Utah Mammoth Bounce Back From Losing Streak, Get 7–0 Shutout Win Over Ducks

It’s been a long time since the Mammoth have had a game this dominant.

After coming off a 6–3 loss to San Jose filled with turnovers, Utah looked like a completely different team against Anaheim. Turnovers were low, passes were incredibly sharp — like on this Peterka goal — and Karel Vejmelka had his best performance of the season, making 27 saves and not allowing the Ducks a single goal.

Pulled after allowing three first-period goals against the Sharks in the Mammoth’s last game, Vejmelka responded in a big way. He earned his first shutout of the season and looked like the goalie Utah consistently relied on last season.

But along with Vejmelka making save after save, Utah also registered 24 blocked shots, its best total of the season. Whenever Vejmelka didn’t glove a puck, Utah swarmed to the middle of the ice and prevented any Anaheim rebound opportunities.

Even with the game all but over in the third, after a Keller score put Utah up 7–0, the Mammoth still played hard to get their goalie a well-deserved shutout.

And while there were certainly some chances for the Ducks to score down the stretch, including a successful Utah challenge that took Anaheim’s only goal off the board, Utah was able to reward Vejmelka for all his hard work.

Utah came in to Anaheim with some of its most dramatic line changes of the season.

Players like Barrett Hayton and Brandon Tanev were healthy scratches for the first time, Dmitri Simashev was sent to the Tucson Roadrunners as well as the young Daniil But and Maveric Lamoureux getting their first starts of the season for Utah.

With a four-game losing streak — plus a league-low 11 points since Nov. 1, the third-lowest mark in that span — it was clear the Utah Mammoth were sick of the losses piling up when they faced the Ducks.

And the team clearly got the message, with members of each line contributing a goal.

It all started with Crouse, one of the few bright spots in the San Jose loss after his two-goal performance, collecting a behind-the-net pass from Carcone.

After Crouse started the scoring for the Mammoth, Guenther, Peterka, Keller, Ian Cole and Liam O’Brien — playing in just his ninth game of the season — all added goals of their own.

"Everybody played good," said André Tourigny. "Proud of the guys, the way they regroup, the effort. I think the message was clear and well received."

The offense looked like it had regained its early-season form from when the team started 8–2. Utah was back to playing fast and outworking the Ducks all night, but what stood out most was how connected everyone looked with one another.

Though small tweaks had been made across Utah’s lines throughout the past month, the Mammoth finally seemed to have found cohesion across all of them.

Maybe it can be attributed to the sudden line shake-up setting the tone, or simply to Utah being tired of the losing streak. Whatever the reason, it sparked a dominant offensive performance — and even a power-play goal, only the third Utah has had in 18 games.

Given a chance to play due the line up changes, exciting prospect Daniil But played in his first NHL game for the Mammoth.

"Yeah, it means a lot for me," said But. "Thank you to my teammates. They made it for me."

In a night where it felt like every play was producing points for Utah, But was one of the few players who didn’t record a goal or an assist. All in all, he still looked like he was trying to find his fit on the team.

But even without any flashy plays, his performance was still solid for the Mammoth. Notably, on Guenther’s goal, he contributed not with an assist but by disrupting Jacob Trouba enough to give Guenther a wide-open lane.

Though Trouba had already lost control of the puck when But came, he still got in the way of the one player that arguably had the best chance to disrupt Guenther from entering the offensive zone.

It'll be a bit before But will find his footing on this team, but sometimes the best thing a player can do avoid negative plays. Plus, But will be sure to get opportunities at points in the future as he plays alongside Cooley and Guenther.