NHL podcast Jessica Kwong: Stars turn up the offense on Oilers; Will Matthews and Roy return to Leafs to help end their losing streak?; plus more NHL news

Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) can’t stop the Edmonton Oilers Connor Clattenburg’s (64) shot in the second period for a goal at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tue Nov 25, 2025 (Canadian Press photo via AP)

NHL podcast Jessica Kwong:

  1. Was Tuesday night’s showdown between Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers a preview of a Western Conference power-race?
  2. Can Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, and Nicolas Roy return in time to help the Toronto Maple Leafs end their skid?
  3. Will the sudden surge of the Utah Hockey Club’s Logan Cooley — coming off a four-goal, five-point night — make him the breakout star of the season?
  4. Are surprise teams like Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres reshaping the early-season standings more than expected?
  5. Could lineup shakeups and injuries across the league change the playoff-race narrative before December ends?

Join Jessica Kwong does the NHL podcasts every other Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

LaTerraza Mexican Restaurant 1027 2nd Street in Old Sacramento give them a call at 916-440-0874

From the second you step in the front door, the sounds of Latin America will gently seduce your ears and continue as you relax outdoors with your favorite cocktail enjoying the view. The wonderful flavors and aromas of our cuisine will not disappoint.

We use only the finest, freshest, local ingredients in every dish and every dish is prepared to order. Enjoy live mariachi music weekly and on special occasions, catch balet folklorico dance performances among other live entertainment. Come visit us and have a great time! Enjoy fast, friendly service, fantastic food & cocktails, music and allow us to share our beautiful Mexican heritage with you.

LaTerraza Mexican Restaurant at 1027 2nd Street in Old Sacramento give them a call at 916-440-0874.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Logan Cools Vegas in 5-1 Mammoth Stomping

Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley takes control of the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Anna Fuder)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah forward Logan Cooley scored four goals and assisted on another to exact revenge on the Golden Knights 5-1 from last week’s loss.

The Utah Mammoth (11-8-3) welcomed the Vegas Golden Knights (10-4-7) back to Delta Center on Monday night, just four days after Vegas defeated Utah 4-1 in Salt Lake City.

Dylan Guenther broke open the scoring at 14:54 of the first period with a top shelf blast for his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Logan Cooley and Nate Schmidt. Barely a minute later, Guenther returned the favor to Cooley, setting him up for his tenth goal of the season with the additional assist to Nate Schmidt to give the Mammoth a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room. Karel Vejmelka turned away all 8 Golden Knights shots in the frame.

At 5:24 of the second period, Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev cut the Utah lead in half with his eighth of the season, assisted by Jack Eichel, and Braeden Bowman. It would be the only goal allowed by Vejmelka on 15 shots in the period, while the Mammoth were unsuccessful in all three of their shot attempts.

Whereas Vegas seemed unstoppable last Thursday, Utah turned the tables completely on Monday, particularly in their dominant third period. Logan Cooley deflected a puck for an unassisted goal at 4:19 for his 11th of the season to put the Mammoth up 3-1.

Down by two goals with less than five minutes remaining, Vegas rolled the dice and pulled netminder Carl Lindbom early. The house won on the Golden Knights gamble as Cooley recorded the natural hat trick with goal #12 into the empty net as hats rained down on the Delta Center ice to give Utah a 4-1 lead. With a little more than three minutes to go in the third, Mammoth forward Kevin Stenlund went to the sin bin for holding against Cole Reinhardt.

Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy rolled the dice one more time with nothing left to lose, pulling Lindbom again to go for broke with a 6-4 advantage in the offensive end. The strategy failed as Cooley netted his 4th of the night and 13th of the season into the empty net at 17:43 to seal the 5-1 victory with the shorthanded goal.

Logan’s run of goals resulted in the first four-goal game in Utah franchise history, and the first in the NHL this season. The last player aged 21 or younger to record four goals in a game was Patrik Laine who scored 5 for Winnipeg against St. Louis exactly seven years ago to the day.

Cooley joins Macklin Celebrini (San Jose) and Connor Bedard (Chicago) as the only players with two hat tricks so far this season, and the Mammoth join the Blackhawks as the only teams with three hat tricks so far on the year.

Cooley talked about his feat in the locker room after the game. “It’s awesome. Any time you do that, it’s special. Just to see how excited the guys were for me too, you get a cool feeling when you get the support of your teammates. I just think in general, we have such a tight group. Guys really care about each other and want everyone on the team to have success. So it’s awesome.” Talking about his mental process going into the game, Cooley said, “Yeah, I think it’s a long season. I think the big thing is consistency, and that’s something that for me, personally, I’m always trying to work on. … It wasn’t the easiest path to tonight, but I think just finding a way to stay with it. It’s a grind of a season, mentally, physically, but I think just leaning on guys that have experience, family, little things like that, get you out of it. And, I was fortunate to have kind of a big game tonight.” On the team’s improvement, he added, “I think just the way we kind of handled the lead too. I think that’s a big thing. I feel like in the past, we’ve been up and kind of get comfortable and teams start to bury us. I think the game against the Rangers and tonight, that’s how we know how to play. When we’re doing that, you see the results we get. For us, it’s about staying consistent with this process and not changing anything. There’s still stuff to clean up, but overall I was really happy about our performance the past two nights.”

Winning goaltender Goaltender Karel Vejmelka, who stopped 33 of 34 shots on the night, said, “Yeah, obviously, this one feels really good. It’s a big two points against a really good team, one of the best so far this season. So it feels really good.” Talking about how the team handles adversity, Vejmelka remarked, “Yeah, I think we are a really good team, and if we want to be successful, we need to find a way every night, and that’s part of being one of the best teams in the NHL. So we need to find a way every single night, no matter what, and we did it tonight. We showed up, and it feels really good.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny said of Cooley, “He didn’t complicate his game. He didn’t try to get the play of the week. He will be on the play of the week because he scored four, but it was speed and space behind, and when he does that it’s special.” The second period has often been challenging for Utah this season, so it was particularly important to defend the lead. Tourigny commented, “Obviously in the second, they had a hell of a push. Like I said, they’re a good team. They’re a Stanley Cup contender for a reason. So we knew they would have a say in what will happen out there, but the intensity and the urgency we have in those situations and the way we protected that front, even if we’re not perfect and even if there’s a number of things we would like to get better at, I think the mindset is always the most important thing. I think the guys were really good with it. We were composed, we were intense, and we were even-keeled.” Last Thursday, Tourigny said that the team’s emotions got the best of them. Tonight was much different. “There was emotion and there was stress, you don’t want to lose the game, you don’t want to lose the lead, etc, etc. I think we did a pretty good job at staying composed. We did not do a perfect job. You could see the nerve, we didn’t make plays at the same pace, and we didn’t connect as much on our passes. So there’s stuff we can be better at, but that’s why there’s 82 games. We still have a lot of things to get better at, but the mindset of the guys was really good.”

Utah (12-8-3) wraps up the four-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens after which they will hit the road after Thanksgiving for six games away.

Utah Mammoth game wrap:Mammoth Snaps Losing Streak with 3-2 Victory Over The Rangers

Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) and left wing Lawson Crouse (67) celebrate their victory over the New York Rangers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Nov 22, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–JJ Peterka scored his fifth goal in six games and Nick DeSimone netted the game-winner on his 31st birthday as Utah gets back on track with win over New York.

The Utah Mammoth (10-8-3) hosted the New York Rangers (10-10-2) at Delta Center on Saturday night for the second of four games on the current homestand. Both teams entered the night’s contest looking to snap losing streaks, with Utah having lost its previous four and New York having lost its previous three.

Midway through the first period, Thursday’s lone goal-scorer for the Mammoth, Nate Schmidt, put the puck on the net with the rebound tipped in by JJ Peterka for his 9th goal of the season with the additional assist to Jack McBain.

The goal was Peterka’s fifth over the past six games. That Utah lead would last a little more than 5 minutes before Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov tipped a shot from Adam Fox into the Mammoth net for his 3rd goal of the season. The period concluded with the clubs knotted up at 1-1. Jonathan Quick turned away 12 of 13 shots in the frame while Karel Vejmelka denied 11 of 12.

Eight minutes into the second period the Rangers went up 2-1 on a snap shot goal by Artemi Panarin, his 6th of the season, assisted by Vincent Trocheck and Gavrikov. At 11:15 of the period, Mammoth fans erupted in cheers believing their team had just scored, but the on ice officials did not signal for play to stop and coaches on the Utah bench waved their arms frantically and screamed for their players to get back on defense.

About 15 seconds later, with the puck now behind the Mammoth net, the goal horn sounded and play on the ice stopped. It was determined that the fans weren’t crazy and Utah captain Clayton Keller Goal had indeed scored his eighth of the season, assisted by Kailer Yamamoto tying the score at 2-2 which is how the period ended in which Quick turned away 7 of 8 Mammoth shots and Utah’s defense continued its season-long trend of limiting shots on goal by their opponents with Vejmelka turning away 2 of just 3 total shots.

At 7:32 of the third period, with Utah applying pressure around the New York net, the Rangers attempted to bat the puck out of the zone but instead found the stick of Mammoth defenseman Nick DeSimone at the top of the red circle who one-timed a slap shot through traffic and into the back of the net for his second goal of the season, unassisted, to regain the Utah lead 3-2.

Both DeSimone goals this season have come against opponents from his home state of New York. At one point near the middle of the frame, the Rangers were all over the crease as Vejmelka gave his best ninja impression to fight off the attack. With a little more than three minutes remaining, Mammoth forward Michael Carcone crashed the Rangers crease leaving Jonathan Quick keeled over inside the net.

After an extended break it was determined that Quick could remain in the game, but the damage was already done as Utah snapped its losing streak while New York extended theirs. The Mammoth improved their home record to 6-2-1, with Vejmelka stopping 20 of 22 shots on the night.

DeSimone’s goal held up as the game winner as he also celebrated his 31st birthday. When asked if it was the best birthday present he had ever received, he was torn between saying yes and ultimately wisely crediting his wife. It was the second game-winning goal in his career.

DeSimone was all smiles addressing the media in the locker room after the game. “Everyone bought in tonight. Every guy was playing out the game, and we just stuck with it for the whole night, and we got rewarded for it.” Speaking of the team gaining momentum later in the game, the defenseman added, “Each game, we have a different plan of how we want to create. We always want to get the middle or get pucks to the net and reward our forwards, or take cross-checks. We just want to get the puck there and let him get some chances.” Asked about how he stays ready for big moments, DeSimone said, “It’s my job to be ready whether I am playing or not playing. Just being in a good mood, being grateful for every day, and showing up. If I’m playing, I just try and do what I can to help.”

JJ Peterka began his interview opining on the team’s overall performance. “Good team effort throughout the whole game. Even when we went down tonight, we found a way to get back in the game and stuck to the game plan.” Regarding his team’s mindset and goals for the game, he remarked, “Competing harder. That was the message over the last couple of days. We got a little away from that over the last couple of games, and I think today we did a much better job of getting to the shooting line and getting second chances. That gave us a win.” The German forward praised Karel Vejmelka’s performance in the net, saying “Super consistent game. Huge saves. In the third, with four or five rebounds, it kept us in the game the whole game, and we did our job on the other side.” Peterka added, “Keeping it simple was the message for the game. It turned out to be good. Just a lot of pucks to the net and a lot of second efforts to the net. That won us the game.”

Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was in high spirits as he entered the media room. “Saturday night. The Rangers. Two points. What a beautiful night in Utah, huh?” Tourigny continued, “I cannot be more proud of the battle level, the way we drove the net, the way we moved the puck quickly and we won battles forward. There’s a lot of guys I’m proud of, a lot of guys. There’s a lot of guys who could have, and should have been on the ice in the last minute of play. Hard to pick, but I had to pick guys, but it was fun to coach that game.” With regard to momentum swings, the coach said, “We had a tough shift in the third where we turned it over, and then Cool’s (Logan Cooley) line went on the inside, and we talked on the bench about momentum and how to get the momentum back. And not just by their decision, but they scored a goal on top of playing the right way on that shift. So that was good, and we need to give credit to Vej (Karel Vejmelka), because that key moment, like you just mentioned, he made a key save.” He concluded, “what we could control, we did it with pride, with intensity, with focus, and with determination. So it’s good, I’m happy about the way we play, but at the same time, it’s midnight rules, great, celebrate, good job. But it doesn’t mean anything anymore, we just have two more points. We need to be ready for the next game in front of our fans against Vegas, and have a bounce back game.”

Utah’s Thursday night opponent, the Vegas Golden Knights, return to Delta Center again on Monday for the 3rd game of 4 on the current homestand.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Golden Knights Spear Mammoth 4-1

Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) shoots into an open net while four Utah Mammoth defensemen and a goaltender look on at the Delta Center on Thu Nov 20, 2025 (AP News photo)

Utah snaps overtime loss streak with regulation loss to the Vegas Golden Knights

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–It took 18 games of the 2025-2026 season for the Utah Mammoth to suffer its first overtime loss, 3-2 against the New York Islanders last week at home. The Mammoth were less than five seconds away from victory in Anaheim on Monday when Troy Terry found the back of the net to force overtime, and Olen Zellweger scored in overtime for a 3-2 Ducks win.

The next day in San Jose, Macklin Celebrini scored twice in the first six minutes to put Utah in a hole which JJ Peterka dug them out of with two goals of his own in the third period. With the Mammoth on the penalty kill due to a too many men on the ice penalty,

Celebrini would celebrate a game-winning hat trick to hand the Mammoth its third consecutive 3-2 overtime loss. It was Utah’s 8th loss in the past ten games, with both victories coming at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres home and away.

Utah (10-7-3) returned to Delta Center on Thursday to open a four-game homestand against the Vegas Golden Knights (9-4-6). The first period saw a lot of action but no scoring as Akira Schmid turned away all 9 Mammoth shots while Karel Vejmelka kept Vegas off the scoreboard stopping all seven of their attempts.

Jack Eichel opened the scoring for the Golden Knights at 3:09 of an action packed second period with his 9th goal of the season, assisted by Pavel Dorofeyev and Shea Theodore, just moments after the conclusion of a full two-minute 4-on-4 which felt more like a Vegas power play as the Golden Knights offense swarmed the Utah net for nearly its entirety.

19 seconds later, Ben Hutton netted his second of the year, assisted by Cole Reinhardt, to give the Vegas a 2-0 lead. At 6:16 of the period both teams dropped their gloves in a brawl in front of the Utah net which involved everyone but the goalies.

When the dust settled, Reinhard and Kaedan Karczak were charged with roughing penalties for the Golden Knights, while Mikhail Sergachev and Logan Cooley each received roughing penalties for the Mammoth.

Cooley was assessed two separate roughing penalties in the scrum, but got his money’s worth at the expense of Karczak’s face. 11 seconds later the Mammoth went on the power play when Braeden Bowman was whistled for interference against Ian Cole, and eleven seconds into the man advantage Utah’s Nate Schmidt cut the deficit in half with his first Mammoth goal, assisted by Ian Cole and Clayton Keller. At 16:51 Jack Eichel regained the two-goal Vegas lead with his tenth of the season, assisted by Bowman and Theodore.

Less than a minute into the third period, Braeden Bowman tipped in a shot by Jack Eichel for his 3rd goal of the season, padding the Vegas lead at 4-1 where it would remain until the final buzzer. Throughout the period Utah came across as outmatched on both ends of the ice.

Every flash of offensive opportunity fizzled with broken up passes and routine stops by Akira Schmid. The Mammoth squad which dazzled during its seventh-game winning streak, impressing to the point of reaching second on The Athletic’s Power Rankings, have now dropped 9 of their last 11 while falling to sixth place in the Central Division standings.

Captain Clayton Keller expressed frustration in the losing locker room. “I think it was a pretty emotional game. Maybe we didn’t get some calls that we should have, or there were some weird ones, but that’s part of the game, and those are things that we have to be able to tune out and get back to our game quickly. Whether it goes our way or doesn’t. So I think that’s something that we can take from the game for sure.” Keller continued, “You know that there’s going to be adversity. It’s a long season, it’s hard, it’s the best league in the world and I think our group has continued to stay motivated and confident, while still going through tough stretches. When there’s something that we want to attack and get better at, we address it and respond right away. So tomorrow we will have a good practice. We’ll break down the game tonight, talk about it, figure out how we can be better. That’s the good thing about, sometimes losing is that’s when you learn the most about your team and yourself and it makes it even that much better when things do go your way and you kind of get out of it.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny opened his post-game remarks by saying, “I obviously did not like the way we responded to the emotion of the game. We had a good first period, then we arrived in the second, and stuff happened to Stenny (Kevin Stenlund). I didn’t like the way we reacted to it at first. We got emotional and got out of our game. They took over, and it was difficult for us to get back at it. That was disappointing. We got a push in the third, but it’s clear we cannot have five-minute, two-minute, a few shifts where we lose our focus like that, and that costs us dearly.” Tourigny added, “Adversity and frustration are part of the game. We cannot lose our focus like that because of a call, a goal, a hit, or whatever. We can’t lose our temper and start running around. Vegas is a good team, and as soon as we started to run around, they made us pay for it. We need to learn from that. There are other things we need to do better in our 5-on-5 games. We need to play way faster, move the puck faster, and be more predictable with each other. It comes from a good place, from the player; they want to do more and do great. But, often less is more. We need to make sure we play with a lot of pace and play fast. That means moving the puck, moving the puck into space, and skating, support, and those kinds of things. We will address that, but the emotion thing is a big deal.”

Utah (10-8-3) will attempt to turn things around Saturday against the New York Rangers (10-10-2) who are currently in last place in the Metropolitan Division.

Macklin Celebrini’s Hat Trick Lifts Sharks Past Mammoth in Overtime 3-2

Macklin Celebrini #71 of the San Jose Sharks is congratulated by teammates after he scored his third goal of the night for a hat trick in overtime to win their game against the Utah Mammoth at SAP Center on November 18, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Mandatory Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks returned home from a three game road trip as winners of five of their last eight games to take on the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night. The Sharks, having lost the final two games of the trip and looking for a win, defeated the Utah Mammoth in overtime, 3-2, as Macklin Celebrini recorded a hat trick.

The Sharks pounced on the Mammoth early on Tuesday night as Macklin Celebrini scored on a wrister on the left side of the Sharks offensive zone after just 1:47 gone in the first period. Celebrini’s shot was assisted by Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev to give the Sharks the early 1-0 lead.

However, Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks weren’t done yet. Celebrini followed up his early goal with a second goal at the 5:58 mark to give the Sharks the 2-0 lead over the Mammoth. It was an early Macklin hat trick watch for Sharks fans at the Tank. Macklin’s second goal was a wrister that was clocked at 84.6 MPH as Celebrini tucked it just under the right blocker of Vitek Vanecek.

The Sharks finished the first period up 2-0 and in a commanding position in the game.

In the second period, both the Sharks and the Mammoth played a less urgent brand of hockey. Neither team was really commanding the puck or checking, which led to a slow and uneventful second period.

In the third period, it was all Utah. The Mammoth, who had yet to score in the game, scored twice in the third period to tie the game and send the game to overtime. Utah also had to overcome a goal that was waived off after it was deemed the Mammoth interfered with Yaroslav Askarov. The game went to overtime and Utah had all the momentum going for them. 

In overtime, of course it was Macklin Celebrini who came through for the San Jose Sharks. After the Sharks started the overtime slow and without much time in the offensive zone, the Mammoth were charged with a penalty, and this got a fourth man on the ice for the Sharks. Macklin Celebrini ended the game scoring the overtime goal with 2:08 to go in the overtime session as he sent the SAP Center crowd into a frenzy. His goal was assisted by William Eklund and Will Smith. It was a hat trick for Celebrini who provided all the scoring for the Sharks in the 3-2 victory in overtime.

As expected, Macklin Celebrini led the Sharks with three points on his three goals in the game. Will Smith finished the game with two points on his two assists as Collin Graf, William Eklund, and Philipp Kurashev each added a point via assists.

The Sharks improved to 9-8-3 on the season which is good enough for 21 points and just two points out of a Wild Card spot.

Up Next:

The Sharks will stay home to take on the LA Kings on Thursday at 7 p.m. PST in San Jose at SAP Center.

Utah Mammoth game wrap:Islanders Kick Mammoth To The Curb 3-2 In Overtime

Utah Mammoth Lawson Crouse (67) takes the puck against the New York Islanders Alexander Romanov (28) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Nov 15, 2025 (nhl.com photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah surrendered its third period lead on a controversial kicked in goal by New York and fall to the Islanders in overtime 3-2.

The Utah Mammoth (10-7-0) laced up Friday night for the final game of the current homestand against the New York Islanders (9-6-2), and their 100th game as a new franchise. Utah snapped a 3-game losing streak on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres, and entered Friday’s contest with a 5-1-0 home record.

New York captured the early lead on a snap shot by winger Emil Heineman at 7:13 of the first, his 8th of the season, assisted by Tony DeAngelo and Alexander Romanov. Just past the halfway mark of the period, the horn sounded for what appeared to be a goal by Utah forward Nick Schmaltz, but on video review it was ruled that the puck hadn’t crossed the line. The Mammoth quickly shook it off, however, as winger JJ Peterka hit the score sheet moments later with his second goal of the homestand, his 6th of the season, a tip-in from a shot by Lawson Crouse with the additional assist to John Marino. With less than two minutes remaining in the frame, the Islanders gifted Utah a lengthy 5-on-3 power play as Matthew Schaefer was called for interference against Clayton Keller, and then 7 seconds later Simon Holmstrom sent the puck over the glass from the defensive zone for a delay of game penalty. The Mammoth took advantage of New York’s miscues as forward Dylan Guenther fired off a slap shot which found the back of the net for his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Keller. Utah went to the locker room sporting a 2-1 lead. Islanders goaltender David Rittich stopped 11 of 13 Mammoth shots in the period, while Karel Vejmelka turned away 5 of th 6 New York shots he faced.

The second period was a scoreless defensive display from both teams as Rittich stopped all 10 Utah shot attempts, and Vejmelka kept New York off the scoreboard on 7 shots.

At 13:44 of the third period Jonathan Drouin kicked the puck into the Mammoth net. Though the call on the ice was no goal, video replay officials overturned the decision despite clear video of the kick. Anyone searching the internet to see it for themselves will be stunned at the call. Nevertheless the goal stood, and the score at the end of regulation was 2-2.

In the overtime period, New York added insult to injury when Matthew Schaefer found a hole past Vejmelka to give the Islanders the overtime victory and handing Utah its first overtime loss of the season.

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny addressed the media after the game. “We had a really good first period, and for a number of reasons, we lost our momentum in the second period. They did a good job at keeping our guys tired on the ice, and we had a tough time changing. We didn’t turn the puck over a lot today, but we had a few costly ones which did not let us make good changes, and that wore us down a little bit. I think we were on our heels too much in the third period. We were protecting the lead, but we did not have the same aggression. I talked to you a lot about that. About the way we’re at our best to defend. It’s when we have aggression and pressure, and I did not like the way we closed that game.” Talking about the Mammoth special teams, Tourigny said, “Big goal on the power play for sure. I think that our power play had the opportunity to separate us during the game, and we didn’t. That’s unfortunate, because I think that was a key moment. On the flip side, the PK came up big. I think on the power play, we had a few good looks where the hole was there and the opportunity was there. We need to get clutch.”

Utah (10-7-1) now hits the road for games in Anaheim and San Jose on Monday and Tuesday, returning to the Delta Center for a four game homestand next Thursday beginning with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Utah Mammoth wrap up: Mammoth Rattles Sabres 5-2 To Sweep Season Series

By Tom Walker

 JJ Peterka #77 of the Utah Mammoth skates with the puck as Peyton Krebs #19 and Beck Malenstyn #29 of the Buffalo Sabres defend in the third period of a game at Delta Center on Wednesday November 12, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Eli Rehmer/NHLI via Getty Images)

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah defeated Buffalo 5-2 for the second time in eight days to sweep the season series, improving to 5-1-0 at home.

The Utah Mammoth (9-7-0) returned to Delta Center for a two game homestand on Wednesday night, having played eight of their previous nine games on the road.  Former Utah Hockey Club favorites Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, who were traded to Buffalo in the offseason for JJ Peterka, were recognized on the Jumbotron for the visiting Sabres (5-6-4) who lost to the Mammoth 2-1 in overtime on their home ice a week ago.

Buffalo forward Isak Rosen gave the Sabres the early lead at 5:33 of the first period with his second goal of the season, a deflection, assisted by Jack Quinn and Bowen Byram.  Buffalo netminder Colten Ellis turned away all 12 shots he faced in the frame, while Utah’s Karel Vejmelka stopped seven of eight.

Rosen hit the scoreboard again at 6:42 of the second period with a slap shot which got past Vejmelka, assisted by Noah Ostlund.  Utah forward Nick DeSimone, a native of the Buffalo area, trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 10:42 of the period with his first goal of the season, a slap shot one-timer on a carom off the boards which Michael Carcone had shot from behind the net, with the additional assist going to Nate Schmidt. As the buzzer sounded to end the period, Ellis had saved ten of 11 Mammoth shots while Vejmelka again turned away seven of eight.

Less than a minute into the third period, JJ Peterka tied things up against his former team, smashing a sweet snap shot past Ellis for his fifth goal of the season, assisted by John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev.  Just a couple of minutes later Peterka fed a pass to Lawson Crouse who launched a sharp angle shot over the shoulder of Ellis to give Utah its first lead of the game, 3-2. 

Jack McBain picked up the additional assist on Crouse’s fourth goal of the season. Halfway into the period, Mammoth forwards Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz battled hard for the puck in the offensive zone.

Keller came up with the puck behind the net and found Schmaltz in front who netted the third Utah goal in a ten minute span for his tenth of the season, giving the Mammoth a 4-2 lead. Keller has assisted on seven of Schmaltz’s goals this season.

With Ellis pulled for an extra attacker, Schmaltz returned the favor, feeding Keller the puck for an easy empty net goal, his seventh of the season, icing the game at 5-2 with 26.6 seconds remaining. Logan Cooley recorded an additional assist on the play.  On the ensuing faceoff both teams dropped the gloves resulting in game misconduct penalties to Josh Dunne and Peyton Krebs of the Sabres, and Barrett Hayton of the Mammoth.

In the lively winning locker room, JJ Peterka commented on the team’s comeback. “I think just how much belief there is in each other. Never giving up. We know how good we can be offensively. We know even when we’re trailing, we can easily come back. So I think just the belief in each other here.” With regard to DeSimone’s goal, Peterka said, “It’s awesome, especially him being from Buffalo makes it even better. Since he came into the lineup, he has done a heck of a job for us. Played super solid. So, obviously, super nice to see him score.”

DeSimone weighed in on the team’s turnaround after surrendering the first two goals. “That obviously was not our best start. We stuck with it and kept trying to play our game. We kept working on it, and we fought through a little adversity, and then we found a couple of shifts in a row and got rewarded for it. It just kept rolling after that.” When asked what the team learned about themselves with the comeback, DeSimone added, “It is big for us to go through this fight of adversity and kind of claw our way back into one and end up getting a win. It is definitely a learning moment for us, and it shows a lot of maturity in our group.” Many considered his second period goal to be the turning point in the game, and DeSimone walked the media through what happened. “Bear (André Tourigny) called that time out, and we hit a reset button there. Everyone was trying to do the right thing and get us going, but for whatever reason, it just reset us. It’s fortunate enough that it goes in and gets us going. It could have been a hit; it could have been just getting a puck deep, just little things kept getting us going as well.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny entered the media room with a bit of pep in his step. “I think we played good, I won’t say all game; obviously we could feel the nerves a little bit the first two periods. I think JJ Peterka broke the game down when he scored that big goal. From there, there was a boost of confidence and we knew we were playing well. I think that the tweak in the lines helped a little bit for everybody. I’m really happy about the way JJ responded in the third. (Lawson Crouse) and (Jack McBain) played unbelievable again. That’s about it.” Speaking of what contributed to the successful third period, Tourigny said, “We addressed it this week. One thing our team is really good at is defending. We defend with a lot of pace and we force opponents to execute quickly. That’s a strength of ours. Lately in the third period, we’ve not had the same pace and same pressure. That was allowing our opponents to execute and create offense. The last three games, more than 50% of the offense we gave up was in the third period–because we were trailing, chasing, not defending hard enough. Tonight, we gave up zero grade A and zero grade B (chances). We defended hard and we played good with the puck…Everybody was engaged. Everybody was detailed, resilient, relentless. That was fun to see.”

The Mammoth (10-7-0) wrap up their brief homestand on Friday night against the New York Islanders (8-6-2) before hitting the road again for a brief California swing through Anaheim and San Jose.

Utah Mammoth post game wrap: Lighting Strikes Mammoth 4-2 To End Home Winning Streak

Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) moves the puck against the Utah Mammoth right win Nick Schmaltz (8) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Nov 2, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel breaks the tie with under eight minutes remaining beating Utah 4-2 at the Delta Center on Sunday night.

The Utah Mammoth took a four-game winning streak on the road with them following a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche on October 21. Since then the Mammoth have remained hot, winning three of four away from Delta Center, while locking up another key member of their young core for eight years.

It all began on October 23 in St. Louis with a 7-4 routing of the Blues. After assisting on an early first period goal by defenseman Ian Cole, Utah forward Logan Cooley scored his first natural hat trick in a four minute 48 second span as the Mammoth never looked back while extending their winning streak to five.

Two days later in Minnesota, Cooley lit the lamp twice in the first three and a half minutes as Utah defeated the Wild 6-2 while upping their streak to six. The next day Utah would make it seven, cooling the Jets in Winnipeg with a 3-2 victory over last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners. The Mammoth wrapped up their four-game road trip in Edmonton where the Oilers halted the streak, defeating Utah 6-3.

Upon returning to Salt Lake City, Logan Cooley and the Mammoth agreed on an eight year, $80 million contract extension which will keep the team’s dynamic young core together for the next several years.

After four days off to recover from the road trip, Utah (8-3-0) welcomed the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-4-2) to Delta Center on Sunday afternoon for a one-game homestand.

It is still difficult to look at the Lightning lineup without Steven Stamkos who is now in his second season with the Nashville Predators after 16 seasons in Tampa Bay. It was a milestone game for two Utah players as Nick Schmaltz played his 600th career game while Kevin Stenlund appeared in his 300th.

Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse gave Utah the first lead of the game at 5:55 of the first period when defenseman Ian Cole fed him the puck on a breakaway for his second goal of the season. Lightning netminder Jonas Johansson had no chance as Crouse fired a perfect top shelf corner strike over Johannson’s right shoulder.

At 15:17 of the frame, just seconds after killing off a bench minor for too many men on the ice, Tampa Bay forward Yanni Gourde evened the score at 1-1 with his third goal of the season, assisted by Emil Lilleberg and Zemgus Girgensons who had just emerged from the box after serving the penalty. Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka would finish the period turning away 8 of 9 shots while Johansson stopped 5 of 6 for the Lightning.

Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli gave the Lightning their first lead of the game at 2:47 of the second period, his 7th of the season, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman. Other than that, the two goalies held their respective ground in the frame with Johansson turning away all 9 shots faced in the period and Vejmelka stopping 9 of 10.

At 2:21 of the third period, Utah forward Kailer Yamamoto tied things up again with his first goal of the season, with defenseman Ian Cole picking up his 2nd assist of the night. Coming less than 24 hours after another Yamamoto – Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers – picked up his 3rd World Series victory against the Toronto Blue Jays along with series MVP honors, one could wonder whether a Mammoth comeback was in store with Yamamoto figuring in the headline, but it wasn’t to be.

With just under 8 minutes remaining in the period, Jake Guentzel put the puck past Vejmelka for his fifth of the season, unassisted. With Vejmelka pulled for the extra attacker, Lightning forward knocked his fourth goal of the season into the empty net to secure the victory and to end the Mammoth home win streak at four. Utah could never get its power play going, falling to 8-for-41 (19.5%) on the season.

In the home locker room, Ian Cole was asked about the team’s poor start in the second period. “Yeah, I think you could argue it was probably average all the way through. They’re a good hockey team, and we did too many things to shoot ourselves in the foot today. We’ll have to obviously look at the game and assess it and hopefully bring a better game against Buffalo.” Cole didn’t think where were any particular takeaways from the game. “I don’t think there’s one glaring thing necessarily,” Cole said, “but there are little things all over the ice. There’s puck battles for one, and I think reloads for two. They’re beating guys up the ice, and our neutral zone wasn’t great. There’s a lot of things where we can improve. Nothing was glaringly horrible, but not good enough to beat a very skilled, very good hockey team.” Commenting on Tampa Bay’s aggressive play, Cole added, “They have played the same way for maybe 10 years now. So nothing they did was shocking, and there was nothing they did that we were unprepared for, or shouldn’t have been prepared for. This wasn’t our best game, and we know that. Now we have to respond. We can’t let two (losses) turn into three, turn to four, turn to five. That’s how you find yourself out of a playoff spot. So we have to fix this right away.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny tried to put things in perspective. “I think it was a good game. I think Tampa is a really good team. If you look at their metrics, they are number one offensively in the league, number three defensively in every underlying number. We knew it would be a good test. I think we were toe-to-toe with them. They scored with seven to go, but we were pretty close. Just would love to have us going in the other direction. I think we can be a little bit more physical in our forecheck and a little bit better in our forecheck.” Making a similar observation as Cole, Tourigny said, “They play heavy. They make good plays on the breakout. They hold on to the puck. You have to go to work. You won’t surprise that team with just your skill. They have skill too. That’s the biggest thing when you play against Tampa, you always think of their skill. They have skill, but what they do is they work and they don’t give you time and space. You need to grind the game, and I’m really happy about the way Crouser’s line played. Really happy about the way Stenny’s line played. I think Yammy played a hell of a game. They showed up in that kind of a game, and that’s what you want.”

The Mammoth (8-4-0) go back on the road beginning Tuesday against the Sabres in Buffalo, followed by a swing through Canada against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators before returning to Utah on November 12 for games against the Sabres and New York Rangers.

Tom Walker is a Utah Mammoth beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Mammoth Complete Hunt For Blue October With 4-3 OT Win Against League-Leading Avalanche

The Utah Mammoth’s Makail Sergachev (98) yells in celebration after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche for the win in overtime at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 21, 2025 (AP News photo)

Utah completed the 4-0 sweep of their opening homestand in an overtime nailbiter against the NHL’s top team.
By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Mammoth (4-2-0) closed out its opening homestand on Tuesday night against the Central Division leading Colorado Avalanche (5-0-1), entering the matchup a perfect 3-0-0 at home with previous victories against the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, and Boston Bruins. The Mammoth battled and came away with a 4-3 over the Avalanche at the Delta Center.

Less than 30 seconds into the contest, Utah forward Logan Cooley blasted a snap shot at Colorado netminder Scott Wedgewood at point blank range, but Wedgewood was able to turn it away. At 5:29 of the first, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar gave Colorado the first lead of the game, putting the puck past Karel Vejmelka for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Parker Kelly and Zakhar Bardakov. Both teams exchanged several scoring opportunities throughout the period, but Wedgewood and Vejmelka stopped 10 and 12 shots respectively to keep the score at 1-0.

Forty-two seconds into the second period, Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog appeared to put his squad ahead 2-0 but Utah head coach André Tourigny challenged the goal for offsides. A video review confirmed that Colorado had not completed a line change when the puck initially crossed into their offensive zone, nullifying the goal. A few minutes later, Utah defenseman John Marino appeared to tie the score but his goal was also waived off as Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien brushed up against Wedgewood in the crease, though it appeared O’Brien was pushed into the Avalanche goaltender by a defender. At 8:49 of the period, Colorado forward Gavin Brindley was whistled for tripping against Clayton Keller. On the ensuing power play, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz continued his recent chemistry with Keller to score his 4th of the season with the second assist to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, tying things up a 1-1. The pairing of Schmaltz and Keller have combined on 8 goals this season, second only to Mark Stone and Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights. A few minutes later, Mammoth associate captain Lawson Crouse put Utah ahead 2-1 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Michael Carcone. Vejmelka turned away all 7 Colorado shots in the frame, while Wedgewood stopped 14 of 16.

Colorado began the third period with 43 seconds remaining on a power play with Utah defenseman Dmitri Simashev in the penalty box for high-sticking against Valeri Nichushkin. Though the Mammoth were able to kill the penalty, they were unable to kill the Avalanche momentum as Jack Drury potted his first of the season at 1:10 of the 3rd, assisted by Ross Colton, to even the score at 2-2. At 5:20 of the period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev blasted a loose puck past Wedgewood for his first goal of the season, unassisted, to restore the one-goal Mammoth lead. It was technically the first goal by a Mammoth defenseman this season, though head coach André Tourigny made no bones in his post-game interview that the first goal from a defenseman should have gone to Marino earlier in the game. With a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation, Wedgewood skated to the bench for an extra attacker, but before he could make it to his bench, Martin Necas put the puck past Vejmelka, unassisted, to even the score at 3-3 and send the two squads to overtime.

The Avs began the overtime period taking the puck into their offensive zone, but Utah was able to recover the puck and streaked down the opposite end where Clayton Keller sent a pass slightly behind Dylan Guenther at the net. Guenther reached back to swat the puck on the backhand and into the net at the 33 second mark for back-to-back game-winning goals and his 3rd of the season. Sergachev picked up an additional assist on the goal to give him 3 points on the night (1G, 2A).

The Mammoth media relations team swiftly summarized Guenther’s offensive stats following the game. Tonight’s goal was his third game-winning goal and second overtime winner of the season, both of which are team highs. Guenther leads the NHL in both game-winning goals (9) and overtime goals (4) over his last 37 contests dating back to February. His 5 overtime goals over the past 2 seasons are more than every other Utah skater combined (Sergachev-2, Keller-1, Michael Kesselring-1).

The four-game sweep of the season opening homestand is the first sweep of a multi-game homestand in Utah franchise history, and they are the first NHL franchise since the 1925-26 Montreal Maroons to win its first four home games in either of its first two seasons.

Once the celebratory sounds of “Funky Town” in the Utah locker room subsided, Mikhail Sergachev met with the media. Asked about what it took for the team to get 2 points tonight, the alternate captain responded, “It didn’t matter if we were up or down; we kept the same mentality. They pushed in the third, and it was expected from them. Our goalie played his best, and we stayed with it. Blocked some shots. Obviously gave up a goal that no goalie can save. I just like that mentality of staying with it no matter what.” Sergachev downplayed recording a perfect 8 points on the homestand. “We don’t want to feel good. We want to improve every game. There are still a lot of areas where we should improve, especially in that third. When they pushed, we should do a better job of not letting them get in our zone and try to play in their zone a little bit more. Obviously, they got world-class players, but we’ve got to try to limit chances.” Nevertheless, he agreed that it is meaningful to beat a Stanley Cup contender. “It’s a measuring stick for us. They’re one of the best teams in the league. They’re showing it every year. They’re consistent. Their best players are consistent. We want to be that and we want to grow into that. Obviously, it’s nice to get a win, but it’s got to be on a consistent basis.”

Hero of the night, Dylan Guenther, addressed what it took to earn the victory. “Just resilience, obviously started really well and just kept with it throughout the whole game. So it was a big win, a good way to win too.” Responding to a question about the performance of Sergachev, Guenther responded, “He’s our horse back there. I think he’s a huge part of this team. And, you know, did a lot of good things to start and didn’t hit the sheet. It’s huge to get a guy like that going.” As for his back-to-back game winners, Guenther added, “I said it before, those little moments you want to play in. I didn’t think I played well throughout the whole game, just kind of fighting it all game. But just that next shift mentality. What can I do on the next shift to help this team? I think it’s just continuous repetition on that.”

At this point, defenseman Dmitri Simashev crashed the interview. “I have a question,” the Russian rookie asked. “What do you think about the last goal?” Guenther responded, “I think it was a good one,” and then jokingly added, “The pass [from Clayton Keller] was a little soft behind me, but …” as everyone in the locker room chuckled.

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was pleased as he made his opening statement. “There’s so much to say about this game, other than the score. A tough matchup for Cooley to play against MacKinnon, started the game really well. They had some adversity, and the way they responded after, that was super positive for us. I’m glad they were able to regroup and finish the game really strong. A very strong game from Carcs [Michael Carcone]. Carcs and Crouser [Lawson Crouse] played really well. I really liked their game as well as Kells [Keller]. Kells’ line played well. We have a lot of guys, but I’ll have to talk about Sergy [Sergachev] as well. I think he was a force out there. Not just his production, his play was assertive. It was aggressive. He really played a solid game and that changed the game. The other thing is, as a team, I think our d-core played really solid. Colorado is a team that doesn’t give a lot of goals. They gave up only nine goals in six games before this game. I’m proud of the offense we created and the way we clogged the middle, especially from the second period on.” Tourigny’s praise was also extended to his goaltender. “I think the key moment was when we had our bumps, when the boat was rocking, a little Veggie came up big and made key saves at key moments. So it was when you look at it, the performance of a team, everybody chipping in.”

With the overtime loss, Colorado (5-0-2; 12 points) is tied for the overall NHL lead with Vegas which has the identical record. Having improved their overall record to 5-2-0, Utah joins 7 other teams in a league tie for 3rd with 10 points apiece.

The Mammoth face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday followed by tilts on the road against the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers before returning to the Delta Center on Sunday, November 2, for a single home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning before heading out for another four-game road trip.

Mammoth Beats Bruins 3-2 To Remain Undefeated At Home

Utah Mammoth defenceman Nate Schmidt takes a shot against the Boston Bruins in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Oct 19, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Dylan Guenther scored the third Period go-ahead goal and Vítek Vaněček locked down the net as the Utah Mammoth improves to 3-0-0 on their opening homestand beating the Boston Bruins at the Delta Center 3-2.

Coming off of back-to-back home wins at Delta Center to begin the 2025-2026 season, the Utah Mammoth (3-2-0) welcomed the Boston Bruins (3-3-0) to Salt Lake City on Sunday afternoon for the third of four games on the homestand.

At 3:30 of the first period, Boston’s Elias Lindholm was whistled for hooking against Dylan Guenther to put Utah on the power play. Nearly a minute later, Mammoth captain Clayton Keller found forward Nick Schmaltz in front of the net whose one-timer hit linemate Logan Cooley squarely in the back on the numbers, bouncing over his left shoulder and over the head of Bruins netminder Joonas Korpisalo, falling cleanly into the net to open the scoring.

Cooley was credited with his second goal of the season. Keller’s assist gave him an NHL-high 35 power play points (9G, 26A) over his last 61 games going back to December 8, 2024. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther was called for tripping against Morgan Geekie to give the Bruins the man advantage, which David Pastrnak cashed in for his 3rd of the season, assisted by Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy, to tie things up. As the buzzer sounded, Korpisalo had stopped 11 of 12 shots in the frame while Vítek Vaněček turned away 9 of 10.

At 5:46 of the second period, Boston took its first lead of the game on a goal by David Pastrnak, his 4th of the season, assisted by Marat Khusnutdinov, as a vocal minority of yellow-clad cheering Bruins fans made their presence known. At 15:57, with Brandon Tanev and Nikita Zadorov serving offsetting roughing penalties, Keller put a rebound off a shot by Schmaltz past Korpisalo on the 4-on-4 for his second goal of the season with the additional assist going to Ian Cole. Keller and Schmaltz have combined on six goals over the past six periods. The period would end with the two squads knotted up at 2-2.

The two squads played to a draw in the first half of the third period until Dylan Guenther broke through at 10:37 of the frame with his 3rd goal on the season, assisted by JJ Peterka, to give Utah a 3-2 lead. Boston pulled Korpisalo with a minute and a half to go, but was unable to solve Vaněček who earned his first victory of the season, saving 24 of 26 shots. Guenther’s goal was his second game-winner of the season and an NHL-leading 8 over his last 36 games going back to February, putting him ahead of Sidney Crosby and Cole Caufield who have six each.

After the game, captain Clayton Keller addressed the team’s resilient third period. “We had a good third. For whatever reason, our second hasn’t been great, but we’ve been able to bounce back and play hard in the third, get back to our style of hockey, and I think we did a great job of that tonight.” Praising Vítek Vaněček’s performance in net, Keller added, “V was unreal all game, key saves at the right times, so it’s great to see him get a win here tonight at home. I’m sure that’s a huge confidence booster as well, making great stops and having an unbelievable game like that.”

Game-winning goal scorer Dylan Guenther spoke of scoring in front of his parents for the first time. “I mean it only took 25 years, so this might have been the last road trip if I hadn’t gotten one, but this one is special. Growing up as a kid always dreaming of playing in the NHL and getting to score with your family in the stands is pretty cool.” Speaking of the Mammoth playing calm in pressure situations, Guenther said, “We have a lot of leaders here, a lot of guys who have won. And heading into the third, you have to be comfortable in those situations and own it. That’s when you want to play when the game’s tied, you’re at home and the crowd is into it. I think it’s just a ton of fun. So if we embrace that, we continue to get better at it.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was all smiles in the interview room. Speaking of the chemistry between Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, Tourigny said, “I liked their third period, and I talked to JJ after the second about using his speed in every phase and putting speed on their D and stuff like that. I really like the way he responded too, he attacked right in from the first shift in the third period, and he attacked with a lot of speed. He (Dylan Guenther) elevated this game in the third, and on the winning goal, he had a great reload, great strip, made a good pass, and obviously, Gunner took a really good shot. But I like that line in the third, and the way they responded.” What is it like to be undefeated at home to begin the season? “Trying not to get ahead of ourselves, in the sense that I don’t want to get too excited, but obviously we’re happy about how it happened so far. And we know we have 41games at home, and we want to take advantage of it. But so far, so good.”

Utah (4-2-0) concludes its homestand on Tuesday against the visiting Colorado Avalanche (5-0-1) who previously defeated the Mammoth on their October 9 home opener.