^{The Predators go away hungry after Gunner puts them away in OT}

The Ice Age Bowl is in the books, and in a rivalry of hunter and prey, it’s only fitting that the winner came from a Gunner.

The Mammoth won an important road game against a rival this week, downing the Predators in a 3-2 game that was not nearly as crisp and clean as the loss two nights ago. Despite a sloppy game, Utah held out on strong play from Karel Vejmelka – again – while offense was sparked from goals by Cooley and McBain in regulation.

Utah broke the ice (bowl) with a quick opening goal by Logan Cooley. Just past the two minute mark, Ian Cole picked up the puck deep in the zone, passed to Peterka who pushed over to Guenther to break out a 3 on 1 scoring chance. Unlike Colorado the game before, Utah got a shot off, as Guenther waited until the last possible moment to execute a fantastic pass to a streaking Cooley, who lifted the puck past a sprawling Saros. Picture perfect, and first points of the year for JJ and Dylan.

Nashville scored the equalizer just about 5 minutes later. Rookie Brady Martin pulls the puck from John Marino, tapping the puck to Filip Forsberg who fought off Marino, and avoided a defending Sergachev to beat Veggie five-hole. That was a goal Veggie definitely wants back…

Utah had a fantastic opportunity to regain the lead, as aging superstar Steven Stamkos took a double minor – one for an interference, and one for running his mouth. His team was able to cash that check, however, killing off all 4 minutes despite some solid PP time by the Mammoth. We closed the first out tied at one.

The second period was not kind to the Mammoth, as they were on the penalty kill for 8 minutes, with 6 total penalties overall. Simachev took a high-sticking penalty early, followed by a Stenlund slash about 8 minutes in. On that PK, matching minors to Marchessault and McBain kept the Predators scoring threat off the ice, and Utah was able to finish the PK properly. Durzi kept the penalty box carousel spinning 15 seconds later, however, and during THAT PK, Stamkos and Cole got into a tripping/high sticking tradeoff that left Stammer steaming mad. Trading Cole for a scorer of his caliber was great for Utah, and the good guys escaped the third tough situation unscathed… for about 30 seconds. A scramble, a weird bounce, and a long look by the refs went the Predators way, giving Nashville the lead.

With the team spending 30% of the period shorthanded, it seemed they would enter intermission without further incident. Nick Schmaltz decided that the PK unit was doing so well, he’d give them more practice, taking an offensive zone tripping penalty with less than a minute left.

Thankfully, the team decided that being a man down with 45 seconds to go was a good time to stop taking penalties. Mercifully, the horn sounded, and Team Tusk was only down one. Utah managed just three shots in the frame, the lowest number of shots in a period in team history. Brutal.

With a fresh sheet of ice to start the third, Nashville captain Roman Josi beat Veggie with an absolute snipe. That would have been the narrative, had he been onside – instead, the goal was erased, and Utah ended up killing off the rest of the penalty. The teams traded penalties from about the 5 minute mark, with Utah stopped on some solid chances from the PP2 unit, and Nashville unable to capitalize on a Durzi high stick.

A minute after Durzi returned, his shot from the point was stopped, but landed right in front of Jack McBain, who hammered home the equalizer. Aside from a gigantic hit by Brandon Tanev and some great Veggie saves, both teams seemed content to bank a point.

Overtime was a masterclass in possession by Utah, as the Mammoth won initial possession and the second face-off in the period. Durzi was knocked down and out during the second possession, and an extremely smart play by Schmaltz kept possession in Utah’s hands, as he used Veggie as an outlet option while undermanned. A pass from McBain to Sergachev led to the latter being stopped, but corralling the puck – and with a sweet self-pass off the boards, our hero of the night danced around Svechkov, and beat Saros on a nifty forehand, backhand, five-hole game winner.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Karel Vejmelka continued his strong start, stopping 20 of 22 shots and coming up with some key saves at important points of the night. While the first goal tonight was fairly soft, Veggie has only been beaten by an absolute snipe by MacKinnon, an odd-man rush that he had no chance on, and a broken scramble play in front. So far, he’s at a slightly under 2.00 GAA, and a save percentage of about .920 to start the season. Gold star.
Dylan Guenther made the team his team in 2024, as he scored the first goal in franchise history, had a multi-point game in the first game of the year, and had the first OT goal in team history all within the first two games. This year, Gunner has the first goal of the year, first OT goal of the year, and had the team’s first multi-point game. He scored 4 goals in the first two games last year – so only having 2 so far this year is a concerning drop-off, but he’s on pace for an 82 goal season. I’ll take that.
The PK Unit has been nearly perfect, posting 8 for 9 (89%) and giving up their only goal to a stacked Colorado team. Last year we were below average in the PK unit, a brutal stat considering we were third in the league with 251 situations shorthanded. An 80% PK rate was middle of the pack last year, and improvement there will go a long way towards a playoff push.

The unit is clicking, and adding Guenther to the mix has given the team some flexibility in the roster usage, as well as a legitimate threat to score short handed. We had 4 shorthanded goals last year. Only 4 teams had fewer shorthanded goals, and all 4 had fewer opportunities to score shorthanded, so any threat here is great for us.

THE OH MY GOD THIS IS STILL ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE BUT BETTER THAN BEFORE:

Faceoffs were an improvement. The word improvement is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

I wouldn’t consider a 40% faceoff percentage as good. For this team, that’s more than a 10% improvement. But, critically, the most important faceoffs at the end of the game were won today. Controlling all of OT doesn’t happen without winning the puck when it counted most.

So, yay? Oh, we are dead last in the league with a 35% faceoff percentage. Keep repeating “It’s just two games in. It’s just two games in”…

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

Discipline is becoming a factor for this team again. The PK unit has been fantastic, but the fact is, that unit should not see the ice 5 times a game. We were a man down on average more than 3 times a game last year. This is not a trend that’s sustainable.

Power Play is starting off as a glaring weakness so far this year. Despite a brilliant goal from Guenther last game, the PP doesn’t seem to have that finishing power it needs in order to be successful. The fact the faceoffs are a massive problem isn’t helping – a PP unit that has to spend the first 10 seconds chasing the puck is a PP that’s not taking advantage of their opportunities. Repeat that 3 times per situation, and you’re giving away a quarter of time playing chase. That’s not even including trying to set up a play – which is how Guenther scored – which adds additional time. It’s not a good trend so far.

Sean Durzi’s injury may not be serious or severe, however it looked like a potential collar bone. I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on TV, but the way he grabbed his shoulder, and the amount of pain he was in on the bench is not a good sign. Let’s hope it was just a really, really bad stinger. Losing Durzi would be a big blow to the team, as he’s really impressed me with the progress he’s made over the summer. We can’t start our second year like we did the first…

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Next up:

We’re headed to the Windy City to eat some deep dish pizza, talk about “Da Bears” and collect a W. Monday’s game at 6:30 PM local.