Mr. Vanecek, don’t you know we’re the best team right now? Come on, let us score, please?

You know what three words in the English language are horrible to say? No, not Utah Power Play – but that’s close. I was wrong.

I did not foresee the Mammoth penalty kill shutting down one of the best power play offenses in the league. I did not foresee Vitek Vanecek starting tonight. I did not see the Mammoth scoring 6 goals against either Jake Oettinger, or Casey DeSmith. This is why I don’t gamble on sports.

Vitek Vanecek got some run support for the first time in a while, and a stellar performance through an onslaught in the first 40 minutes helped keep Utah in the game until the Mammoth exploded – and Dallas imploded – in the third period.

FIRST PERIOD:
The Mammoth did nothing for the period. I can highlight their two shots. 8 minutes into the period, Nate Schmidt threw a wrister on DeSmith from the blue line. The second, well… I’ll get there.

Dallas set the tone early. 30 seconds into the game, Matt Duchene was the recipient of a 2 on 1 pass with a clear line of site on Vitek Vanecek. Fortunately for Team Tusk the puck rolled from his stick and he was unable to get a shot off.

The teams traded possessions, though Dallas had the better of those possessions for much of the period leading to the opening goal. At the 15 minute mark, Nils Lundkvist blasted the first shot of the game from the blue line, forcing Vitek Vanecek to make a big kick save. The follow up chip shot hit the outside of the net.

Blocked shots and missed passes for both teams was the name of the game until the 14 minute mark. Esa Lindell took an errant pass from Jamie Benn and rimmed it around the boards. Benn circled behind the net to grab the puck, and turned back behind Vanecek. Sam Steel, sitting in the soft spot in the slot between Lawson Crouse, Nate Schmidt, and John Marino got the slick pass by Benn from behind the net, and buried it from dead center. 1-0 Dallas

At the 11 and a half mark, Tyler Meyers split 4 Mammoth players and made a move to beat Vanecek 5 hole. However, the Czech netminder was able to stuff the attempt, keeping the deficit from growing.

Utah got hemmed in their zone several times over the next few minutes, with Dallas jumping on clearing attempts, aggressive with their forecheck, and forcing errors and misplays in the Utah zone. With 10 minutes to go, after several failed clears, Utah almost went down by 2 when a tip went wide of the cage. However, Dallas was unable to secure the rebound for a shot, keeping Utah safe momentarily.

A minute later, Cooley tried to force a play to happen in the Dallas zone, and while it was a great effort, the Stars cleared the puck away.

At 8:30, Brandon Tanev took on Adam Erne in a fight that lasted a punch and a takedown, but it seemed to change Utah’s momentum. The faceoff was in the Stars zone, and Utah won it to take control. The Mammoth kept the puck cycling in the Stars zone, and even though shots were blocked, Utah hurried to the puck. MacKenzie Weegar won a board battle against Michael Bunting to keep the puck in at the near boards, and Clayton Keller made some pretty moves with the puck. However, nothing happened – not even a shot – when Thomas Harley cleared the puck around the boards and almost out. Mikhail Sergachev got his skate on the clearing attempt, keeping it in, and chipped the puck up in the air. Keller snagged the puck out of the air and in an instant threw the puck on net. From nearly the sharpest of angles, the shot caught Casey DeSmith turning, and the puck seemed to hit his back and the roof of the net. Second shot of the period – only other shot of the period – but it made DeSmith’s save percentage crater to .500 for the game. 1-1 TIED

Utah did nothing else. Nothing at all, aside from a Jack McBain fight against Lian Bichsel at the 5 minute mark.

With 6 and a half to go, Dallas nearly regained the lead on a 2 on 1, but Vanecek stopped not one, but two high danger attempts by Jamie Benn in a span of 3 seconds. The next push by the stars saw Harley get fed the puck in the high slot, with a clear line to Vanecek, but again Vitek was able to deny the Stars.

McBain had his fight, Jason Robertson was denied a wraparound, Matt Duchene had a shot from in close that was denied by Vanecek, and then Dallas got called for their first penalty of the night as Keller drew a tripping call from Steel.

Remember I said Utah did nothing else? Nothing on the power play. Awful passes either were direct clears, or were weak and led to easy Dallas clears. Dallas had a chance to rush up shorthanded, but instead ran out the penalty instead.

Dallas wasn’t able to re-establish their dominance, so the teams went to the locker rooms knotted at 1.

Utah got 2 shots in the period. Just 2. Dallas had 10. But, the teams were tied, and that’s all that matters.

SECOND PERIOD:
The second period started the same was as the first – Jack McBain was the first shot of the period 7 minutes in. However, unlike the first, Utah decided to complicate their lives as John Marino took an unnecessary holding the stick penalty against Mavrik Bourque. And with that, a key penalty killer puts the penalty kill on the ice against a lethal power play, sitting nearly at the top of the NHL.

The Mammoth got great pressure on the Stars, with smart positional play by Ian Cole and MacKenzie Weegar in particular. Weegar had a stick lift against Benn about halfway through the kill that shut down any momentum the Stars were building. The Stars didn’t get any zone entries for the majority of the final minute, though Bourque cut through Utah’s blue line, then drove directly to the net with a 2 on 1 advantage, ultimately getting his attempt blocked by Vanecek as the penalty expired.

At the 16 minute mark, Dallas had a great scoring opportunity when Erne tipped a shot about 10 feet in front of Vanecek, but the redirect was wide of the cage. Benn ended the sequence with a big blast, but Vanecek saved, then gobbled up the rebound.

The 4th line got some good offensive zone pressure against Dallas on the following shift. Though no actual shots occurred, Utah pressed for a good 30 seconds to put Dallas on their heels momentarily. The next shift, the 3rd line similarly pressed the Stars, keeping the puck in the zone and play moving quickly.

Just about a minute later, Weegar got a shot on goal – a simple wrister from the outside of the faceoff circle. Nothing major, but it forced a faceoff in the Dallas zone. On that faceoff, Utah won the puck and controlled the zone. Nate Schmidt missed the net on the near side, and the puck went to the corner. JJ Peterka recovered the puck, but got tied up on the boards. Logan Cooley went to battled against Arttu Hyry along the wall and stole the puck. Cooley feathered a pass between three Dallas defenders, cross ice on the tape of Schmidt for another shot from outside the faceoff circle in the near-high boards. Meanwhile, Peterka circled from along the boards right in front of DeSmith as the shot approached, screening him. The shot hit that little open window above DeSmith’s shoulder, but below the crossbar, and shockingly and surprisingly, Utah had taken the lead. This was Utah’s 4th shot of the game, at 27 and a half minutes in, but they made 2 of them count. 2-1 Utah

Right off the drop, Utah pushed hard and Kailer Yamamoto took an entry pass for a wrister just inside the far faceoff circle just 10 seconds after the goal, but DeSmith remembered how to actually goalie for a minute.

Somewhere, a ghost shot was awarded to Utah, ruining the .500 save percentage meme I was trying to start against DeSmith. Stupid scorekeepers.

Despite that good pressure, starting to heavily tilt the ice towards Utah, Durzi took a tripping penalty to put the PK back out there. Robertson started a mad scramble when he drove the net, drawing all 4 penalty killers. A shot by Benn was blocked, but the puck was loose in front of Vanecek. Wyatt Johnston eventually tried a shot, but it came out in front of the net. With Vanecek down, and the puck in the slot, Benn tried a backhander towards the open cage, but it was somehow still denied by Vanecek’s pad.

Lawson Crouse cleared the zone, but then tried to push the Stars on a 3 on 2, but his linemates changed and the puck was just dumped in deep. Kerfoot had a good steal on the next push Dallas had, killing time as he skated into the Dallas zone. Cole made a good defensive chip, killing another chance, then had a sneaky good defensive play, preventing a cross-ice pass to an open Bunting, who was crashing the open side of the net. With seconds left, Marino picked off a pass from a play deep in the slot, clearing the puck. Penalty 2 killed off? Wow, hey, keep that going!

With 7 and a half to go, Cooley nearly beat DeSmith with a backhander from in close, but that was stopped, as was a follow up shot by Cole.

Lots of heavy play over the next 2 minutes, as both teams dumped, chased, and fought board battles before a repeat process the other way.

With 5 to play, Dallas had a 2 on 1 opportunity, but Weegar – skating rink-wide from west to east – slid take away the pass, then swept his stick and knocked the puck away. The clear from Weegar hit Cooley, who tried to split 2 Stars defenders, but was unable to get a shot as DeSmith poke-checked the puck to the corner.

30 seconds later, though, a bad giveaway by Dylan Guenther in the defensive zone led to pressure Utah couldn’t beat. Cole was outmuscled behind the net by Robertson, and his pass to the blue line was taken by Miro Heiskanen to the center of the ice. Wristing a shot from clear out at the blue line, Wyatt Johnston did Wyatt Johnston things, tipping the puck past Vanecek. Durzi let Johnston get in front of him about 5 feet, giving him complete clearance and line of sight for the tip. Johnston is one of the best, if not the best, tippers in the league. I’m not talking 25% on his dinner either, so allowing that high-tip chance was dangerous, and Utah paid for it. 2-2 TIED

4 minutes to go, Duchene got the puck right by the slot with a chance for a backdoor tip in front, but a sliding Schmidt cut off the lane just enough that the pass missed, and the danger subsided.

2 minutes to go, Johnston got a rip on Vanecek from the mid-slot, but Vanecek stopped the puck, gobbling it up for a stoppage. Blocked shots ruled the rest of the period, though with 8 seconds left, the Mammoth had a good opportunity for a last chance. Barrett Hayton cleanly won a faceoff, but Sergachev couldn’t get a shot off in time and the horn sounded.

Utah had a much better second period, considering their first shot didn’t occur until a third of the period was over. In fact, they led in shots 11 – 10 for the period, despite having 2 penalty kills as well. Utah still down 20-13 for the game, however, after that 2 shot performance to start.

THIRD PERIOD:
So, the Dallas Stars are a good third period team with the lead lately. However, this was a great period for the Mammoth – personally, I believe the best third period of the year.

15 seconds into the period, Utah decided getting early shots was a good idea and Hayton had a shot in on DeSmith that was turned aside. At least we didn’t need to wait 7 minutes or more this time! Robertson countered with a shot of his own from about a dozen feet out, but this was blocked by Schmidt.

At the 18 minute mark, Guenther made a great move to get around Hartley and he drove the net. However, his backhand try for the 5 hole was stopped by DeSmith.

I bet that Hayton felt the penalty killers were going to do something special tonight, which is why he decided to hook Lian Bichsel in the offensive zone, because there is no other good reason for him to do that. Well, someone ask him for some winning lottery numbers, because he foretold the glory of the PK unit.

Dallas didn’t show any signs of weakness on the PP to start, though, with good cycling effectively countering the Utah aggressive penalty kill. Vanecek was able to stop Robertson from a bad angle, and Lawson Crouse got the clear. On the following entry, Bunting threw a puck back towards the point, but Heiskanen failed to keep the puck in the zone. In fact, he bobbled the puck, allowing Jack McBain to collect it with a full head of steam. McBain – and I can’t believe this phrase will apply – with speed rushed in completely clean against DeSmith. McBain played with the puck before committing to a backhand-forehand-backhand through DeSmith’s pads, going 5 hole for the lead. This was McBain’s first career shorthanded goal, breaking a tie in a critically important game. Good time for a first. 3-2 Utah

Utah’s breakaway was so clean that the closest person to McBain was Alexander Kerfoot, 10 feet behind him were 2 Dallas defenders. It was effectively a 2 on 0, even if the second guy wasn’t needed.

Borque tried to tie the game up seconds later, as he was left alone by the far boards at the goal line. He walked in on Vanecek, looking to potentially go cross-crease and tuck the puck behind the pads, but Schmidt collapsed on him just as he was about to make the move. The puck squirted to the Cooley for the clear, and Utah was able to recover and the penalty kill was yet again successful.

Play went back and forth for a few minutes, with the teams exchanging turnovers but little actual offense. Guenther got a chance for the Mammoth when he kept the puck in at the blue line, throwing a shot on net that was tipped by Cooley, but it was wide. About 30 seconds later, Carcone got the puck at the near boards, with a rush up the near side wing. It wasn’t a clear breakaway, as a Dallas defender was coming cross ice, but the shot seemed to be deflected by the collapsing defense, and the shot went high and out of play.

After the faceoff, Utah zone pressure again saw Carcone nearly cash in, but it was stopped by DeSmith from about 10 feet out. The Stars nearly hit a 2 on 1 out of the zone, but Weegar made yet another fantastic defensive play to keep an odd-man rush from forming.

Yamamoto made one of his best plays of the season here, when he read a drop pass for a blue-line slap shot was coming. Instead of allowing the shot, he came from behind Nils Lundkvist and stole the puck. Pushed down from behind, he was still able to control the puck and get to his feet – without letting the defense catch up, mind you – and got the puck over to Kerfoot on his wing. Kerfoot and Yamamoto went in 2 on 1 against Colin Blackwell. Blackwell, who is not a defenseman, did not read or respond to the play properly, going down to try and take away a pass in a strange way. That let Kerfoot easily got the puck over to Yamamoto, and Yamamoto was effectively unimpeded going to the net. He pulled the puck forehand, pulling DeSmith to his right, then pulled the puck backhand, roofing the shot and giving Utah a 2 goal lead. 4-2 Utah

Immediately after the play, Nick Schmaltz – who I spent 50+ minutes forgetting he was on the ice – made a good defensive stop at the high slot, and sprung Keller for a 2 on 1. With Schmaltz on his right, Keller… did nothing. He nearly stopped dead in his tracks about 15 feet in front of DeSmith and didn’t pass to Schmaltz, or take a shot. He tried to do something, but the puck just harmlessly sat in front of DeSmith. This play almost made Keller a Chirp tonight; he barely missed the cut simply because he had a goal to redeem himself earlier.

A bad misplay on the puck let Robertson get a great look at the mid-slot at the 11 minute mark, but his shot glanced off Vanecek’s mask and up over the net. Bourque got a high-stick in on Ian Cole while fighting for the puck, and the Stars would go down a man with just over half a period to go.

This go-around, Utah got one shot on goal, but it was not a great quality shot and the power play was effectively a 2 minute time killer with the lead. After the penalty expired, JJ Peterka nearly cost Utah a goal. He coughed up the puck that was dangerously close to the crease, but Vanecek swatted the puck away, denying the collapsing Dallas forward any opportunities.

With 7 and a half to go, Dallas’ top line had a 3 on 2. Johnson and Robertson drew the Utah defense, giving Borque a shot from the inside of the far dot, but he missed the shot wide and Yamamoto cleared the puck out from the slot. The puck was recovered from center ice by Dallas, and a pass hit Benn streaking behind the Utah defense. His quick opportunity was over when his shot hit Vanecek’s shoulder, hitting the post and going wide. Utah survived two big late scares to keep the 2 goal lead intact.

With 6 minutes to go, Bunting cross checked Ian Cole, as a retaliation for something that happened off camera. Bunting was down on the ice, the crowd was booing, and Bunting took his frustration out and cost his team 2 more minutes of time they needed to catch up. Worse than that for Dallas, Utah smartly took another 30 seconds off the clock with the delayed call.

Utah’s first unit didn’t get a lot going, though a big collision with Sergachev and Hyry forced Sergachev to sit the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Durzi, taking his place, threw a blind pass that was picked off by Dallas. Heiskanen took a pass while streaking into the zone, beating three flat-footed Utah players. His shot, however, missed the cage high and wide. Hryckowian collected the loose puck from the far boards, cut to the front and through the crease, but was denied by Vanecek. Cooley lost the puck trying to exit the zone and Lindell ripped a shot from the blue line that Vanecek stopped. The puck was loose right in front, however, but Oskar Bäck, cutting in front of the net for a potential screen, just skated out of range to collect it.

Dallas didn’t stop, though, with Hryckowian again entering the zone with speed. He dropped off to Harley for a slap shot that Vanecek blocked. Peterka cleared the puck up the wall to Carcone. Carcone turned on turbo boost, flying through the neutral zone and into the Stars end. Carcone ripped a shot over DeSmith’s shoulder to give Utah an improbable power play goal. Somehow, with several massive chances against them, they were able to withstand a shorthanded barrage, and managed to turn a rush chance into the dagger. Finally, Carcone’s efforts for the game were rewarded. 5-2 Utah

The Mammoth basically shut down the Stars. DeSmith was pulled with about 2 minutes to go. Lundkvist got a shot in on Vanecek, but that was stopped. Under a minute to go, Crouse got the puck that Schmaltz’ skate kicked away from Johnston, and he threw the puck towards the Stars net. Robertson, trying to bat the puck out of the air, actually deflected it into his own goal. 6-2 Utah

Adam Erne got a deflected puck in the slot and buried it past Vanecek with 3 seconds to go. The comeback was on! 6-3 Utah

Utah outshot 10-9 in the third period, outshot for the game 30 – 22.

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3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

New Year Resolutions Don’t look now, but 2026 is the year of the Vanecek. Since January 1st, Vitek’s earned a point for Utah in every start, including a shutout in that span.

Tonight’s first star of the game was Vitek Vanecek. It’s not on the score sheet, though, since it’s extremely rare to give a goaltender 1st star while giving up three goals. However, the fact of the matter is, Vitek held the line when no one else on Utah would. He was critically important all game, from that first big blast, to the Myers 5-hole attempt in the first, all the way through that last unfortunate goal with seconds to go.

Vanecek showed that he can be a capable backup, especially when Utah gets him some sort of support. With Vejmelka taking so much of the workload all year, and with some bad games potentially weighing on him lately, Vanecek stepping up wasn’t just a massive boost for this game, but hopefully for several others before the year is up. He’s shown he can do it, and his efforts will help this team with any playoff push – or run – it can go on.

Going Topless Yes, Clayton Keller opened the scoring with a goal no one expected. Yes, that wa a critical goal in a critical game. However, aside from that goal, the line of Keller, Schmaltz, and Crouse was just pedestrian, if not flat out bad at times. But they also got an empty net goal for their stats in a 5-2 game at that point, so that was nice.

No worries, though. Scoring came from everywhere else today. The blue line kicked in a goal from Nate Schmidt to give Utah a 2-1 lead in the second period. The penalty kill unit against one of the best power plays in the league chipped in. Kailer Yamamoto and the 4th line scored. Michael Carcone was rewarded, finally, for his efforts.

Every forward other than Barrett Hayton, Brandon Tanev, and Dylan Guenther got a point tonight. And of those three, Tanev had a fight to try and spark the team, along with a few big hits, and Guenther laid the body a few times, plus won some important puck battles he needed to win. Hayton was the bright spot on the faceoff dot as well, giving Utah critical possession time in a tough game.

It was a total team effort today, just as they needed it to be.

Gold Stars For the special teams unit, they were actually a specialty today. Not in the way we’ve seen, the Utah Mammoth power play and penalty kill both executed, with the latter doing so flawlessly. The penalty kill unit shut out the Stars, who had been red hot sitting at 30% success in March – and for the year. The Stars scored 18 goals in 15 games on the power play during their point streak. Instead, Utah turned the tables, getting a shorthanded goal to take a lead they would never relinquish. It was just the second shorthanded goal Dallas had allowed since December 1st.

On the flip side, the Mammoth power play struggled. No shots on the first power play, one on the second, and one on the third. That third one resulted in a goal, but it didn’t feel like a PPG. To that point the Dallas Stars PK had 3 shots, and one blocked attempt, during the kill.


more and better scoring opportunities the entire game. However, when the game still was in question, the power play unit delivered. More specifically, it was a Michael Carcone rush that delivered in an otherwise distressing part of the game. Carcone gave Utah a 3 goal lead, effectively sealing the game, with an empty netter and late goal against effectively inconsequential to close the game.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

Central Time Zone The Mammoth forgot to set their clocks to Central when they played Dallas. With 2 shots in the first 20 minutes, Utah looked like they were still expecting warm ups. The Stars were playing almost exclusively in the Mammoth zone, and Utah was only in it because of Vanecek.

Vanecek’s amazing first period kept the flood gates from opening. While 10 shots is a fairly routine load for a goaltender, there was a quality of shot that Utah gave up repeatedly. Had Vanecek played more average tonight, Utah loses this game before they take their first break.|

Given the poor outcomes over the past 15 days, and given the critical nature of this playoff race, you would expect the urgency to be there. This is a coaching issue, and it needs to be fixed before the playoffs start – or there may be a chance where there are no playoffs.

Sean Durzi No, he doesn’t even deserve a cute title for this. Sean Durzi flat out sucks right now. While plus/minus is a flawed stat, in a game where your team scored 5 goals eligible for a plus,
Durzi was -2.

Ian Cole was -2 as well, but he doesn’t get hate. Cole is not out of place defensively, except when trying to cover a Durzi error or misplay. Cole is unable to pinch properly because Durzi doesn’t know how to rotate to cover his partner if his partner pinches. Cole blocks shots and is trusted enough to play on the penalty kill. That penalty kill, mind you, went 100% against the Dallas power play.

Durzi took a stupid tripping penalty to stress the penalty kill in the 2nd when Utah was clinging to a tenuous lead. This was his third penalty in the last 7 games – all three have been at critical times for the Mammoth. The penalty kill survived his penalties, probably because he can’t play PK.

5 on 5, Durzi and Cole were on the ice for 13 shot attempts against. That’s the same number of shots against as the Sergachev-Weegar and Schmidt-Marino pairings COMBINED. Goal differential – the chance of your team scoring a goal for, versus your team giving up a goal was a team worst -0.43 according to Moneypuck. That was 3 times worse than the second worst pairing – a broken like of Weegar and Schmidt that spent a minute and a half together randomly.

His lack of discipline, turnovers, bad pinches, and his inability to read plays have been a massive net negative for the team. Tonight was no exception, however tonight Vanecek saved the team’s ass, and Durzi’s mistakes were mostly held off the scoresheet.

It’s no secret I’m not a fan of Nick DeSimone. I want DeSimone in for at least 3 games while Durzi gets time to figure it out.

Not Just Durzi Durzi has been a tire fire on defense lately, so he deserved to be called out specifically. However, John Marino and Barrett Hayton also took stupid, non-essential penalties in this game. The most egregious, Hayton’s offensive zone hook, ended up giving Utah the go-ahead goal on the penalty kill. However, teams shouldn’t rely on their PK to spark offense.

The team has been a hot mess, Penguins game and that show of incompetence by the referees notwithstanding. The team has been shorthanded 34 times since the Olympic break, and 28 of those have been in March. 22 of them were from non-corrupt officials, nearly 3 full penalties a game.

The team has a -6 penalty drawn differential since just March 1 without that Penguins game. For a fast team, a team that isn’t a clutch-and-grab, heavy hitting, interfering team like Boston or Florida, this is an unacceptable level of penalties. With the PK running as poor as it has been, this is doubly a problem.

What I said for Durzi I say for all – Andre Tourigny needs to get his team to sack up, play the right way, and stay disciplined. If not, whoever it is sits. I don’t care if it’s Keller, Schmaltz, Guenther, or Cole – veterans and kids alike need to be held accountable for their mistakes. And when those mistakes keep getting made over and over, the desire to keep running the same lines and same kids out there without any changes (like Durzi) are just compounding bad problems.

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Next up:

Thursday night Utah spins the wheel against another NHL darling team, the Vegas Golden Knights out in Sin City. Game time 8PM.

Tusks Up!