Delta Center, Game Recap, san jose sharks, utah-mammoth

A Night of Firsts

Your Favorite Hockey Guy in Utah

October 18, 2025

^{I just wanted a win, and they provided so much more…}

I sat in my seats today, right behind Lucas, Amy, and John. It was Lucas’ birthday present, and he’s turning 10 tomorrow. It was his first game. Turns out, it was arguably the second best home game in Utah history.

A struggling San Jose team came to town with hopes of getting their first win. Last year, the Utah Hockey Club had a late collapse, giving up 3 goals and then an OT winner to a winless Sharks team. Considering the Sharks have been a fairly high scoring team, and Utah’s struggled to put the puck in the net, there was a real possibility of a repeat of last year.

Nick Schmaltz, however, decided that the “not scoring” stance the team has had wasn’t a great idea, and decided to almost single-handedly change that.

In the first period, Utah pushed early and often. Right off the drop, Utah ended up with 5 or 6 shot attempts in the opening minute. Only one was credited, the first by JJ Peterka, as all the big guns missed the net on their attempts. A few shifts in, Liam “Spicy Tuna” O’Brien made his season debut, to some random chants of Spicy Tuna from the crowd. He stepped in for Kailer Yamamoto, who had registered 2 shots in 4 games, but also not committing egregious problems for the line.

Utah dominated much of the first period, with time of possession, shot attempts, and overall shot quality. Unfortunately, despite some nifty playmaking by Peterka and some good looks by the third and fourth lines, the score remained 0-0.

About 8 minutes in, veteran defenseman Nick Leddy took a tripping penalty, drawn by Peterka. The PP unit got to work, with some decent puck movement. While there were several missed attempts, Cooley drew a second penalty against Dmitri Orlov, sending their top defenseman to time-out.

On the ensuing 5 on 3 power play, Utah moved the puck crisply, and a nice dish from Keller to Cooley was quickly passed to the slot, where a waiting Schmaltz wired it far side on Yaroslav Askarov (28/34) for the first power play goal since opening night.

Utah continued the pressure, immediately winning the puck and pressuring San Jose in their end through the next few shifts, keeping the Sharks from many opportunities. Then, 4 minutes after his first tally, Schmaltz took a beautiful feed from Keller, spun and fired his second of the night over Askaraov’s blocker and right below the bar. 2-0 Utah.

San Jose had a little push from the 6 minute mark on, posting 5 of their 7 shots of the period after the second goal. However, Vejmelka (19/21) made some key stops, Utah kept themselves out of the box, and the score after 1 was 2-0.

The second period was reminiscent of what the team did last year. Early in the period, Jack McBain took a bad interference penalty, and the Sharks finally had some room to skate. Celebrini quickly re-entered the Mammoth zone after a clear, and after some quality puck movement, Orlov – who was a massive reason the Mammoth got their first power play goal – had his shot saved by Vejmelka, but the rebound was hammered home by Tyler Toffoli, for his second of the year. Utah led 2-1.

In a scary turn of events, the Sharks’ looked like they were going to make this game a carbon copy of almost exactly a year ago. Two minutes after the power play goal, continued pressure by the Sharks paid off, as a pass from Celebrini to Skinner deflected off of defenseman Ian Cole and in. It was the second own-goal in as many nights, knotting the teams up at 2. Was this going to be a repeat of 2024?

Orlov took his second penalty of the night on a hold on Lawson Crouse, sending Utah up a man again. This power play failed to convert, keeping the score tied and keeping fans anxious.

In an extremely unlikely turn of events, it wasn’t Guenther, or Cooley, or even the hot hand of Schmaltz that turned the tide. Fan favorite and potential caveman mascot, Spicy Tuna brought the house down with his first ever Mammoth goal. Corralling a misplayed puck by Askarov, O’Brien tucked the puck in towards himself, then with a spinning backhand tucked the puck into the wide open net. Over a year of anticipation for his first goal overflowed in the Delta Center, as the home team re-took the lead.

A late too many men penalty put the Sharks on the PK for the 3rd time, but Utah couldn’t capitalize before the horn. This left about 10 seconds for Utah to be on the power play to start the third.

As has been the case all year, the power play was unable to score, despite a quick attempt by Guenther. set and get a good chance off with the 10 second advantage to start the period. However, Schmaltz would complete the hat trick less than a minute later. Sergachev sent a dump pass to Keller, who chased his tip behind the net. A gorgeous backhand to Schmaltz in the slot gave him the 3rd goal, passing Guenther for team lead. 4-2 Utah, amid a blizzard of hats.

The good vibes carried over to the third line, as just 3 minutes later, a strong forecheck forced a turnover by Crouse. Michael Carcone picked up the puck, took two steps, and fired a shot off the arm of Askarov for, you guessed it, his first goal of the season. 5-2, and Utah was in control.

The expected physicality finally erupted close to midway of the period. Cooley and Celebrini, two of the most exciting youngsters in the game, got into a wrestling match in the Sharks’ zone. Cooley picked up a pair of penalties, Celebrini took one, and Dmitri Simachev and Vinny Desharnais got matching misconducts as the big boys were separated without an actual fight. Utah killed off the second San Jose penalty, with fantastic stick work by McBain and Sergachev.

Captain Keller, held scoreless so far this season, capitalized on this game of firsts. Great passing at the zone entry between Hayton and Keller led to a give-and-go with Schmaltz. Keller had room at the left dot, and he went upstairs glove side to give the Mammoth a 4 goal lead.

Guenther took a cross checking penalty with about 5 minutes left to play. Team Tusk surrendered their second power play goal to the Sharks, cutting the lead to 6-3. However, there was no magic left in their fins, and three goals was too talk a task for them to overcome. Utah shut the door, holding the puck in their end for the final 30 seconds as the fans celebrated back to back wins at home.

One of those fans got to celebrate a win for the first time, in his first game, right before his birthday. It was the first game of many to come, as I watched a life-long fan be made tonight. Happy birthday, buddy.

3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Nick Schmaltz – who else? Schmaltz finally got rewarded for his tenacity over the past few games. For 5 games, Nick has been one of the best players on the ice for either team. Forechecking, setting up passes, laying out hits, and taking tough assignments, Schmaltz did almost everything right for the first 5 games of the season. The puck, however, refused to go in for him. Tonight, though, he broke through with 3 goals for the first ever hat trick by the Mammoth at home. Sorry though, Nick, this hat is sold out, so I’ll owe you one.

Liam O’Brien was scratched for the first few games of the season, following several long stints either hurt or healthy scratched last year. He brought an energy and physicality that was missing with Yamamoto in the lineup, and being paired with Tanev might be a sneaky good combination. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a goal in his first game this year.

I gave Spicy Tuna a lot of grief last year for being outscored by three different goalies. After his first game this year, I’m happy to not have to say that again.

The offense finally came alive; in the first 4 games, a total of 8 combined goals was worst in the league. That number was nearly doubled tonight, and that was done almost exclusively on even strength goals. Granted, the Sharks have had the defensive and goalie equivalent of tissues in a wet paper bag this year, but goals don’t care who your opponent is. We needed a good offensive game, and we got it.

Stick Taps to all the first timers and out-of-towners. If this was your first game, you certainly picked a good one. I hope this is the first of many games you’ll see.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

The Power Play finally capitalized on a chance. That chance was a 5 on 3, which is the easiest time a team can ever have. The ensuing 5 on 4, and the other two that happened, continued the drought. 2 goals in 20 attempts, with one goal against Chicago, San Jose, and a Calgary backup in 11 tries. All three have had less than a .900 save percentage and over 3.0 GAA last year.

Hey, 2 for 20 is better than 1 for 20, so there’s that!

Penalty Killing has been fantastic this year, so a bad game is just that – a bad game. 2/3 against a strong offensive team like San Jose isn’t awful, since you’re likely to put up 4+ goals against them otherwise, but it wasn’t their best night tonight. Unless this becomes a trend, this is more nit-picky in a game that was otherwise completely dominated by the Mammoth.

ESPN having tonight’s game means that SEG doesn’t have recaps. I love listening to Nick, Kim, Dom (even if he’s a former Ranger…) and Matt on the broadcast and in the booth. I also like to watch the plays at home, since the vantage point from my seat and from the camera angles are very different. I am also not a fan of ESPN, despite the fact they had some of the best hockey commercials in the history of television. They seem to consider hockey as an afterthought, and that’s depressing when it’s the best sport on earth.