Returning to the Delta Center was supposed to be the start of something better. The Utah Mammoth have been great at home. During their seven-game winning streak, they rolled over opponents. It was their fortress of solitude in front of some of the loudest fans in the league.
Yet, it wasn’t. Instead, the Mammoth rolled over and lost their fourth straight game, this time to the Vegas Golden Knights. Unlike the last three games, this one wasn’t solved in overtime. The Knights took care of business in regulation, leaving no point to hide behind for the Mammoth. Here are some takeaways from Thursday’s 4-1 loss.
Nate Schmidt Gets His First as a Mammoth
Outside of the returnees, the two big free agent signings haven’t done much for the Mammoth. Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanev have yet to score any goals this season. In fact, they had combined for seven points in 21 games going into Thursday’s game, with six of those coming from Schmidt.
Schmidt, however, ended that against his former team. During four-on-four play in the second period, Ian Cole, with some great determination on the boards, dished the puck over to Schmidt on the other side of the Knights’ zone. Schmidt waited a second and then pulled the trigger to beat Akira Schmid and score his first as a Mammoth.
Nate Schmidt scores his first with the Mammoth! pic.twitter.com/gq1OwuyM3V
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 21, 2025
Schmidt has actually been sneakily good in his past five games. He’s got four points in that stretch, which now has him in fourth place among Mammoth defensemen. He’s also a plus-eight in the plus-minus category, which leads the whole team.
Despite a shaky start, Schmidt has adjusted well to playing on his new team. He’s arguably been the best defenseman for the Mammoth recently, especially with Mikhail Sergachev not playing his best.
Related: Roadrunners’ Miko Matikka Turned Early Struggles Into Success With First AHL Goal
The same cannot be said about Tanev, who has one point in 21 games. Yes, he’s not a player to put up goals every game, but only one assist a quarter of the way through the season is horrible. Perhaps a line change or a game in the press box will help him. Something needs to change because, outside of his shot blocking, he hasn’t brought much else to the Mammoth.
Rinse and Repeat
The same problems that the Mammoth have had for all of November returned for Thursday’s game as expected at this point. It’s sad because the Mammoth actually had a decent first period.
It started when Kevin Stenlund sustained an injury after Cole Reinhardt caught him with a massive hit after his head was down. Stenlund returned in the second period, but the Mammoth had energy due to that.
They killed off a Knights’ power play and went to work. The Mammoth pushed the game to the first intermission with the game tied at zero. However, they outshot the Knights 9-7 and had the momentum.
Then, all fell apart in the second period. Jack Eichel scored to make it 1-0. A couple of seconds later, Ben Hutton scored after a weird bounce put the puck on his stick.
By the end of the second period, it was 3-1 Knights, thanks to another goal from Eichel, erasing any work the Mammoth did. The Knights dominated, outshooting their opponents 17-9. It was an embarrassing period.
“We had a good first period, then we arrived in the second, and stuff happened to Stenny (Stenlund),” head coach André Tourigny said. “I didn’t like the way we reacted to it at first. We got emotional and got out of our game. They took over, and it was difficult for us to get back at it. That was disappointing. We got a push in the third, but it’s clear we cannot have five-minute, two-minute, a few shifts where we lose our focus like that, and that costs us dearly.”
The penalty kill was good, killing off the three opportunities the Knights had. Once again, the power play did absolutely nothing. The Mammoth have only scored once on the power play since their seven-game win streak, which was almost a month ago. The unit looks just as hopeless as their unit they bring out when their goaltender is pulled (the Mammoth have never scored with their goaltender pulled).
“We had a top 10 power play last year,” Keller said. “We have the talent in the room, the coaching as well…It’s definitely on us to turn the page.”
Speaking of goaltending, Karel Vejmelka was once again unreliable. Blaming goaltenders is always tough, but an .883 save percentage is not ok.
A questionable lineup decision was once again made by Tourigny. Despite being one of the better players during the team’s overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, Kailer Yamamoto was scratched for Liam O’Brien, who has done almost nothing besides fight this season. At this point in the Mammoth’s road to making the playoffs, O’Brien shouldn’t be in the lineup consistently or even at all. He doesn’t add anything on the ice.
Of course, there were multiple other problems on Thursday. The Mammoth weren’t outpacing the Knights, and they paid for it on the Knights’ third goal with Eichel receiving a stretch pass and then getting behind the defense.
that backhand from Jack Eichel is FILTHY 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/DMsC0Npfow
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 21, 2025
Cole is one of the oldest players on the Mammoth. He’s played more games than almost anyone on the team. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion. Only twice has he failed to make the playoffs in his career. The first time was in his rookie season. The second was last season with Utah, and he was clearly frustrated about that.
Cole was perhaps the most honest about the recent stretch of losing. He knows there are a few bright spots, but he cares more about the massive mistakes the Mammoth have been making.
“It’s more of a holistic picture at this point,” Cole said. “Sure, there are always little details here and there. It’s like we plug one hole, another hole opens. We need to really look at our game as a whole and our attitude and how we approach it and whether winning matters to us.”
An Emotional Rollercoaster
The biggest problem that the Mammoth had on Thursday wasn’t one of the normal problems, though. It was their emotion. It got the better of them and made them lose their focus, which cost the Mammoth dearly.
It made them take penalties. It gave the Knights an advantage. It led to them winning. Even a Jack McBain fight and a long scrum in the second period couldn’t snap the Mammoth out of it.
Hockey is an emotional game, just like all sports. It can help or hurt you. However, you need to learn how to be mature and weather it. On Thursday, the Mammoth didn’t, and once they were behind on the scoresheet, there was no hope in coming back.
“If we play to the point in the season in which we want to play, they’re going to be very emotional,” Cole said. “The swings are going to be emotional. Highs are going to be great. Lows are going to be the opposite, in terms of their intensity. We need to find a way to be even-keeled through those. Stenny (Stenlund) gets hit. We don’t like that. We try to respond, and then we lose our game. We need to do a better job in all facets.”
Getting back to their own game is something the Mammoth need to learn how to do. Oh no, the opponent scored, but you can’t just mope and fight. You have to go and try your best and score. Don’t just coast along.
“I think it was a pretty emotional game,” Keller said. “Maybe we didn’t get some calls that we should have, or there were some weird ones, but that’s part of the game, and those are things that we have to be able to tune out and get back to our game quickly. Whether it goes our way or doesn’t, that’s something that we can take from the game for sure.”
So, what now? A reminder that there’s still three-fourths of a season to play. The Mammoth aren’t broken, but they definitely need fixing. They need it quickly as they continue to slip in the standings and now face a tough four-game stretch upcoming against the best road team in the NHL, the Knights again, a struggling but strong Montreal Canadiens team, and the Dallas Stars, who are near the top of the Central Division.
Well, it starts with a conversation after the game, which the Mammoth certainly had. With the leadership in that room, they are definitely not happy. They need to go over what they did wrong in Thursday’s game and learn how to fix it.
“That game is a good teacher and a good example for our group,” Tourigny said. “We have good leadership in that group, and we have guys with experience, guys who have been through stuff. That will be a good discussion that we need to have together. That group shows that when they want to fix things, they put their mind to it.”
However, it can’t all be talk. They need to walk the walk as well. Stuff needs to change in-game. That all starts in practice, and the Mammoth need to take action on that starting tomorrow.
“We do a lot of talking, but we need to put stuff into practice,” Cole said. “We need to take action on some of these things. It’s really disappointing to see some of the reactions that we have to adversity.”
As I’ve been saying for the past couple of games, there’s still time to steer the ship around. You can’t say that forever. Sooner or later, there will be no opportunity for the Mammoth to claw their way back up the standings. Winning only two games in November still (and the only two wins coming against the lowly Buffalo Sabres) doesn’t help them at all. Winning needs to pick back up again soon; otherwise, difficult decisions will have to be made.
Next up for the Mammoth is the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Rangers are 10-10-2 this season and are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. In two games last season, the two teams each won a game, with the Mammoth losing the most recent game in January by a score of 5-3.
