^{A fantastic game by the Mammoth falls short as Andrei Vasilevskiy earns a shutout}

The Utah Mammoth point streak ended tonight, but not for lack of trying. Entering Tampa Bay with the league’s longest point streak, they ran smack into Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy has arguably the best overall stats in the league, and tonight he showed why.

FIRST PERIOD:
The Mammoth entered the game with significant energy, riding high on their recent dismantling of the Nashville Predators. Right off the jump, Utah brought the fight into the Tampa Bay defensive end. A minute in, Dylan Guenther missed a shot, just high. Then, another 30 seconds later, the second line shift saw Barrett Hayton tip a shot in on Vasilevskiy, then backhand the rebound in on net. The rebound got past the big Russian netminder, but it went about 4 inches wide of the post. During that same zone possession, a shot by Nick DeSimone was deflected, leading to a low circle wrist shot from JJ Peterka, but Vasilevskiy made another great save to keep Utah blanked.

Tampa Bay then put pressure in on Utah over the next minute of play. A few shots on Vejmelka were routine, but some broken play behind the Utah net saw a passing attempt by DeSimone hit a skate and slide loose in the crease. Yanni Gourde nearly got a full shot off, but dangerous enough – Karel Vejmelka, however was able to keep Gourde off the board.

On the following rush, Ian Cole got a shot off that Vasilevskiy fought off, and Utah pushed a few shots on net, though nothing very high-danger other than a good look by Hayton that was kicked aside.

For several minutes, the teams slugged out possession time, with neither giving much room to their opponent. Lawson Crouse threw a shot from the slot after a faceoff win, but missed the net wide.

Just past the 10 minute mark, the 1st line saw Kailer Yamamoto find some time on the wing. Nick Schmaltz, falling to his knees, found Yamamoto streaking down the center of the ice, unmarked by any Tampa player. Schmaltz hit a perfect feed, and Yamamoto, taking a stride to get power into his shot, nearly beat Vasilevskiy glove side. Sadly for Team Tusk, nearly doesn’t get you a goal.

With under 7 left in the period, a feed from a board battle by Peterka to Sean Durzi in the slot wouldn’t fall, as Vasilevskiy made a big pad save.

Nikita Kucherov got an ouchie on his pinkie finger with 3 minutes to play. Kucherov, noted whiner baby, really sold a “slashing” call that was called against Mikhail Sergachev, and Tampa would take their power play out for a first go.

On the power play, and early shot by JJ Moser was knocked down by Vejmelka, and Nick Paul had an in-tight turnaround try, but this was turned aside. With just over a minute of the PK still to kill, Dominic James threw a shot that seemed to hit Vejmelka in the face, keeping the puck out. Utah was successful in killing the penalty and as time wound down, a 3 on 2 rush by the Mammoth saw Guenther rip a shot that beat Vasilevskiy, but it wasn’t able to beat the crossbar.

Vasilevskiy threw the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, but since the horn sounded a second after the penalty would be assessed, it wasn’t because… reasons.

Utah and Tampa fairly even, with Utah outshooting Tampa 12-11 for the period.

SECOND PERIOD:
The second period started out evenly matched as well, with Tampa taking a small advantage over the first two minutes. The best chance of the game for Tampa came just about a minute and a half in, though, as James took a pass streaking through 4 Mammoth defenders. He got behind them all, but was in too close to Vejmelka with his shot. He did catch the outside of the post, but the shot realistically was at a bad enough angle it would have been hard to score had Vejmelka not even been there.

That was Tampa’s last offensive push for 14 minutes.

Two minutes passed after the last Tampa shot as the teams exchanged dump ins and zone entries, with no pressure from either side. Guenther took the puck from a dump in, and tried to cycle tight in front of the net. He wasn’t able to score from right at the edge of the crease, though. Moments later, Barrett Hayton drew a holding penalty behind the Tampa net, and the Mammoth would get their first crack at the power play.

Halfway through the power play, Hayton almost got rewarded for the power play draw and his net-front presence, as the puck came towards him. He was unable to get a tip on the puck past Vasilevskiy, though, and despite a broken stick keeping them even more shorthanded, the Lightning kept Utah off the board as the penalty expired. The Mammoth would immediately get another power play, though as Declan Carlile and Durzi got into a scrum. Carlile got a double minor, giving Utah another chance to get something going on special teams.

About 30 seconds into the PP, Sergachev walked in from the line and threw a shot in that Vasilevskiy blocked. However, the netminder fell and was unable to get back up in time to cover for a Guenther rip from the circle. Unfortunately for the Mammoth, with the wide open cage, Guenther pulled the shot wide, which led to a clear. Utah would try and set up to get chances, but the only chances that could have happened came off broken plays – like almost hitting Schmaltz streaking in from the slot. The PP ended without fanfare, and the game remained scoreless.

With just about 9 minutes to play, Utah got an odd-man rush when John Marino sprung Guenther and Carcone. Guenther fed Carcone with a cross-ice pass, but Carcone was unable to beat Vasilevskiy – though it did appear Guenther was available for the return pass for an open back-door tap in.

Neither team got any momentum going for the next 5 minutes until Utah went on the penalty kill for the second time. Noted heavyweight Ian Cole got an interference penalty against James, then Nick Pau came in and took off the gloves and had a bit of a tilt. The fact there’s an instigator penalty in the NHL doesn’t mean anything anymore right?

Tampa got back on the shot charts after Kucherov ripped a blast from the high slot that Vejmelka was able to send back to the boards. Darren Raddysh, fellow vegetable named player, blasted a slapshot from the blue line that Vejmelka was able to glove for a whistle. Utah successfully killed off this penalty, and as Crouse was coming back to help defend, Raddysh held his stick. While trying to catch up with one of their guys up the ice, Marino ended up tripping Brandon Hagel as he drove to the net.

Hey, Marino call? First actual legitimate call in a vacuum for either team. An actual well called penalty – of course following a blatantly missed one – led to an immediate second kill for the Mammoth. This time, however, they were down two of their main killers, with Cole still in the box as well.

The Lightning had a golden opportunity to score on a rush, when Jake Guentzel had a wide open net from a cross-ice pass. His stick became kindling, however, and Utah escaped momentarily. Vejmelka made a big stop on a Kucherov slap shot, but batted the puck away instead of covering. With play still on, the Lightning would break the ice, as Raddysh would eventually take a pass from Kucherov at top of the faceoff circle. His 50 foot slapper came in over 90 MPH on Vejmelka, and the Wasatch Wall was just a tad too slow, and unable to catch up to the bullet. After multiple power plays for one of the most lethal PP teams in the league, the PK finally cracked. 1-0 Tampa

Little action the rest of the way, and they’d take another break before the final period.

Shots still favoring Utah, 8 – 6 with Utah ahead 20 -17 after two.

THIRD PERIOD:
Utah came out with energy again this period, with an early push in the opening minutes. Carcone and Sergachev had individual shots on multiple shifts over the first 3 minutes, but were unable to break through. Tampa, meanwhile, was bend-don’t-break and even when Clayton Keller was able to walk in at the 16 minute mark, Tampa shut down option and Keller’s centering feed had no where to go but out of the zone.

After 5 minutes, Tampa got pressure on Utah, as Kucherov fed Max Crozier at the far dot. Crozier’s shot was saved however, as Vejmelka was able to get laterally quickly. Off a face-off, Tampa’s rush saw a near breakaway defended by Durzi, but the puck squirted out to Hagel who tried to chip the puck in past Vejmelka, unsuccessfully.

The Mammoth had their next to last great scoring chance at 13:30 when a 2 on 2 saw the Tampa defenders overcommit to Guenther. Carcone, alone on the back door, got the pass from Guenther and had a wide open cage, but instead threw it wide.

At the 10 minute mark, Keller got in on a breakaway. Kicking the puck to his stick, Keller went forehand-backhand for the 5-hole attempt, but he hit Vasilevskiy’s pad instead.

Nothing notable until 7 minutes left. Utah got a final power play when Zemgus Girgensons held Keller, but PP1 was atrocious and neither unit had a shot. Daniil But had a blast as time expired, but that was fought off by Vasilevskiy. With less than 3 minutes to play, the game was sealed when Crouse got whistled for roughing, despite Durzi getting boarded on the other side of the play. Crouse, being interfered with and then taking a punch to the face, got the retaliation call. Tampa scored, but it didn’t matter, since Utah wasn’t going to have more than a minute after the PK to try and mount any 6-5 pressure anyway. 2-0 Tampa

Girgensons and Sergachev had a slap fight, Guenther held off Gourde, and that’s all folks.

Despite being down and desperate, Utah outshot 12 – 8 for the period, and Tampa had the edge on total shots in the game, 29 – 28.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Fully Charged While Utah lost a 2-0 game, they simply outplayed the Lightning at 5 on 5 hockey. Unsurprisingly, the Mammoth – the NHL’s leader in goals against at full strength – had another fantastic night. In 12 games, Utah’s only given up 14 goals at full strength.

Tampa is a bit of a power play merchant team, and it showed. While they have high-octane scoring power, an effectively 1-0 game in the dying minutes was only determined by special teams. Utah continues to play great defensive hockey 5v5, while also being 3rd best in the league scoring 5v5. Unfortunately, tonight, they weren’t able to break through anywhere against likely Vezina winner, Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Ground Wire The stellar play of Karel Vejmelka kept his team in the game all night long. While his counterpart scored a shutout and had more than 4 goals saved above expected tonight, Vejmelka also produced amazing stats. Giving up a second power play goal in a game already determined hurt his stats, but he ended the night with more than 1 goal saved above expected. In a normal night, that would be enough to steal a game.

Vejmelka has, quietly, become one of the top goaltenders in the league. Despite all his starts, and the wins that inevitably come with extra games played, his stats have improved significantly. At the start of December, Veggie had just a .889 save percentage and a 2.74GAA – albeit with time missed due to an injury. Entering January, his stats improved slightly (.896 / 2.70) and are currently at .901 and a 2.56GAA.

Utah fans worried about Vejmelka’s contract after a terrible November should feel a lot more at ease – though the workload still seems overly strenuous for a modern day goaltender.

Resistance The Mammoth attacked and counterattacked and punched the Lightning in the mouth multiple times – both figuratively and literally in Ian Cole’s case – and fought a good fight nearly all game. Aside from the penalty situation, Utah’s battle level was strong. They threw pucks on net – far outpacing what the Lightning allow for shots against – while throwing big hits and making big plays.

This game was simply a goalie game. Against any other tender in the league save one, this is at least a tie game going into overtime, if not won outright. Unfortunately, it’s one of those games you have to tip your hat and say “it is what it is”.

Utah’s fight, however, is something we need to see a lot more of moving forward. That’s the energy and the attitude that is going to get us bonus games in April… and dare we dream… May?

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

No Juice Special teams has been an issue all year. I’ve written about how an average power play would get this team at least 5 more points in the standings than they have now. Tonight, however, is Exhibit ZZ in the 250th demonstration of why we need new special teams coaching.

Sure, Tampa Bay has a great penalty kill. Sure, you’re not going to score on every power play. But it’s not hard to assume you’ll get one every 4-6 chances (16.7% – 25%). Utah is 15.5% by my math after this game. There’s only one team worse than Utah, and that’s the LA Kings at 15.2%. The league average? 20.8%. Utah’s power play would need to score one every 20 opportunities more just to make up the difference.

So far for the year, that’s at least a 7 goal difference, taking Utah from 23 to 30 power play goals on the year. 7 goals in 52 games isn’t a lot, but it sure as hell makes the difference in a 1 goal game in Tampa, a game lost against the Panthers with less than a minute to go, or a game coughed up against Anaheim the same way.

One goal can make or break a team, and Utah’s leaving 7+ of them on the ice. The fact that the coaching staff and Bill Armstrong can’t see that – let alone do anything to address it – is unfathomable.
Short Circuit It’s not a big secret that I love the play of Michael Carcone this year. He’s playing for a contract somewhere – hopefully with the Mammoth – but ultimately his play has been inspired, he plays above his height and weight, and he’s out there generating offensive opportunities where and when he can.

It’s a damn shame, then, that what we will remember about this game is the gigantic miss Carcone had with a wide open cage from a stellar feed from Guenther.

With a goalie like Vasilevskiy, with as few goals as Tampa gives up, and with such a tight playoff feel in the air, Utah needed that goal at a critical time of the game. Not getting it was basically the final nail in the coffin.

Doesn’t take away from the accomplishments he’s had this year, but I bet he loses more than a night’s sleep over that miss…

No pun needed Because the biggest joke came in stripes. Again, the referees either wanted to make the game about them, or were highly selective in the choices they made. The first power play granted to Tampa was a reactionary call. All the ref saw was Kucherov earning a Razzie award for terrible acting, and blew the whistle accordingly. They didn’t call a fighting major on Carlile when he dropped gloves and started rabbit punching Durzi, instead giving him a double minor and Durzi a minor as well.

Late in the game, Sean Durzi had his face driven into the boards from a hit from behind. Right in the numbers, it was a clear, classic boarding call. The way he was hit would have even been called a 5 minute major by some referees. What was the call?

Lawson Crouse for roughing Darren Raddysh on the other side of the play, responding to a punch to his face.

In a 1 goal game, a roughing penalty (one that’s subjective, mind you – not all roughings need to get called) determined the outcome of the game. Not the boarding call on the other side of the ice that had Durzi go back for treatment and concussion protocol.

The NHL is the best sport when it comes to referees. They don’t fix matches like the NBA does – and don’t pretend they didn’t already get caught once for it. They don’t have absolutely atrocious referees throwing flags selectively to determine the outcome of playoff games. They don’t have fans screaming for robo-umpires because calls are so terrible.

It’s clear, however, the NHL does have the influence of certain apps, though. You know the ones. It just happened to be a coincidence that the over/under on the Lightning was 1.5 in a one goal game late. Take with that what you will.

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Next up:

Tomorrow, more Florida. Expect a shorter writeup, with a lack of time for as much research as normal. Puck drop 5PM.