^{Maybe they should play with the lights off…}

Have you ever watched a game where the period was down to two minutes left, but it felt like there was at least 10? A game so exciting you didn’t get up to go to the bathroom, or get extra snacks? Tonight’s game was not that.

The Mammoth were in Chicago for another divisional opponent, a hungry Chicago team who was looking for their first win of the season. Chicago came in limping after three straight losses – two on the road, one at home – and were desperate for a good home game after their loss on Saturday. This was a Blackhawk team that’s been scoring 2 goals a game, has been on the PK for 1 1/2 periods in just three games, and who’s been struggling on the PK and on the faceoffs. It was a recipe for success.

Somehow, Utah forgot set a timer, and the results were a smoldering fire of disappointment.

The first period was, for lack of a better description, a major slog. There were few chances, and teams traded a total of 11 shots in the period. Utah wend on the penalty kill early, as Dmitri Simashev took a very questionable holding penalty around the 5 minute mark. The PK unit held strong, allowing just one shot (and one just over-the-bar miss), Shortly after, Keller took a fairly dangerous looking trip, but ended up OK. Utah’s PP resulted in a few shots, nothing high danger, and the team again went pointless in their advantage.

The most exciting part of the period was at about the 6 minute mark, where the lights went out for about 5 seconds. Coming off that snafu energized, Chicago had the first exciting opportunity of the game came when Teuvo Teravainen took a shot from the slot, beating Vanacek far side. However, the puck hit the post and bounced straight out, keeping the game scoreless.

We ended the first with a 0-0 tie and (yawn) 11 total shots.

The second saw gameplay pick up, with Utah controlling the majority of the period. Two quick shots on goal in the first minute helped set a quicker, more aggressive pace, and Utah doubled their shot total for the game just 5 minutes in. Chicago finally saw some pressure about 10 minutes in – their first shot of the period led to a stuff attempt by Ilya Mikheyev. Somehow, the puck squeaked in short side, giving the home team a 1-0 lead.

Despite several pushes by the Utah offense, and some additional power play time, and some grade A opportunities by Nick Schmaltz and an almost-but-not-quite attempt from Dylan Guenther, Utah ended up going back to the dressing room still scoreless.

The third period saw quick revenge from the missed play earlier, as Guenther, collecting an amazing through the legs pass from Peterka, returned the favor, dishing across the crease for the wide open tally. Game tied. JJ all smiles. Team feeling the energy.

The energy, and the PK line’s luck, both ran out about 7 minutes later. On yet another questionable call, Sergachev got called for a hook, sending the Hawks on the power play. This one, however, they were able to capitalize on. Ian Cole and Guenther had some sort of signal cross-up, allowing a wide open Andre Burakovsky half a period’s time to set up and pick a corner on Vanacek. 2-1.

Utah ended up with their third power play of the game shortly after, with Crouse picking up a holding penalty against Connor Bedard. The last, most desperate power play of the game for Utah, led to a total of one shot, several misses, and an offside, and giveaways. Late in the period, Marino took a high-sticking penalty to give the Mammoth just one minute to work with and pull the goalie, but failed outlet passes and some good board work by the Hawks killed a lot of time. Vanacek couldn’t even get to the bench until about 30 seconds to go. After a faceoff, and with about 10 seconds to go, Utah coughed up the puck and allowed the game sealing EN goal. Woof.

Utah has not scored with the 6-5 advantage ever. They have given up 16 goals in 2024, and now 1 in 2025. That’s a -17 goal differential in 85 games – the difference between playoffs and golfing last year. We’re already on the wrong side of it again. Double woof.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

The PK Unit remained pretty solidly consistent, except for a bad miscommunication between Guenther and Cole. Guenther pulled up to the boards instead of covering – or Cole didn’t cover when Guenther went to the boards. Regardless, this is the second breakdown that allowed a player to be wide open in a shorthanded situation. We’re currently sitting at over 83% PK rate this early in the season, an improvement over last year by a slight amount.
Faceoffs were massively improved this game, as the team won 55% of their draws. Cooley won 50% of his attempts, a great improvement over his first two games, and Nick Schmaltz won 4 of the 5 opportunities he took. Hayton was busy at the dot, winning 6/11 in his first game back.
Barrett Hayton returned and had a pretty solid night overall. A good presence on the dot as mentioned accompanied a strong performance centering his line. His backchecking was good, and he didn’t seem to show much, if any, rust from his missing time in training camp and preseason. His presence helped stabilize the team’s forward group, as they did not allow many odd-man rush chances against and were more defensively sound than the first two games.

Honorable Mention: JJ Peterka, congratulations on your first of hopefully many, many goals as part of Team Tusk.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

These are going to all revolve around scoring, right? Right?

The Power Play is an extreme issue. A Chicago Blackhawks team boasting just a 70-something kill percentage was ripe for the picking. Sure, the Hawks took far less penalties today than they have any other game, but there should have been some capitalization on these chances. 1 PPG in 10 chances is terrible, especially for a unit that has such great offensive talent like Utah.

Anyone not named Dylan Guenther is not contributing. The team has 5 goals all year. 2 of them are from Guenther. Another 2 had a Guenther assist. He’s been integral in 4 of the 5 goals. Guenther is so good, he was his own primary assist in OT the other day.

The only goal he was not involved with was the Jack McBain goal, who was assisted by Durzi – and he sits for a few weeks recovering. Who else on this team can produce? Keller’s off – his shot, his playmaking seems to be a step off. Schmaltz had a good enough game tonight, but hasn’t had any bounces go. Sergy is normally able to pot a goal or two.

We live in a desert. We don’t need this team to be wandering one too.

Lineup Decisions are starting to look a little strange and may need to be addressed. Daniil But had a great pre-season, was able to score, and is sitting in Tucson. Ian Cole is still doing Ian Cole things, with Maveric Lamoureux and Max Szuber sitting in the AHL. PP2 has Nate Schmidt quarterbacking, instead of Dmitri Simashev – a better skater, puck handler, decision maker, and harder shot. JJ Peterka has been sitting on a PP unit with Jack McBain. Jack McBain is on the power play.

Spread the talent out a bit. Get creative and do something that isn’t normally done. Maybe get Turbo in on PP2 and see what his speed can do. Go crazy even – why not swap Simachev and Sergachev, and use Sergy on PP2 as a semi-forward?

We have 5 goals in 3 games. Our goalies are posting a 2.00 GAA. 7 goals against puts us in the top 25% of the league defense. 11 teams have allowed 8 goals or less. Utah is the only one with a losing record.

Something needs to desperately change, fast.

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Next up:

Our boys come home to open up the newly partially renovated Delta Center this Wednesday. The team is hosting a special event starting around 4PM on the promenade. Puck drop is at 7:30 (special event on the ice at 7… will we unveil our mascot?)