^{Take two at the Delta Center}

The Mammoth return to the friendly confines… wait, this seems awfully familiar.

The Vegas Knights return to the Delta Center after a tilt on Thursday last week, as both teams played a game on Saturday before their rematch on Monday. In a continued twist of just odd scheduling, the away series for the Knights at Utah concludes in a span of 5 days, and the teams won’t meet again until March.

There was a palpable difference in the way the Mammoth showed up against the Rangers versus the Knights a game prior. This was a result of a closed-door meeting initiated by the players, and a level of desperation that had the team completely out play the New York Rangers. While they were not able to solve Jonathan Quick often, they did so just enough to give themselves a win.

Meanwhile, after an OT loss against the Ducks, the Knights look to extend their 6 game point streak. Mitch Marner had an embarrassing turnover in OT to give a gift goal to Cutter Gauthier. This win put the Ducks 2 points up over the Knights in the Pacific.

Back at the Tundra (I really want to make that name stick…) Vegas is looking to close that gap with a full two points. Meanwhile, Utah’s looks for retribution and revenge, looking for two points of their own.

Let’s get ready to rumb… oh, that’s copyrighted? Ok, let’s see…

Let’s get excited to begin brawling!

Key points to secure a victory today:
Jack Eichel woke up against the Mammoth. Eichel had a nine game goalless streak heading into Utah. Despite not scoring, he still posted 5 points during that stretch. By no means was he slacking or underperforming, just not at his typical level.

Against the Mammoth he had 2 goals and 1 assist, and another 2 assists on Saturday. This matches his total in the 9 previous games, giving the Knights back one of their most valuable assets.

Eichel contributed to 75% of the goals against the Mammoth, and 66% of the goals against the Ducks. I think it may be within reason to say he might be a decent player. We might want to actually cover him this game.

Hey, Tourigny, tell the guys he’s the one wearing #16, make sure they watch him. Don’t confuse him with the guy that used to wear #16 – he’s the one making the mistakes and looking the fool lately.

Lucky 3’s Utah’s struggled to put up more than 2 goals all month, hitting 3 goals twice (loss @Toronto, win Saturday) and a 5 spot against Buffalo. All the other games have been two or fewer.

Vegas has struggled to score as well, putting up 3 or more twice this month. Both were 4-1 wins.

If Vegas scores 3 or less – or Utah scores 3 or more – the odds seem to be in Utah’s favor. If goaltending struggles, or scoring production isn’t there, we’ll be looking at a familiar pattern for the month – a bad pattern that needs to be broken ASAP.

Intensity The New York Rangers game had something no other games this month had. The Mammoth didn’t win any periods, but they didn’t lose a single one. They outplayed New York in all three periods, holding the Rangers to just 3 shots in the second period. They responded well to adversity when the score was down 2-1. They scored big goals by crashing the net, beating Quick and his nearly best stats in the league.

Vegas goaltending hasn’t changed (even if they start Carl Lindbom); if the Mammoth mindset has, Utah should be able to pepper shots, and give themselves a good chance to strike back against the Evil Sinpire.

Projected Lineup:

TUSKS UP!