^{Utah tries to shake off a terrible loss by taking on The Great 8 and company in D.C.}

The Utah Mammoth need to shake off an absolute travesty, losing in regulation and shut out by – of all teams – the Blackhawks. Tonight, the Mammoth head to the location best known for the Smithsonian and nothing else.

This is the first meeting between the clubs, and some animosity may carry over from last year. In his chase for the goal scoring record, Ovechkin scored two goals in Utah before leaving with a broken leg, thanks to Jack McBain. Consequently, Tom Wilson, noted goon and Thomas Hickey cross-check target, called McBain’s number and the two squared off as the Capitals beat Utah 6-2.

Utah visited DC in February, beating the Capitals in overtime. That match was the last time these two teams saw each other.

Since then, there’ve been some changes on both teams. Last year’s Capitals team closed in on, but ultimately fell short of winning the President’s Trophy. The clear frontrunner in the East, with 111 points, Washington was a powerhouse, fueled by the desire for Ovechkin to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record. Since then, Ovechkin took over the top spot, but Washington’s playoff hopes fizzled, falling 4 – 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, in 2025-26, Washington is a middle of the pack Eastern conference team, struggling to get a footing and a grip on a playoff spot, just like everyone else.

Meanwhile, Utah went from a playoff bubble hopeful, with a .500 record and a dream, to a legitimate threat to take the top wildcard spot in the West. Utah’s record is close to the Capitals; each has 31 wins, but Washington has more overtime losses, and a slightly better points percentage because of it.

Utah enters this match up after a horrible loss, while Washington’s been really good at home. The Capitals have won 5 in a row at Capital One Arena, though Utah has never lost there. Take that with a grain of salt.

Unlike last year, on paper, these teams match up fairly well. Goal differentials are close, with Utah +23 and Washington +18. Both teams score nearly the same number of goals (3.17/g vs. 3.16/g in favor of Utah), and Utah has a slight edge in defense relating to goals given up. On paper, this looks like a tough but manageable match up. But, what’s behind the numbers?

What’s the only thing interesting in Washington, DC?
While Utah does not have an Ovechkin or Wilson as a record-breaking sniper, or skilled goon, Utah and Washington have some solid similarities in their top 6 forwards. Washington’s scoring is balanced, with 5 players scoring more than .8 goals per game.

Washington’s top players – everyone on PP1, basically – Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, Jakob Chychrun, and Dylan Strome, all have 48+ points. 3 of the 4 have more than 20 goals, with Aliaksei Protas continuing his emergence with 20 as well lower in the lineup.

Protas’ will be someone to watch today, as his center, Pierre-Luc Dubois, recently returned from injury. Dubois was resurgent last year for the Capitals, and has performed well in a handful of games coming back. Protas, meanwhile, was doing well with Connor McMichael in Dubois’ place, similar to how Nick Schmaltz had stepped up to center a line when he normally plays wing.

Defensively, Utah has the edge on goals against, but Washington has the edge on quality offensive defense. John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun are powering Washington’s offense from the blue line. Chychrun’s 48 points were mentioned above, but Carlson is right there with him, with 46. Notably, these two are also very solid defensively, posting +11 and +20 respectively.

Fortunately for the Mammoth, Carlson is still not quite recovered from injury, and while he’s skating with the team, he is likely not playing today.

In net, Logan Thompson has been fantastic for the Capitals, with just about a 2.40 goals against average, and a solid .913 save percentage. This cements him easily in the top 10 for starting goaltenders in the league. Like Utah, Washington is riding their #1 netminder pretty hard, with 41 starts for Thompson (47 for Vejmelka), and those numbers for that volume of games played is impressive. He’s got the best save percentage and goals against of anyone playing 40+ games so far.

Key points to secure a victory today:
Long Term Memory Like some in Washington, Utah needs to have the shortest memory possible. Their last abomination of a game needs to be dead and buried, and they need to treat this as just any other night. This can’t be a desperation game. This can’t be a one-man show, with any of our top role-players trying to be the hero at the expense of all else. We saw how that worked with Team Canada and Nathan MacKinnon.

This comes down to coaching. The team needs to be ready, but their mindset not only has to be checked on each intermission, but needs to be addressed if anything slips. Lazy play – like we saw from Sergachev – needs to be immediately squashed.

It takes courage (for some reason) to sit a veteran while in a playoff chase. Kids get stapled to the bench for the slightest of infractions. Logan Cooley, Utah’s best player most nights, was victim of this early in the year. If a message needs to be sent, it needs to be loud – anything less than 100% effort by any veteran, no matter their last name, should be treated with the same level of reprimand any rookie would get.

Aggressive use of the bench shouldn’t be needed tonight, but it shouldn’t have been needed against Chicago, either.

Justice is Blind Because justice is supposed to be balanced. This is where the line match-ups will be critical. No, not because Tourigny is blind – though not making drastic changes in that Chicago game makes me wonder – but balancing lines to counter Washington’s 3 line attack will be important.

Not to kick a dead horse, but we need better effort from defensemen this game. Nate Schmidt and John Marino have hung with the big boys all year, so expect them to step up and likely take bigger minutes tonight than any other game this year. Sean Durzi needs to keep his head on a swivel, to make sure he doesn’t get lit up by a cheap shot from Tom Wilson – and to make sure Wilson doesn’t get the lamp lit up because of bad positioning.

Washington will look to victimize the bottom pairing, so depending on the final rollout, Utah needs to be prepared to watch out for any of the top scorers – even those without the household names, like Protas.

What do you say, JJ? One of the most important pieces of tonight’s game will be the emergence of JJ Peterka, especially if the kid line is re-united for any length of time. With Logan Cooley back and with all the rust shaken from his absence, pairing the two speedsters together should be a no-brainer.

Both are not afraid to go to the net, and Peterka’s small frame is deceiving with how tenacious he is in corners. Both are great playmakers, and Peterka has a laser shot. On the rush, and with someone capable of performing remotely at his level, Peterka is a game changer. And tonight he needs to be.

Ideally, Dylan Guenther will return to the line, giving the kid line 2 snipers, 2 guys who aren’t afraid to get to dirty areas, solid defensive back-checking, and guys not afraid to get creative and take chances. While Kailer Yamamoto is a good alternative, Guenther is the top choice here.

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz will perform well together no matter who is third on their line, including if Schmaltz was moved back to wing for Barrett Hayton to center. The 4th line, surprisingly, has a good goal scoring threat when Michael Carcone is on it. And the third line can be a mish-mash of McBain, whoever isn’t being used on the top 2 lines.

There are 21 games left after today, so getting the chemistry going – and sticking with it – may be the difference between a playoff berth, where a WC1 gives Utah a great path to go more than one round, and another year looking up lottery hopefuls.

Projected Lineups:
As per the NHL app, don’t crucify me for how wrong this is…

Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Dylan Guenther
JJ Peterka — Logan Cooley — Lawson Crouse
Jack McBain — Barrett Hayton — Kailer Yamamoto
Alexander Kerfoot — Kevin Stenlund — Michael Carcone

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

Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek

Game start 5 PM local at Capital One Arena in Washington. Game available at the Delta Center or Utah 16 / SEG plus.

TUSKS UP!