milestone in his career, assisted by Michael Carcone and MacKenzie Weegar, evening things up 2-2.

That lasted all of eight seconds when Connor McDavid won the ensuing faceoff and then scored his 39th goal, and 400th of his career, assisted by Matthias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard. The Oilers continued to step on the gas, with Roslovic netting his second goal of the game at 15:04, assisted by Hyman and Bouchard, to give Edmonton a 4-2 lead.

All four goals for the two squads came in a span of 3 minutes and 40 seconds. André Tourigny called a 30-second timeout to settle his team down, and both teams shut down the other side the rest of the frame, with Jarry stopping 6 of 7 shots in the period and Vejmelka turning away 4 of 7.

The third period began with Vítek Vaněček replacing Vejmelka in goal for Utah, and he did his part to keep the Oilers off the scoreboard going 10-for-10 in stopped shots until the end when he was pulled for an extra attacker. The Mammoth have only ever scored once in a 6-on-5 situation, and Edmonton kept that streak of futility alive. With eight seconds remaining in the game, Connor McDavid sent everyone to the exits with an unassisted breakaway empty net goal, his 40th overall on the season, to give the Oilers a 5-2 victory in a game which wasn’t even that close. Edmonton continued its perfect domination of Utah, with the two squads scheduled to face one another for the final time this season on April 7 at Delta Center.

“It was tough, for sure,” said defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the locker room after the game. “I thought [the] first half of the game was good, showed some compete and then obviously the power play goal that we tied up was big. Then they scored right after that, and then again quickly right after that, and then I thought we lost the momentum. We didn’t have the energy after that. The compete level in 50/50 battles wasn’t really there either. Definitely something that comes within, it’s not something that you can teach. That’s definitely look yourself in the mirror type stuff, but I trust in this group and we’ll bounce back the right way.”

Alexander Kerfoot, who opened the night’s scoring with a pinball machine shot caroming off of two Edmonton players, addressed the team’s lack of follow through in the game. “We obviously just didn’t have enough of a pushback, in the third especially. We’re down two goals in a game, fighting for a playoff spot against a team who’s also fighting, and we didn’t even make them work for it, didn’t make them earn it. Disappointing. It’s on us,” Kerfoot said. When asked why Utah hasn’t been able to defeat the Oilers, Kerfoot responded somewhat indignantly, “How many games have we played, like six? We were winless against LA, won last game. They’re a good team. They’ve been in the cup finals twice in a row. It’s hard to beat good teams in this league. They’ve got some elite players. We’d like to do a better job against them, and it’s no excuse.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny, who coached his 400th career game on Tuesday night, said, “We did a lot of good stuff defensively, but I think we didn’t have our usual aggression and our pace, and we gave up too much time and space. Not that it cost us defensively, but it cost us offensively in a sense that we didn’t recover any puck play, we didn’t have the puck enough so that we let them maneuver too much with the puck. I will have loved us to be more aggressive on the puck carrier and generate turnovers or generate takeaways and stuff like that. So that’s what I think of the game.” Talking about the third period, Bear continued, “We didn’t have the puck enough. I think defensively, we were in contain mode. I have talked about that before, and I will repeat it. Your biggest enemy when you trail, is when you think you want to score, so instead you keep your tank, your energy for to go on offense. So what happens is you don’t have the puck, so you defend because you don’t have the same aggression. You don’t create a stop, you don’t create a hit where there’s a battle, then you can recover the puck and go on the offense. So you end up spending all your energy defending instead of spending quick energy defensively, recovering pucks, and then you can go on the offense. Instead of that, it’s a little bit of a human reaction, you get passive defensively. You keep your energy from going on the offense, and then you’re not going in the offense, because you end up not recovering the puck and the team and the other side keeps the puck below the goal line, and they play low, high, and so on and so forth. So you end up defending for the entire period. That’s what I think of the third period. We did not have the right aggression without the puck, so we had to defend away too much, and that took our offense away. That’s the period we generated the least, because we’re waiting for the offense instead of making it happen.”

Tourigny’s career won/loss record through Tuesday night is 164-191-45, with his Arizona record being 89-131-26 and his Utah record standing on the positive side of the ledger at 75-60-19.

The Mammoth (37-29-6) close out the current homestand on Thursday against the Washington Capitals (35-28-9) before embarking on a trio of Pacific coast games against Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver.

Schmaltz And Crouse Crown Kings 4-3 In Overtime

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Los Angeles Kings right wing Mathieu Joseph (17) lands on the ice after getting block by the Utah Mammoth during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, March 22, 2026, in Salt Lake City. Melissa Majchrzak/AP

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Lawson Crouse scored twice in the first period and Nick Schmaltz added a pair including the overtime game winner as the Utah Mammoth defeat the Los Angeles Kings for the first time in franchise history 4-3 in overtime.

The Mammoth (36-28-6) welcomed the Kings (28-25-16) to Delta Center on Sunday evening, with Utah looking to reverse the result of their previous four encounters with L.A., all losses, since moving to the Beehive State.

Eight days ago, Kings captain Anže Kopitar passed legendary Hall of Fame forward Marcel Dionne, who last suited up for L.A. four decades ago in 1987, to become the team’s all-time points leader. In 20 NHL seasons, the two-time Stanley Cup champion also leads the team in career games played, entering Sunday’s contest with 451 goals and 860 assists for 1311 points in 1508 games. Off the ice, Kings Head Equipment Manager Darren Granger was recognized for working his 2500th NHL game.

The first period provided plenty of fireworks as Utah and Los Angeles put up four goals in a span of two minutes and 43 seconds. Mammoth Associate Captain Lawson Crouse got things going at 7:04 of the frame with his 18th goal of the season, set up perfectly from behind the net by defenseman John Marino.

Just 36 seconds later, Kings forward Alex Laferriere evened things up with his 18th goal, assisted by Quinton Byfield. At 9:19 it was Crouse striking again for his second of the game and 19th of the season, assisted by Alexander Kerfoot and Kevin Stenlund, but before the public address announcer could complete announcing the goal to the fans, Byfield launched a bullet unassisted past Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka for his 15th on the year at 9:47 to even the score at 2-2. Both teams’ defenses held the other side in check for the latter half of the period which ended with Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper stopping 13 of 15 shots and Vejmelka turning away 8 of 10.

The second period seemed as if it would end scoreless, but with less than four minutes remaining Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz was able to bat a rebound off a shot by Clayton Keller past Kuemper for his 25th goal of the season, his career high for a season, with Crouse picking up his 3rd point of the night with an assist, his eighth career three-point game, to take a 3-2 lead to the locker room. Karel Vejmelka was a perfect 10 in turning away L.A. shot attempts.

The third period was a carbon copy of the second, with neither team scoring until Artemi Panarin broke through for the Kings with three and a half minutes left, his 25th goal of the season assisted by Drew Doughty, to send the game into overtime.

At 1:46 of overtime, Schmaltz struck again with the game-winner for his 26th goal, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Kevin Stenlund, to deliver Utah’s first ever victory over L.A., setting a new career high in goals and tying his career high in points in the process.

“Huge. Obviously, this is a team that’s right on our heels, and we face them two times within a week,” said Lawson Crouse in the locker room after the game. On playing on a line with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz, Crouse said, “Obviously, with Kells and Schmaltzy, they’ve played together so long, they know each other like the back of their hands.

That chemistry, it’s great to jump in there and just play and just try to play fast for them. Be smart and heavy and try to win battles. Get to the net, and open the ice up for them. Obviously, they’re elite-level playmakers and finishers, so there’s a happy balance of getting to the net and trying to open up ice, but also being available for them to make quick plays to get shots on goal.”

Schmaltz talked about the squad’s determination and patience late in the game. “They had a push there in the third, we knew that was going to happen. At this time of year, I feel like every game’s super tight, so we didn’t really hold our heads down when they tied it up, we just took it to overtime. Huge two points for us.” When asked if the games are beginning to have a playoff feel, Schmaltz responded, “Guys are super competitive. Everyone wants to push their team into the playoffs, so guys are fighting for their lives out there. It’s a lot of fun, a lot of competitiveness, a lot of stuff after the whistles, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun out there. … It’s way more fun playing these games than knowing you’re going to tee it up at the end of April or whatever it may be. Super exciting to be in this position that we put ourselves in. We got some work to do left, but we put ourselves in a good spot.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny opened his postgame comments, saying, “I loved the urgency and I loved the intensity of our game. That’s a heavy team on the other side. It was important for us to be (competitive) in our battles. I think that in the first period we had unbelievable pace and we got the momentum. (Los Angeles) retaliated twice after we scored; it was a little bit unfortunate, but I really liked our first period. Then in the second, we were not as fast moving the puck. We were not as connected and we slowed down a little bit. They were playing well as well, so that helped them to apply a little bit of pressure on us. But we stayed with it and we found a way to score a big goal. I liked the way we played in the third period. I think we were still aggressive offensively and we made good plays. All in all, I’m really proud of the guys. I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line with (Mikhail Sergachev) and (MacKenzie Weegar) did an unbelievable job against their first line. (Nate Schmidt) was sick and could not finish the game. We finished at five (defensemen) and they were strong; played really well. Really proud of our D corps and obviously (Lawson Crouse’s) line with four goals, tough to ask for more.” With regard to the playoff feel, Bear commented, “It’s really important. We all know L.A. is fighting to catch up (to us). It’s a really important game. We have two games against them this week. We lost the last game at home. It’s important for us where we take a lot of pride in that. But it was a big game. They’re heavy. They play a helluva game. They’re competitive. They’re tough to play against. They put a lot of pucks on the net. You need to be hard around the net. I’m really proud of the way we responded.”

The Mammoth (37-28-6) will take on the Edmonton Oilers (34-28-9) for the third game of the homestand on Tuesday.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear In 4-1 Utah Home Loss To Anaheim

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Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) moves the puck but his shot is blocked Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal (1) on Fri Mar 20, 2026 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth jumped out to an early lead before surrendering a pair to the Ducks in a hard fought contest which remained close until Anaheim scored a pair of empty net tallies with 96 seconds remaining in the third third for a 4-1 Ducks victory on Friday night.

The Mammoth (36-27-6) kicked off a four-game homestand on Friday night against the Pacific Division leading Ducks (37-27-4), a possible playoff opponent based on current standings. Utah returns from a successful two-game road trip where they defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3, and the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0, helping to solidify their grasp on the first Wild Card position in the Western Conference, six points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings who hold down the second Wild Card position.

The Mammoth are the only Wild Card candidate in the conference with a positive +/- goal differential on the season at +27, seventh best overall in the NHL. The Ducks are the only Top 3 team in the Western Conference divisions with a negative +/- goal differential at -11.

Earlier on Friday, forward Michael Carcone inked a two-year contract extension with the Mammoth valued at $3.5 million, with an annual cap hit of $1.75 million. Carcone, who expressed during his media availability following his exit interview at the conclusion of last season that he didn’t expect to return, ultimately ended up signing a one-year $775,000 deal in the offseason when he failed to land with another team.

The agreement turned out to benefit both sides as Carcone put in the work to turn things around this year, earning his $3.5 million pay day. Through 66 games this season he has scored 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points, whereas last season he scored seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 55 games.

Absent from the Ducks lineup on Friday was captain Radko Gudas who is in the midst of a five-game suspension for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews on March 12, 2026, effectively ending Matthews’s season.

At the Milan Olympics in February, Gudas was involved in a collusion with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby which resulted in the future Hall of Famer missing his next 11 NHL contests. The Ducks defenseman is eligible to return to action next Wednesday against Vancouver. Another Ducks defenseman, Ian Moore, was born in Salt Lake City and made his first appearance at Delta Center, joining Trevor Lewis as the second Utah-born player to suit up for an NHL game in the state.

Missing from the Anaheim Ducks broadcast team was Steve Carroll, who has called Anaheim’s radio play-by-play for the past 27 seasons extending all the way back to when I still worked in the Ducks press box a quarter century ago. Earlier in the week, Steve announced his retirement at the end of the season, marking 50 years overall in sports broadcasting.

On a personal note, Steve is one of the finest men I have ever known in broadcasting and he will be sorely missed by Ducks fans. He is expected to call Anaheim’s final regular-season home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, April 12. Here’s wishing him, his wife, and family all the best in his retirement.

Mammoth sniper Dylan Guenther drew first blood at 1:48 of the opening frame with his team-leading 34th goal of the season, assisted by Sean Durzi and JJ Peterka. It was the fastest goal to start a game in Guenther’s career. He is fourth in the NHL in goals scored for players aged 22 and under, behind Wyatt Johnson of Dallas, Macklin Celebrini of San Jose, and Cutter Gauthier of Anaheim.

At 13:37, with Ducks forward Chris Kreider in the penalty box serving a too many men on the ice penalty, Ryan Poehling broke away with the puck to even the score with a slick wrist shot, shorthanded, to even the score at 1-1. Poehling’s 9th goal of the season was assisted by Alex Killorn and Pavel Mintyukov. Lukas Dostal turned away 13 of 14 Mammoth shots in the period while Vítek Vaněček stopped 4 of 5 Ducks shots on goal.

Anaheim took their first lead of the night at 9:09 of the second period when Alex Killorn took advantage of Vaněček being screened by Lawson Crouse to net his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Beckett Sennecke. The Mammoth took 3 penalties in the frame and the Ducks were whistled for one, but there was no further scoring as the Ducks went to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Dostal was stopped a perfect 10 Mammoth shots in the period, while Vaněček turned away 9 of 10.

The third period remained tightly contested with neither team scoring until Cutter Gauthier registered his 36th of the year into an empty net at 18:24 to essentially put the game away. The Mammoth continued to fight back with Vaněček pulled for an extra attacker, but Mikael Granlund drove his 13th of the season into the empty net with 55 seconds remaining to send fans to the exits. With the 4-1 victory, Anaheim (38-27-4) maintains its first place lead in the Pacific Division by 3 points over the Edmonton Oilers and 4 points over the Vegas Golden Knights. Utah falls to 36-28-6 while maintaining a 6-point edge in the Western Conference Wild Card chase over the Los Angeles Kings.

“I think our push was great; we just didn’t finish,” said defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in the Mammoth locker room after the game. “We had a lot of chances, a couple of breakaways, a couple going against the goal in front of the net, and we didn’t finish. That was the difference in the game.”

“Solid effort, back to back, they had a good push, we had a good push, and we just got to bear down a little bit more on some plays,” said the lone goal-scorer Dylan Guenther. ““It was solid, and I thought the crowd was really good too. It is easier to play when they’re really loud, and it helps us a lot. So yeah, we knew it was an important game, and even though we didn’t get the win, I thought it was still a solid effort.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was proud of his team’s effort despite the final outcome. “Yeah, you can see the way we played in the third we generated a lot of offense,” Bear said. “We had great opportunities. We had momentum, we were aggressive and all of it. We were not on our heels, so really the only thing I don’t like is the scoreboard. The rest of it is tough to complain about. Proud of the guys, proud of their resilience, proud of their mental toughness. The six on five and the power play at the end, I would have loved to do something different. Other than that, there’s not much to complain about.”

The Mammoth homestand continues on Sunday as former Utah players Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring return with the Atlantic Division leading Buffalo Sabres for a 6:00pm tilt.