Here we are again. Games 18, 19, and 20 have all had similar results for the Utah Mammoth. The Mammoth start slow, their opponent capitalizes, the team comes alive but can’t finish off the game, and then they have a horrible overtime, losing in the process.
It happened again in San Jose on Tuesday as the San Jose Sharks beat the Mammoth 3-2 in overtime. The same issues came up. The same mistakes happened. As the Mammoth’s horrible November continues, the question becomes, when is it going to change? The answer was not Tuesday. Here are some takeaways from the loss to the Sharks.
JJ Peterka Makes a Big Impact
There’s usually been some sort of positive in the past couple of games. On Tuesday, it was JJ Peterka’s play.
With the Mammoth down 2-0 in the third period, someone needed to score to get the Mammoth going. Lawson Crouse found Peterka with a long pass from just outside their zone. Peterka got the puck and got ahead of the Sharks’ defense before wristing it past Yaroslav Askarov to put the Mammoth on the board.
The goal sparked the Mammoth’s offense to start going. John Marino appeared to have tied the game shortly after Peterka’s goal, but a review showed that Dylan Guenther interfered with Askarov shortly before the puck went into the back of the net. It’s worth noting that Guenther was pushed into Askarov, but the league decided to rule it in favor of the Sharks.
With less than three minutes left, Peterka decided to put the Mammoth on his back. He darted through the neutral zone, gliding past a couple of Sharks defenders. Peterka then fired a quick shot that glanced off Askarov and into the back of the net to tie the game up.
JJ gets another! Tie game in San Jose! pic.twitter.com/ILMjy7Isju
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 19, 2025
It was Peterka’s speed that led to the two goals. It’s one of his best assets and helps him score goals like the two on Tuesday.
“Exposing them with speed was the key,” Peterka said.
Peterka has five points in his past four games, four of them goals. Ever since being moved to Crouse and Jack McBain’s line, the German forward has been able to play somewhat to the ability we’ve seen him play in the past. He uses his speed more often and looks like a more complete player.
Head coach André Tourigny liked what he saw from Peterka in the third period. Without his play to get the two goals, the Mammoth probably wouldn’t have even gotten to overtime.
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“He played a solid third period,” Tourigny said. “Two big goals. It was clutch, no doubt about it.”
It is good to see players like Peterka, Guenther, and Logan Cooley get back to producing points. After a couple of games where they were silent and eventually split up, they’ve gotten back to their normal level of play. We’ll see if they can get back to being point-per-game players.
Macklin Celebrini Burries the Mammoth
While Peterka couldn’t complete the hat trick, Macklin Celebrini completed his own, and it came in the form of a dagger being plunged into the heart of the Mammoth. The young star carried the Sharks to the win with his three goals in an impressive fashion, and it all started very early in the first period.
Very early means two minutes in. Philipp Kurashev fed Will Smith the puck in front of the net. Smith then passed it to Celebrini, who shot it home for the first goal of the game.
Celebrini’s second goal came off a Collin Graf pass after he stole the puck from John Marino. Celebrini got ahead of Nate Schmidt and shot it past his former teammate Vítek Vaněček to make it 2-0 less than halfway through the first period.
As mentioned, Peterka scored twice in the third period to send the game into overtime. However, the Mammoth made a costly error that would cost them the game. A slow line change resulted in a too-many-men penalty against the Mammoth, which put the Sharks on the power play.
Halfway through the power play, William Eklund circled, eventually passing the puck over to Celebrini. Celebrini then patiently walked the blueline before finding the perfect lane to shoot the puck and score the overtime winner and his third goal of the game. With that, he became the first teenager to score a hat trick, an overtime winner, and all the goals for his team in a single game.
There were a lot of mistakes from the Mammoth that helped Celebrini get the hat trick. Poor defense, a slow start, unreliable goaltending, and, of course, the costly penalty in overtime. However, you have to give Celebrini a lot of credit. He’s a fantastic player who could one day be one of the best in the league.
“He’s really good, and he works really hard,” Tourigny said. “I like that about him. He’s got all the skill in the world, all the IQ and everything, but his work ethic, his passion for the game, you can see it. He’s playing really well.”
November Rain
The saying is true. When it rains, it pours. That’s exactly what has happened to the Mammoth since late October and throughout all of November.
In November, the Mammoth have played nine games so far. Two of those games have been against the last-place Buffalo Sabres. Those are the only two games the Mammoth have won.
It has not been a good month for the Mammoth. A lot of their flaws that they’ve had in the past couple of weeks were on full display on Tuesday.
The first period was awful. The Mammoth let in two goals less than halfway through the period. They looked stale and uninterested. Vaněček, just like Karel Vejmelka on Monday, looked shaky and was outdueled by Askarov most of the game. With the lead in the Sharks’ hands, that means the Mammoth had to chase the lead once again.
“Coming out of the locker room better, not having to chase the game, was the main message,” Peterka said. “We fought back, but it’s way harder when you chase the game.”
The Mammoth didn’t fight back right away. They had a middling second period. Despite having a power play opportunity, the Mammoth couldn’t score on it. They didn’t score on their other opportunity either. In the entire month of November, they have only scored once on the power play. That is abysmal.
The third period was by far the best period for the Mammoth. They outshot the Sharks 11-4 and tied the game up at two, forcing it into overtime.
However, in overtime, the Mammoth once again looked sloppy and uninterested. It all came full steam when Peterka quickly jumped onto the ice. Now you love that effort from Peterka, except it came at the exact time Clayton Keller slowly skated back to the bench, resulting in a too-many-men penalty. It was not a good look from the captain, and it resulted in Celebrini’s overtime winner.
After a loss like that and considering the losses the Mammoth have had in the past couple of games, you’d expect Tourigny to explain what the team did wrong and be disappointed and angry. He did start his postgame press conference with a little bit of that, but also threw in a compliment of the Mammoth’s effort.
“I’m not happy because I felt it’s a game we didn’t start on time, and we need to find a way to win games, especially those games,” Tourigny said. “There’s a mixed feeling there. There’s a part of me that is proud of their effort, their resilience, and there’s a part (that says) we need to find a way (to win).”
Yes, the Mammoth did have a good third period. However, they were down 2-0 entering that third period. Where was that effort and play in the first two periods?
Perhaps the most baffling thing that Tourigny said, though, was when he was asked what needs to be shaken up to get the Mammoth consistently winning again on their upcoming homestand. Instead of immediately saying what the team needs to do better, Tourigny defended the Mammoth’s recent outcomes.
“(We have) five points in the last four games,” Tourigny said. “We’re undefeated in regulation in the last four. Let’s put it that way. Let’s put in the positive.”
Saying you are undefeated in regulation is a way of avoiding talking about the problems the team is having in regulation, including closing out games. It’s such a weird and deflecting quote. It’s one that had many Mammoth fans mad at Tourigny on social media.
Tourigny went on to say that everyone needs to find a way to be at least 5% better. That’s fine, but it’s not just the player’s individual effort that has been questionable. It’s the special teams, the lack of production on the power play, and lineup decisions that have all negatively impacted this team. That ultimately falls on coaching.
We are getting to the point where Tourigny’s seat might begin to get hot. The fans on social media have begun to call for his job. While they don’t have the ultimate say, they do speak volumes and are usually the warning sign when things need to change. The undefeated in regulation quote only just fueled that fire.
I don’t want to speculate on a coaching change. However, we are getting to the point where it might be more than just a discussion. Tensions around the locker room and the team continue to mount after every loss. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows like it was throughout last season. This should be a contending team now. The Mammoth are playing nothing remotely close to that.
What I can say for a fact is that it’s been a horrible November for the Mammoth. The team knows their issues. Will they be fixed? Right now, the answer isn’t looking too good as we head into American Thanksgiving.
The Mammoth will take on the Vegas Golden Knights at home at the Delta Center on Thursday. The Knights have a 9-4-6 record and are coming off a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers. Last season, the two teams played each other three times, with the Mammoth losing two of them. They did win the most recent encounter nearly a year ago by a score of 6-0.
