Boston Bruins, Delta Center, Game Recap, utah-mammoth

No Chowda for You

Your Favorite Hockey Guy in Utah

October 20, 2025

^{Except Schmaltz. Schmaltz gets anything he wants at this point}

Utah continues its winning ways, notching a third straight victory against a recently slumping, but still always difficult Bruins team. An actual power play goal, numerous deflected passes and sticks in lanes, and a great start from Vanecek powered the win.

Following an early tilt between goal-per-game star Liam O’Brien and Mark Kastelic, Utah opened the scoring on the first power play of the game. Solid O-zone movement by the first power play got rewarded as Keller got Schmaltz a puck in the slot. Logan Cooley ended up getting hit in the back by Schmaltz’ shot, as it floated by Joonas Korpisalo to break the ice.

Boston came back with a vengeance though, controlling much of the play post goal. Their pressure forced a hook by Sergachev in the corner, allowing the B’s power play to continue applying pressure. However, a stout PK unit again remained strong, keeping the Bruins blanked past the 10 minute mark. After pressure back from Utah, Guenther ended up taking a tripping penalty, putting Boston back on the power play. A deflected puck in the slot ended up on the stick of David Pastrnak; Pasta quickly shot and barely snuck the puck under Vanecek’s arm and in the near post. Tie game.

A minute after the goal, hulking giant Nikita Zadorov somehow was able to fit in the penalty box after a trip on Hayton. The ensuing power play saw a great opportunity from Guenther from the circle, but Korpisalo turned it – and the other 4 shots aside to go to break knotted at 1.

The second period started poorly. JJ Peterka took a slashing penalty attempting to stop Morgan Geekie from an early scoring chance. Again, the PK stood tall, with aggressive play to stymie chances for Boston. A long stretch of unbroken back and forth play didn’t result in a lot of shots, but eventually Boston ended up with a 2 on 1 with Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdino, who I will never know how to pronounce. A give and go led to a Pasta shot that banked off the inside of Vanecek’s skate for the lead. Notably, this was Pasta’s 395th goal to tie Ray Borque for 6th all time on the Bruins. Good for him.

Almost immediately, Utah got a power play on a trip but didn’t get much going until the end. A pair of shots by McBain were stopped to end the advantage. O’Brien was fired up and chippy, Vanecek stood tall on a tight shot in by Tanner Jeannot, and Utah had a great chance after a steal by Sergy, and a rebound shot in tight by Hayton. Michael Carcone drew a Jokiharju trip, giving Utah its fourth power play. Utah had some great puck movement, and Cooley almost tied the game up with an in-tight, between the legs shot that almost found its way through. A Peterka giveaway led to a golden chance for Boston, but Vanecek stopped not only the partial breakaway, but also sprawled out to steal the goal from a crashing Jeannot.

A matching minor to Tanev and Zedorov led to a 4 on 4 situation, where sloppy play by Utah led to an early chance, then a second chance shortly after, that Vanecek turned aside. Late in the 4 on 4, a driving Schmaltz found a wide open Keller far side, and the captain buried it to even the score at 2.

Vanecek again had to stand tall, as Boston countered quickly. After the initial save on a 2 – 1 opportunity, the rebound was deflected back towards the open net. Nearly doing the splits, Vitek slid over to stop this second opportunity, yet again keeping the score tied and the teams headed to the third.

If the second period wasn’t great, the third period was a masterclass in shot suppression and game management. Utah applied pressure early, and constantly, with several near misses in the first few minutes. Utah was playing heavy, getting pucks deep, getting physical and winning battles on the boards, and disrupting every Boston attempt, aside from a dangerous series of events right around the 15 minute mark, where a rebound led to a wide open chance by Viktor Arvidsson who went wide after a deflection by Maatta.

Continued pressure, and fatigue, led to mistakes and opportunities given up by the Bruins. Eventually, Jeannot took a penalty, putting Utah on the power play for the fifth time, but the Mammoth had no chances and were stifled for the full 2 minutes. However, the speed of the Mammoth was just too much for the slower, more grindy and tired Bruins. A fast zone entry with a shot slightly wide was picked up by Boston, but a darting Peterka stole the puck, and dished over to Gunner at the top of the circle, one timing it past Korpisalo near side. McBain nearly made it a 2 goal lead seconds later, but a Korpisalo save kept Boston within one.

Utah expertly controlled the pace of play, with smart chips in deep – and when Boston mounted some attack opportunities, good stick placements and blocks by Sergy helped preserve the lead.

With 5 minutes to go in the period, Hayton took a penalty that gave Boston a prime opportunity to score. On the ensuing power play, Boston got their first shot of the period, an amazing opportunity by Pastrnak who was looking for his hat trick. Vitek, however, stoned him from up close as Utah stuffed lanes and blocked shots until Arvidsson took a dangerous backhand shot from the slot, which Vanecek also turned aside.

Boston pulled for the extra attacker with about a minute thirty to play. Schmaltz got the puck as the 6th attacker came on, and from the red line took a shot towards the open cage. A Bruins deflection kept the puck out, but Utah continued to pressure in the neutral zone to deny Boston good chances.

A forced offside by Tanev caused Koripsalo back to the net, which kept the Bruins from mounting any chances in the last seconds, and Vitek Vanecek got his first win as a Mammoth.

3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Nick Schmaltz, again – Schmaltz is in a contract year, and so far 6 games in all he’s done is provide opportunities for his line to score, while providing great defense when needed. Tonight was no exception, and he continues to be the best player on the ice. Gunner had the game winner but Schmaltz was critical for both the Cooley and Keller goals. Should Bill Armstrong look to offer Schmaltz an extension? Is his play sustainable? I don’t know, but I sure as hell am enjoying every minute of his play since game 1.

Vitek Vanecek was tested hard tonight. Boston doesn’t get a lot of shots on goal, but the shots they do get are from high danger areas. Tonight, several high danger shots were turned aside. When we needed him most, he shut down the Bruins and secured the third straight win at home. He didn’t get a star tonight, but he sure deserved one.

The third period Utah gave up a number of high quality shots in the first two periods, and Boston’s Pastrnak answered the bell twice for them. However, after a bad second period, Utah clamped down on Boston hard. Whether that was from Boston’s fatigue, Utah’s speed, or just fantastic team positioning, the Bruins were unable to counter what Utah was doing in their zone. Sergachev had a number of great blocks and pass deflections, the puck was pushed deep in the Bruins zone often, and board battles were hard fought all period. Ultimately, Boston had chances on a power play, but they were shut out from a single shot until less than 5 minutes in the period. You can’t score if you don’t shoot, and Utah’s mentality of limiting shots gave them a significant edge in the third.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

The Power Play again failed to provide the spark needed to separate a one goal game into something more comfortable. Despite a wonderful first PP for the night, the man advantage struggled through the remaining 4 other opportunities. They finished 1 for 5 on the night.

Granted, 1 goal is something we should be happy with, considering the sub-10% effectiveness of the power play. A 20% success is good by comparison, but too many opportunities were wasted chasing the puck from turnovers and soft play.

The second period is this team’s kryptonite, and has been since last year. It seems that every game, Utah has one outstanding period, one bad period, and one that can be a coin flip. Lately, though, the second has been unkind to the Mammoth. The skill and speed of the team shouldn’t be affected by the long change, but for some reason the second has been a struggle for the team. Tonight, Utah let up 13 shots in the second, and 3 in the third. We can close the book on games, but the middle pages can be a thriller or horror story.

Mikhail Sergachev has no points 6 games into the regular season. That’s no reason to panic, however his strength has been in his offensive game. As I chatted with friends about tonight, the big issue we’ve noticed is his shot attempts per game are way down from last year. Sergy has 11 shots on the year through the first 6 games, but 5 of them came on opening night.

Sergachev’s defense has been strong so far to start the year, but Utah definitely needs the blueliner to step up and provide more offensive help, especially on the power play.