^{We are back home… and so are the Mammoth!}

Happy 2026 everybody! While you got to watch two amazing and one extremely underwhelming games from your TV this week, we lived them out in the New York/New Jersey area. I’m still unpacking and trying to get back to work, so today’s recap and gameday review will be a bit short – we also have to be ready for the game there tonight you know!

The Ottawa Senators and Utah Mammoth last played in early November, on the back half of a back-to-back (shocking that Utah had a back-to-back then, I know) and Ottawa beat the Mammoth 4-2 in Canada.

Ottawa visits the Delta Center on a bit of a slide recently, going 2-3 in their past 5 games. Even with the presence of Brady Tkachuk, who rejoined Ottawa right after Thanksgiving, Ottawa is one point under NHL .500 since his return. Somehow, now with Tkachuk available, the Senators’ 5v5 play has regressed significantly. All but 16 goals have come with Ottawa at even strength (77%), where beforehand only about 60% came from even play. They haven’t scored much better 5v5 than from when before Brady rejoined, marking this as a fairly weak spot for the Senators.

Goaltending for the Senators has been suspect lately, with Linus Ullmark still sidelined. Their #1 starter has been out for some time, last playing right after Christmas. Since then, Leevi Merilainen has won 2 of his 4 starts, posting just an .855 save percentage against – and being pulled in his 3 goal first period start against Detroit on Monday. Merilainen has given up 12 goals in his last 4 starts, including that incomplete game.

Key points to secure a victory today:
Broken Formation The past 5 Senators’ games power play hasn’t been functioning well. They’re currently running at a 15% success rate. Now, 15% isn’t bad, but that’s not really what their big issue is. In 20 power play opportunities since Christmas, Ottawa’s given up 2 shorthanded goals against, while scoring only 3 goals themselves. A +1 rating in 20 attempts is bad, but it also means they’re vulnerable even if up on the man advantage.

If Utah finds itself in the hole again on power plays – like they did against the saintly New York Rangers – a Dylan Guenther’ed powered penalty kill could do damage and should consider being a little more aggressive than against some other opponents they’ve faced in the past 6 weeks.

Go Tkachuk Yourselves The last matchup between these two teams saw the absence of Brady Tkachuk, as he was recovering from a thumb injury. Brady plays on line two, the biggest threat there, so he will need to be shadowed properly. Since his return, Tkachuk has scored nearly 1 point per game.

However, Tkachuk isn’t the biggest threat on Ottawa; that distinction belongs to the top line of Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, and Dylan Cozens. Since Tkachuk’s return, Batherson and Stutzle have each been a point per game plus, and Cozens is just under where Tkachuk sits with 15 points in 18 games.

With 20 goals and 35 points between that top line, they account for exactly 1/3rd of all 60 non-empty net goals that the Senators have scored since Thanksgiving. Keeping that first line in Tka-check is more important than focusing solely on Brady.

Tunnel Vision While Karel Vejmelka was fantastic on Long Island and in Manhattan, he wasn’t quite able to beat the Devils – who just lost 9-0 to the New York Islanders, shut out on 45 shots and letting in 9 goals on 24. Somehow, Utah couldn’t score against them, and couldn’t stop them from scoring, even though the Devils are crashing hard.

Tonight, we need a New York game from the teams, and not one from across the tunnel over in New Jersey.

Lawson Crouse’s re-emergence, Michael Carcone’s exceptional play, Dylan Guenther’s killer instinct, and a locked in Karel Vejmelka are all going to be important – not just on tonight’s game, but for this whole homestand.

Projected Lineups:
Reported from NHL as of 1 PM MST. Looks like a few adjustments in store:

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Dylan Guenther
Michael Carcone — Jack McBain — Daniil But
Brandon Tanev — Alexander Kerfoot – Kailer Yamamoto

Mikhail Sergachev — Sean Durzi
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Nick DeSimone

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Gametime later than normal; 7:30 puck drop at the Delta Center.

TUSKS UP!