^{Maybe all this rain is helping?}

The best way to forget a pretty bad road trip is to come home and win. The Mammoth did exactly that.

After a sluggish road trip, where Utah managed 2 of a possible 6 points, Team Tusk was back in action here in Salt Lake City for the home opener at the Delta Center. Newly revamped and remodeled, many seats were improved over last year. This allowed fans to see in greater detail all the great – and no so great – Mammoth Moments.

For starters, shortly after warmups ended, a special event opened the night. Sliding a block of ice to the center dot, a rugged explorer announced the dawn of a new mascot in the league. Meet Tusky, Utah’s mascot that can actually skate. Fun concept, fun reveal, and a great start to the night.

The game, however, didn’t start out nearly as great. Logan Cooley squared off and won the initial faceoff. After the puck was iced, Calgary won the next face off. Then they won the next 9. Utah’s next faceoff win came nearly 14 minutes later after two penalty kills. Utah gave up several 3 on 2 chances, and a high-sticking penalty to Sergachev. In the resulting power play, and Calgary got their first two shots of the game. The second of those shots went in – a result of a random bounce off Simachev’s upper body or face. 1 – 0 Calgary.

A quick counter-attack by Utah was turned away, as Schmaltz was unable to bury a backhand from Clayton Keller. While Keller was held on this play, just about 90 seconds later it was Stenlund who was given 2 minutes in time out for interference. This second kill was more successful, however, helped by several Flames chances shot high, wide, or both.

The referees finally decided that penalties can be taken by a Canadian team, as Adam Klapka tripped Schmaltz in the corner. Utah’s power play had an unfortunate foreshadowing, as Cooley won the second Utah faceoff of the night – making them 2/12 on faceoffs to that point – splitting the defense and clearing the puck in the process. Utah couldn’t get set at all, and Keller took a hooking penalty to end the power play after just 50 seconds.

JJ Peterka looked good having some open ice in the 4-4 that ensued, but Calgary got the best chance – an open ice walk in by Zayne Parekh that was expertly turned away by Veggie. The kill was successful, and play was uneventful, until the Flames took a late tripping penalty. The power play actually got off several shots – including some Cooley on Cooley violence. A breakaway by Logan was stopped by Devin, keeping Calgary up by one at the break.

If the first period was dominated by penalties, the second period was dominated by the Mammoth. Early in the period, Schmaltz fed Hayton in the slot, who buried the biscuit glove side. Tie game. Not even a minute later, a tip in tight by McBain and a wraparound attempt by Crouse had the Flames netminder flailing, and some point blank opportunities by Schmaltz were stopped by the wrong Cooley. Finally, JJ Peterka decided enough was enough, picked a pass off at the blue line, fought off a hook, and beat Cooley high blocker side on the ensuing breakaway. Utah had its first lead in nearly 6 periods.

Shortly after, Calgary had a 3 on 1 break, which was broken up by Simachev, denying the Flames even a single shot. Utah soon found itself on the power play, delivering near misses from Yamamoto, Peterka, and Hayton. Frustration led to a big scrum in front, with offsetting penalties that took McBain and Yamamoto out of action for a bit. Immediately after, Schmaltz sent a nifty pass to Keller, who went wide on an open cage.

Calgary got flagged for a hook less than 15 seconds after the last expired, and despite some grade A redirection chances up front, Utah failed to capitalize on the man advantage again. At least a tilt between McBain and Klapka got some energy into the building, and the crowd erupted watching the first big fight of the season at home.

Stenlund was stopped off a blast from the slot, Guenther took a trip trying to split the entire Flames team, and more scoring chances were denied by Cooley, or by broken sticks. Close call by the Flames, as a deflection across the goal mouth thankfully missed wide by a matter of inches. The guy sitting a row and a half away from me stopped taunting the Flames for not shooting after several angry glares.

Guenther stopped on a grade A chance with less than a minute left, Cooley laid out a reverse hit on Morgan Frost, and Vejmelka stopped a close in chance – all in the last 45 seconds of the period.

Shot suppression was fantastic in the first two periods. Already holding the Flames to just 5 shots in the first period, Utah somehow clamped down even harder, allowing just 3 more in the period for a total of 8 through 40. Only one of those 3 was dangerous; one shot was registered from being tipped at the blue line slowly

Calgary was fired up and hungry in the 3rd, attacking early with some good attempts on Veggie in the first 3 minutes. The Flames were again penalized as Marino pulled off some Guenther like moves, but the major penalty on Cooley was assessed as a minor instead. Couple of blocked shots, an aggressive Veggie at nearly the blue line, and 2 minutes later, Utah remained scoreless on the power play.

Veggie was forced to make three difficult saves, as a “Veggie! Veggie!” chant rained down from the upper deck. Veggie, however, drew his first ever Mammoth penalty, as he tripped Nazim Kadri trying to stop him on a semi-breakaway. His teammates kept the Flames from any shots, however, so the score remained 2-1.

With desperation setting in, and less than 4 minutes to play, the Flames got a shot from right outside the crease – with a heroic stop by Vejmelka. Just under 2 minutes to go, with a the goalie pulled, a big stop by Veggie led to a clear by Stenlund. The puck rolled all the way down, and tucked itself just inside the post for the game sealing goal.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Defense remains fantastic for the team, as they held Calgary to less than 10 shots until early in the third period. Utah is holding the opposition to 21 shots against per game through the first 4 games, which is remarkable considering Utah is nearly the worst at giving away the puck in the league in total, and worst on average with 20 giveaways per 60 minutes.

It’s not all done with shot blocking, either, as the team only officially has on average 15 blocks a game, nearly dead middle of the pack. Smart positioning, great stick work (as Cooley provided at the blue line during the last PK) and aggressive sticks in lanes have been instrumental in shutting down the opponents chances.

JJ Peterka is showing me where I was wrong. I was very concerned that we traded one of our best defensemen and a solid forward for someone that had some unusually high and unsustainable stats. The past two games shows me that those stats might not be that unsustainable – Peterka might be that good. He’s such a smooth skater, is puck-smart, and creates opportunities out of nothing. JJ, I’m sorry, you’re the real deal and I’m really happy I was wrong.
Nick Schmaltz if hustle, grind, and opportunity creation each provided a point, Schmaltz would already be in the Hall of Fame. Picking up an assist tonight, Schmaltz could easily have had 4 or 5 more. He’s been dishing the puck phenomenally, finding seams and lanes that just shouldn’t exist, and tenaciously playing the puck on both ends. It’s not showing in the stat sheet much (though he has 3 points so far), but the second that dam breaks, you’ll notice it – and so will the rest of the league.

Stick Taps: Wrong Cooley had a great night tonight. He’s only played 6 games, but had abysmal stats playing for a bad Sharks team. He came up big today, keeping the score closer than it should have been. Hopefully he has a good enough season that they keep him around, but not good enough that they compete with us come April.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

The Power Play that I’ve written about three times in 4 games is no longer an extreme issue like I mentioned last time. I can’t think of a word worse than extreme for where we’re at.

Look, I get a challenging goalie in Colorado. Saros is a great goalie in Nashville. Chicago was just a hard game. Tonight gave us 6 tries against a tired team with a backup goalie. Cooley had a great game – but was that a result of bad finishing by Utah? We draw penalties – tonight marks the 16th power play of the season. We scored once. That’s so low I don’t even want to do the math on the decimals – it’s 6%. If your power play rate is lower than even the approval rating for Congress, someone needs to get fired.

Clayton Keller is just having a hard time out there. His passes are missing. His shots are missing. His timing is off. Is he hurt? Is there an issue in the room? Bad breakup? A guy that put up 90 points last year isn’t just suddenly bad. One assist in 4 games is a 21 point pace, and that’s not sustainable for someone as good as CK. This slump has to break… but when?

Faceoffs remain a problem. While we ended up with nearly 45% of the draws, this team goes through really bad stretches where critical faceoffs are lost. Losing 10 in a row in the 1st period against a tired Calgary team was unacceptable, especially considering there were 2 penalty kills in there. A faceoff win buys you 15-20 seconds off the kill, a loss means you need things to break your way in order for a clear. I’d rather leave luck to Vegas, and take the 15 seconds every time.

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Next up:

The Sharks come to town this Friday. Puck drops at 7PM local time.