^{Condolences to Clayton Keller on the loss of his father}

Normally, I try and throw a joke in the opening, but some things are just bigger than hockey. Clayton Keller lost his father yesterday. All we can offer him and his family are condolences for their loss.

The captain decided he will play tonight against Dallas in what is surely going to be an emotional game for him, and his teammates.

Utah travels for yet another back-to-back series, one that sees the Mammoth playing 6 games in 8 days. The schedulemakers are not kind – especially since I’m traveling to New York in January, and know for a fact that none of the games there are back-to-backs. Weird, since there’s no travel from NYC to either New Jersey or Long Island, but there’s travel between Dallas and St. Louis, as well as Calgary and Vancouver. I digress.

Today marks the first meeting between the Utah Mammoth and Dallas Stars. Dallas started the year off slow, by their standards, with a 6-3-2 record to start off the year. However, Dallas has won 8 of their last 10, with one OTL in between, meaning the playoff version of the Dallas Stars is back. This is also evident in the second best record in the NHL, right behind yet another divisional rival the Colorado Avalanche.

Their last 10 games saw massive scoring, with an 8-3 win against the Oilers just a few days ago, a 7-0 win against the Canadiens, and a pair of 5 goals for victories. Dallas’ scoring touch is back, which does not bode well for the Mammoth.

Utah, meanwhile, is coming off a .500 home trip, with a split series against Vegas, a loss against Montreal, and a win against the Rangers. Utah scored 5 goals against Vegas on Monday, as well as Buffalo earlier in the month, but has only put up 3 goals or fewer in the 11 other contests in November. The Mammoth in November are just 3-7-3 for the month.

Dallas is the last divisional opponent Utah has now faced, all of whom they’ve played on the road. Utah has played just one divisional game at home – vs. Colorado – with their last road trip a clean sweep between Nashville, St. Louis (who they play tomorrow), and Winnipeg. Previously, they lost against Chicago and Colorado in the first week of the season.

Eventually, we’ll see hockey against these teams in Utah. Eventually. And eventually this division won’t be an absolute meat grinder. Eventually.

Tips for tonight’s game include not to lose someone for the season against suddenly-dirty Mikko Raantenen, who recently ended the season of Islander Alex Romanov and was suspended for a second boarding in three games against Calgary Flames forward Matt Coronato.

Key points to secure a victory today:

Take a penalty, lose the game.
It’s not quite that dire, but it might as well be. Dallas is scoring once every 3 power plays. That’s not an exaggeration, either. Dallas is 31.3% with the man advantage, and Utah’s penalty kill – vaunted for their play all month until Wednesday – would be severely tested. Dallas has at least as much firepower as the Canadiens, and even if one penalty is killed, the second will not be. Not against this team.

With Utah’s difficulty scoring, any ground given up anywhere will be a massive blow to their chances to win. Discipline will be key.
Utah just needs to do what they can to take advantage of Dobes and realize they will get scored on. If they can rebound well from the goals against, push hard, and capitalize on Montreal’s inevitably mistakes, this should be a fun run-and-gun open sort of game that fans love and goalies have nightmares about.

Dallas’ PK isn’t all that great.
Might be a non-starter for the way the Utah power play has struggled, but the Stars are yet another team that the Mammoth face that are a sub-80% PK team. They scored their first 5v4 goal of the month against Montreal, and may have a chance to do so against Dallas, but the key to winning special teams against Dallas is to draw, and not take, penalties.

Roughly 1/4th of all goals Dallas gives up are on the PP, so there’s definitely a chance to make a dent if Utah can somehow get on the power play more than Dallas does.

Do it for Keller The captain is playing in one of the most – if not the most – emotional games in his career. The team needs to rally around him, play as a complete unit, and look out for each other.

Hockey is a game of stats – trust me, I’m deep in them all the time – but there’s also the unseen and untracked values of the human spirit. Players like Kailer Yamamoto and Brandon Tanev aren’t showing stats that underlie their efforts as much as the eye test. There’s no stat to show what rallying around a common cause, a common pain, and a common love means to a team.

Hopefully, everyone on the team – coaching staff included – give everything they can for Clayton Keller tonight. Hopefully, they can show him how much the team loves and cares about their captain, their teammate, and their friend.

Because some things are just bigger than hockey.

Projected Lineups:
According to head coach Andre Touringy (as reported by Cole Bagley):
Per Tourigny, Keller will still play tonight.

The rest of the lineup will be determined close to puck drop as they’re dealing with some “bumps and bruises.”
https://x.com/BagleyKSLsports/status/1994483228821131606?s=20

TUSKS UP!