^{This game felt more like craps.}

Finally, after long last, and after the most road games in the league, the Mammoth are home. Not just home for a game or three days, but actually long enough to unpack a suitcase and have their dog remember who they are. With a hot start to the year, and an amazing record at home a big part of that start, the Delta Center seemed to be the missing ingredient after 2 weeks of listlessness.

Make that 2 weeks and a day.

The Knights made their way to town today, after beating the New York Rangers. Stopping such a hot road team was big for them, as they were able to convert on both their power plays, and actually got a finisher in overtime. However, they’ve been struggling to score 5 on 5, and their defense has been great – because it’s had to cover for a flailing goalie corps. Akira Schmid, a rubber band goalie (he’s got one good year, one bad year, one good…) and so far he’s had a bad year. A save percentage south of .900 and an already heavier than normal workload since Aiden Hill went down earlier in the season.

Recipe for a win – just stay out of the box and pepper the goalie.

FIRST PERIOD:
Utah opened the game pushing hard, as Michael Carcone on the 2nd line crashed the net in the first 30 seconds, then – along with Logan Cooley – had a pair of solid defensive plays to thwart an early Vegas attack. This was promising to see. Vegas has only scored first a handful of times, and the Mammoth had jump. It looked like Utah could continue the “put Vegas down early” trend.

Karel Vejmelka was squared away for the first Vegas shot against, after which Utah poured on the offense. The third line, highlighted by JJ Peterka and Lawson Crouse, saw the latter push the puck in deep to play in Vegas’ end, and on the next shift, Cooley and his linemate, Dylan Guenther had a good one-timer opporunity that Schmid turned aside. The rebound came out to Nate Schmidt, who blasted from high dot, but that was also saved. Utah’s flurry of shots in the first 5 minutes nearly equaled their total shots in multiple periods in the past few days. Offensive opportunities were looking good.

Utah dodged a massive bullet soon after, with Vegas newcomer Braeden Bowman going over the net from a feed from Jack Eichel from the low dot.

Veggie was tested for a brief period about the 12 minute mark, and the teams were content to play in neutral ice for several minutes.

Kevin Stenlund was knocked down to the ice with a shoulder hit to the head by Cole Reinhardt. Unpenalized, of course – why would it be after 4+ games of absolutely garbage officiating? Instead Utah headed to the PK because Brandon Tanev stood up for his center when the refs couldn’t be bothered.

The Knights power play has been beyond powerful lately; they are 4/6 the past two games. Utah was down both Stenlund and Tanev, two of the key players on the PK. Cooley saw extra time, filling in for Stenlund, and he had a solid shorthanded chance against the Knights. He was stopped at the dot by Jack Eichel, as he attempted to dance around the Vegas player. Than, Utah saw a little action against as Veggie stopped Tomas Hertl’s attempt, but that was all as the penalty expired. 1 for 1 on the kill.

After 11 minutes without a shot, the Mammoth nearly took the lead. With just 4:30 to play, a flip out of the zone by Nick DeSimone landed at center ice. JJ Peterka poked the puck around the defender – and drawing the second defender to him, he passed to Lawson Crouse who was stopped point blank in the slot. Schmaltz, a minute later, almost got around his man, but was unable to get a shot off.

Brett Howden was in all alone on Vejmelka on a set dump-in play from Vegas. However, Howden was unable to fully control the puck from off the boards, and his golden opportunity fell apart as the puck rolled off his stick.

Liam O’Brien, with Cooley centering for an injured Stenlund, was sprung two times in the final 90 seconds. Spicy Tuna is not a goal scorer, and it shows, and Schmid kept Utah scoreless as teams went to intermission.

Shots 9 – 7 in favor of Utah.

SECOND PERIOD:
The Knights are not a great second period team. Utah is not a great second period team. This was a good opportunity for the bad periods to cancel each other out. On paper, at least, it’s what you hope for.

The second period started without Kevin Stenlund, still in the locker room, but with an energized jump to start. Carcone fed a cross-ice pass for Cooley, who was unable to get it cleanly. Cole threw a puck from the blue line. DeSimone went wide.

That momentum was derailed, though, as matching minors against Cooley and Howden got holding and embellishment calls respectively.

The penalties both expired with Vegas circling the puck in the Utah zone. With Cooley and Howden streaking into the play, and with a JJ Peterka steal just missing to clear the zone, the Knights were able to capitalize on the chaos. Schmidt and Marino both missed the clearing opportunity on the loose puck, and the slight disruption by Howden allowed Pavel Dorofeyev to shoot low on Vejmelka. The puck was saved, but the rebound kicked over to Jack Eichel. All alone, with an empty net in front of him, and no Mammoths within 6 feet, Eichel had time to adjust the puck on his stick before putting it in. Yet again, Utah fails to score first in a game, and yet again, they’re giving up goals in the second period. 1-0 Knights

Thankfully, on the ensuing fac… aaand they scored. 2-0 Knights

So, Stenlund and the 4th line were out. The puck came to the Utah zone, and a clearing attempt around the boards was kept in. Ben Hutton tossed a muffin at Vejmelka, and he whiffed on that. Hard. (2-0 Knights)

Suddenly down 2 goals before the first was even announced, Utah just crumbled under the weight of the situation. Spoiler alert, because this is going to make me mad, Utah gave up 15 shots from that first goal through the horn.

Veggie lost track of a shot about a minute later, which was fortunately cleared by the defense, then was tested by a near breakaway by Howden chasing down a flipped puck. Shortly after, Logan Cooley, MMA fighter, showed what he could do by landing a solid right into a Vegas player’s face. He took a double minor amidst a slew of others, but that was really the only fight Utah put up.

Utah’s extra penalty put the Mammoth again on the PK versus the most dangerous PP in the league, but they were able to kill that off. The spectacular play of taking an interference penalty negated nearly the whole kill, but put it in the books. 2 for 2.

Moments later, on the offensive draw in a 4 on 4 scenario, Utah would finally break the ice. Nate Schmidt, the defenseman who could, scored Utah’s first goal, and his first goal as a member of Team Tusk, beating Schmid under the arm after a cross-ice feed. All of a sudden, Utah seemed to have some life. 2-1 Knights

Still 4 on 4, the teams traded chances back and forth, with the best chance coming from John Marino. Taking a drop pass from Guenther, the pad save by Schmid turned aside his shot from inside the blue line. Keller had an opportunity on the rush, but he’s been unable to control the puck lately – this rush no different – and he ended up going into the boards with the puck, and without a shot.

Utah had an 8 second power play, or so, who cares because we weren’t scoring on it anyway. 0 for November, officially on 5v4.

The Mammoth had about a minute of pressure after the penalties expired, but play quickly devolved into both teams defending zone entries. Vegas took advantage of a few icings, getting a few shots on net, but nothing major transpired.

Carcone forced a few opportunities about the 15 minute mark. Crashing the net, getting a shot off, and then trying to stuff a rebound, Carcone was a dynamo trying to will his team back to even. Unfortunately for him, and the Mammoth, he just couldn’t get it to go.

As the period came to a close, the Mammoth drew a delayed penalty. Or, rather, that’s how it seemed. Ref signaled for the penalty. Sergachev, holding the puck, shot. Then, from the stands, I was wondering why Eichel wasn’t slowing down. The refs didn’t blow the whistle – the penalty was on Utah instead. Why the refs didn’t blow the whistle when Sergachev had control of the puck (which is the rule for penalties) was confusing. None of the Mammoth reacted, because during the delayed penalty both teams had control of the puck, so certainly one team would have gotten the whistle. Nope.

Eichel went in untouched on the breakaway as Utah raged at the refs and their flaming incompetence. 3-1 Knights

The period? Blown open. Game? Blown open. Refs? Blown calls. Nothing new here. Who needs refs to not get wrong calls 4 games in a row?

Utah outshot 17 – 9 in the period, outshot 24-18 through 2.

THIRD PERIOD:
Utah came out with desperation for the first shift in the third. Cooley’s line won the faceoff, got 2 shots off, and Carcone crashed to try and stuff a rebound to cut the lead.

Then, 20 seconds later, the game was effectively over. Eichel threw the puck to the slot. Barrett Hayton, with his stick off the ice and not knowing where his assignment was, had the puck go by him to an open Braeden Bowman (who?) to tap the puck in 3 feet behind Vejmelka. Braeden Bowman (seriously, who??) got his third goal of the year. In 5 games, he’s got more goals than a season + of Liam O’Brien plus Tanev’s 20 games. Fun. 4-1 Knights

Listen, I could recap the rest of this, but there’s really no point. The team mustered no counterattack after the 4th goal. They had a power play – an actual power play – but did nothing with it again. They had another PK at the end of the game, and miraculously, didn’t give up another goal.

Am I being lazy not recapping the rest? No worse than half the team, and I don’t get paid to do this.

CALL OUTS
I’m going to call out some specific plays tonight that show me exactly who’s performing and who isn’t.

Michael Carcone. First shift, crashed to the net (0:18) and then backchecked hard to support Cooley on the first counterattack. Full motor. 14 minute mark, lays a bit hit on Noah Hanifin. Crashed the net most of the rest of the game. He’s doing what Hayton should be and should have been doing all year.
I don’t like Carcone on Cooley’s line, only because Cooley is decent at crashing the net. You don’t need two players that do that. But, I really, really like Carcone’s effort and play.

Logan Cooley in the first 30 seconds played a defensive stick against Jack Eichel on the first dangerous opportunity of the game. First shift! He filled in for Stenlund in the first, and his play gave Liam O’Brien (seriously??) multiple shots on net.

Then, turnovers. Bad passes. It’s Cooley overthinking and trying to force the game. He’s watching his captain fail the team. He’s watching his shooters miss the net. He’s watching his enforcers not fight. Man, I wonder if he’s regretting that contract right now.

No. He’s totally not regretting that contract, but he may be thinking long and hard about that NTC he has in there.

Clayton Keller. I’m so tired of putting him in the chirps. He’s just plain awful right now. I can’t even add him anymore, it feels cheap and dirty to copy/paste his game. He’s playing uninspired, leaderless hockey. Here’s just one example:
12:50 mark of the first period. After already almost giving the puck away in the corner on a soft pass to Peterka, he almost gives up a 2 on 1 trying to force a pass into one of the Knights’ skates. One potential turnover he lucked out of, one turnover he caused, no scoring chances and no shots – all within 10 seconds.

If Keller cares, he’s not showing it. Keller last year took a puck to the face and came back out in a shield and stitches, and won the game for the team. This year? He seems like he wants to just watch the game from an iPad on the bench.

Leadership is a quality you exude, not a chore you halfheartedly do.

Karel Vejmelka. I am done defending Veggie as well. There are goals that are not his fault, at all. They’re goals due to the team just not paying attention in front of him. That last Vegas goal? Hayton doesn’t cover his ice to stop a pass behind the crease. His Eichel goal? Completely hosed by the officials AND the team.

He’s been good, too. Stopped a flurry at 13:06. Stopped the PP chance in tight (12:28). Early in the game, keeping the game close.

Then he breaks the back of the team. Literally let in a muffin at 3:28 (2nd). Not the first muffin this year, not the first time he’s been out of position, not the first time he let the team down.

Is the team playing super cautious because they can’t trust Veggie? Can Veggie trust himself at this point? You know who would know? A good coach.

Finally: Liam O’Brien. He played tonight, so that’s a positive for some of the fans. He had a few shots that Cooley served to him on a silver platter and he delivered right to the pads. He’s an enforcer that watched as Jack McBain ended up fighting to try and get some life into the team. He’s an enforcer that threw less hands during a scrum that the 21 year old budding star center. He’s the enforcer that watched the teams best PK’er go to the box for standing up for a teammate.

O’Brien didn’t add any of the physicality he’s signed for to this game. If he doesn’t bring that, what’s the point in him being in Utah and not Tuscon?

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Penalty Kill kept the Knights scoreless. Honestly, impressive considering the teams were 4 on 4 and there were two other full PK situations. The third was an 8 second penalty that padded the stats. I’ll take that, it’s a win somehow.

Nate Schmidt got a souvenir today. He’s the only one in Utah that wants to remember anything from this game.

Congratulations to 88; he plays hard, one of the best defenders we have, and he finally got on the board. Glad to see it – it was a good goal when the game was still close, and it would have been impactful if any of the rest of the team cared as much as he and Carcone did.

Change The good news is, if the team keeps this level of play up, a major change has to happen. With such a great start, to be this terrible with this much talent is just incredible.

The longest PP stretch without a goal was 51 attempts. We’ve scored in between, but we’re 0 for this whole month. Scoring once on a 5v3 against an east coast team at altitude on the second half of a back to back? Not good enough.

Keeping this up should give us all a shake up. Maybe that’s what the players and fans need.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

Officiating for the second straight game goes here. This could and should be for the 4th straight game, but it’s a compounding problem.

GI calls against that are questionable. A headshot that was ignored but the retaliation called. A delayed call that should have been blown dead, but instead was allowed to play on for no reason at all. A kicked in goal allowed. Tackling a Mammoth player in the crease isn’t a penalty, but losing balance because you’re hooked is an embellishment.

I hate people that blame refs as the only reason a team loses. I’m not saying that reffing here is what cost this team, but when you’re playing 9 on 5, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

The NHL needs to review these games. There’s no reason a team comes out on the wrong side of every single questionable call in 4 straight games. None.

Power Play broken record, you know what I have to say. There’s no reason on Earth that this is happening. It’s infuriating that no major changes are made. The system? Completely broken. The personnel? Kept the same even when not producing. The results? Expected.

A 20% power play would give this team 5 more goals this month. Considering this team can’t score more than 2 against a team not named “Buffalo”, that’s significant.

Disgusting.

Personnel I am not going to name names, but Liam O’Brien has no place on this team right now. I’m not going to name names, but Clayton Keller needs a load management day. I’m not going to name names, but Karel Vejmelka needs to sit a few games in a row to let Vitek up. I’m not gonna name a names, but Ian Cole is 300 years old, and he needs a load management day more than any 20 year old kid. I’m not going to name names, but Logan Cooley taking 6 minutes of penalties in a 2nd period when the game needs their best center playing is a discipline issue.

Know what fixes or addresses each of those issues? A competent coach.

People calling for Tourigny to get fired have legitimate complaints. He’s also the coach when the team went 7-0-0 earlier in the season. Do I want him fired? No. Do I want him to address this mess he’s more than 50% responsible for? You’re damn right.

I’ve put up lines on paper that match up really well with their possession stats, shots strengths and weaknesses, and overall speed/physicality. One of those lines, unsurprisingly, was the kid line. The kid line that produced spectacularly to start the season but has been dismantled since. One of those lines had Yamamoto play alongside Keller, which hasn’t happened yet. One of those lines had Liam O’Brien sitting in Arizona.

I’m not a coach, I just like numbers and stats and trends. If I can see trends, people getting paid to do this need to see it too. Come on guys. Wake up.

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Next up:

The road-hot Rangers come into town on Saturday.