^{Utah finishes their homestand welcoming the Flyers to the Delta Center}

The Mammoth have had a very successful, extended homestand since early in January. However, tonight marks the final night in exactly two weeks of hockey that has seen the Mammoth get a point in each of their previous 6 games at home. The latest team trying to break that streak, the Philadelphia Flyers, come in for the first of two meetings.

The last time these two teams met in the Delta Center, Dylan Guenther decided to become more of a Utah Hockey Club legend by thrusting the dagger in a reeling Flyers team with less than 1 second to go in overtime. Utah hopes for a repeat outcome of last year – though preferably in regulation.

There are a lot of similarities between tonight’s game and Guenther’s heroic feat. First, the Flyers came in last year on a major slide, losing their previous 4 games. Tonight? They come in winning just 1 of their last 7. Philadephia best defenseman last year, Rasmus Ristolainen, was out with an upper body injury last year, and tonight will not be dressed because of… an upper body injury. Philadelphia’s goaltender tonight, Samuel Ersson was the goaltender watching Guenther celebrate in front of him. Ersson’s been the backup this year but thrust into a starter’s role due to Dan Vladar being out on IR.

While there are a lot of similarities, there are some stark differences. Utah comes into the game in a far better position against the Flyers than they did last year. Last year, Utah needed to beat the Flyers to break a long home losing streak and were almost 10 points out of the playoff picture. Currently? The Mammoth are on a 7 game point streak (6-0-1) with 5 wins in a 6 game homestand. Utah has the second best point percentage in the NHL in January. Utah’s been surging in the standings and solidifying themselves in a playoff race.

The Flyers? Not so much.

What’s been cheesing the Flyers lately?
A team sitting third in a tight Metro division to start 2026 has seen them slide 4 points outside the playoff race. Going just 3-5-1 in January so far, the Flyers have the 4th worse record in the league since the calendar flipped. But what’s the cause of this?

Trevor Zegras had a revenge game and a half against the Anaheim Ducks two weeks ago, as Philly posted 7 goals in a good old fashioned beatdown. Since then, the Flyers haven’t been able to score more than 3 goals at all.

Zegras was on a point per game pace by the end of 2025. He’s half of that now, scoring just twice outside of the Ducks game. Take his revenge away, and his point production is about on par with Ian Cole. The Flyer’s 3rd line, Bobby Brink, Matvei Michkov and Noah Cates, have seen their offensive production crater. The line, responsible for 2 of the top 5 Flyers point production through Dec. 31st (31g, 35a) has just 2 goals and 4 assists in 9 games.

At the same time that scoring has dried up, defense has too. They’ve seen numerous lobsided losses; aside from the Vegas win on Monday, the previous 5 games saw them lose by 3 or more goals each game. They gave up 5+ goals in each of those contests, being outscored 29 to 11.

Goaltending has obviously been a massive issue for the Flyers due to the Vladar injury. Samuel Ersson has had 2 good games since December 15th. Against Chicago right before Christmas, and on Monday against Vegas, he posted just 1 goal against and a .952 and .960 save percentage respectively. The rest of the games? .853 SV% and a 4.50 GAA.

A terrible special teams has only gotten worse this year, with the worst ranked power play in the league getting even colder. They’re just one of two teams worse than Utah with a man advantage. Their below-average penalty kill, however, has gone from borderline bad at 78% to pathetic at 64%.

Everything is breaking for the Flyers, which is why they had a good game against Vegas – as Vegas fell into a trap game – and are likely going to play for their lives tonight.

Key points to secure a victory today:
Cut em’ Nick Look for Nick Schmaltz to continue his fantastic play tonight. From the defensive side of things, look for Schmaltz to specifically line up against Travis Konecny. The only Philadelphia player with any sort of consistency, he’s their second best scorer and point producers, and he’s not on a skid like Zegras. If Schmaltz can help take him off his game, you’ve pushed an already struggling offensive team on to the brink.

On the offensive side of the ice, a suddenly resurgent Schmaltz has been carving up opponents. With points in 4 of his last 5 games (4g, 3a, +8), Schmaltz is playing some of the best hockey he’s played all year – including during the 7 game win streak in October.

With Schmaltz playing great hockey on both sides of the ice, look for the Clayton Keller – Schmaltz – Lawson Crouse line to match up against the Flyers top line constantly tonight for both their offensive and defensive prowess.

Brotherly Love Philadelphia is a heavy team, top 10 in the league in hits and physical play, and as such Utah needs to be able to take the hits and counterpunch when needed. Starting Liam O’Brien again may be a good move here, considering last time the teams met in the Delta Center, he got into a fight with Nick Deslauriers, who appears to be scratched today. Good thing for O’Brien though; Deslauriers has 4 fights in 18 total games, making him more a boxer on skates than actual forward.

Either way, O’Brien’s 4th line counterparts on Philadephia are also not afraid of hits (or fights) as Garnet Hathaway is top 10 in total hits thrown in the NHL and tied with the team leading 4 fights.

With a frustrated Flyers club – one that’s coming in likely tired from a strange travel schedule – expect high level of physicality, probably a few majors, and a lot of entertainment for the crowd. If Utah can out-muscle or outlast, the relentless battles, the Mammoth skill level should prevail.

The Bell Tolls As mentioned, Dan Vladar is out for a while and in his place is Samuel Ersson. Ersson has struggled quite a bit lately, despite a great showing against a Vegas team last game. However, behind him is Aleksei Kolosov who is likely out of the NHL sooner rather than later. Kolosov’s last game against the Rangers saw him give up 3 goals on 3 shots, pulled after 8 minutes. As such, Ersson is their only line of defense and there’s no reliable alternative.

Getting to Ersson very early, a 2+ goal first period, puts the Flyers in a no-win situation. They can keep Ersson in there to potentially get shelled – straining him moving forward with no other goaltender to rescue the team, or they’re forced to put in a backup that no one has any faith in, including himself. Either way, their shaky tending should put their hopes of leaving our house with 2 points into the ground.

Projected Lineups:
Looks like we’re running it back:

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Daniil But
Michael Carcone — Jack McBain — Dylan Guenther
Brandon Tanev — Kevin Stenlund — Liam O’Brien

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

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Game start 7PM at the Delta Center or Utah 16 / SEG plus
TUSKS UP!