The Utah Mammoth called it a big game for a reason. Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings ultimately decided if the Mammoth would end their final long road trip before Christmas with a winning record. After losing against the Boston Bruins the night before, winning Wednesday’s game was something that needed to be done.
It might’ve been ugly at points in time, but the Mammoth got it done, squeaking out a win against the Atlantic Division-leading Red Wings to go 2-1-0 on the three-game road trip. Here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s 4-1 win.
Serial (Penalty) Killers
A big reason why the Mammoth won Wednesday’s game is because of the penalty kill. It probably is the big reason why the game went their way. The unit went three for four during the game, only allowing a late Emmitt Finnie goal.
It was a complete shutdown for three of the four penalty kill opportunities for the Mammoth. They made sure no Red Wings player was able to get in front of the net to disrupt Karel Vejmelka. It forced the Red Wings to regroup and change up their attack.
“I don’t know if we’re getting used to it or what, but they do such a great job,” head coach André Tourigny said. “At key moments, the game was on the line at that time, so it was a really good job (by them).”
The biggest kill was late in the game when Barrett Hayton took a penalty off a high stick. This was after a Clayton Keller penalty that led to the Finnie goal. However, the Mammoth shrugged off their earlier problems and had a great kill, despite the Red Wings having the momentum.
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Late in the kill, Lawson Crouse made an extremely smart play to send the puck from the Red Wings’ zone to the Mammoth’s zone to kill off the rest of the penalty. With that, the Mammoth were able to put some fresh legs on the ice and eventually score the third goal of the game.
The Mammoth penalty kill has been elite, and it’s shown. They own the sixth-best unit in the league, currently operating at a 83.2% success rate.
“It’s been great,” Jack McBain said. “It’s something we’ve worked on a lot over the years, and it’s coming around. The job is to try to keep the team in the game. There are really good players in this league, really good power plays, and you’re not going to get them all, but it’s been doing a good job.”
The same cannot be said about their power play. Despite their one goal from Tuesday coming on the man advantage, they failed to score a single power play goal on their four opportunities on Wednesday. They are currently 29th in the league in that category.
Nevertheless, the Mammoth have shown that they can win a game without the power play. All they need is a great penalty kill, and that’s exactly what they have as of right now.
The Entire Offense Showed Up
One thing that hasn’t been criticized of the Mammoth as much in the past couple of weeks has been their five-on-five offense. Sure, it hasn’t been perfect, but for the majority of recent games, it’s been the best part of the Mammoth.
While the first period didn’t offer much offense for either team, that changed in the second. It started with a Red Wings turnover to JJ Peterka, who then passed it to Nick Schmaltz in the neutral zone. Schmaltz then shot the puck at Cam Talbot. It rebounded off his pads onto the stick of Keller. The captain shot it home for the first goal of the game.
It wasn’t just the top players who made an impact on the scoresheet. Later in the second period, McBain retrieved the puck from behind the Red Wings’ net and passed it over to Sean Durzi. Durzi took a shot from the blueline, which made its way to Michael Carcone. Carcone made a spin pass which got back to McBain, who then shot it in to give the Mammoth a 2-0 lead.
Bain Train makes it 2-0, Utah! 🚂 pic.twitter.com/5wU0B53bYJ
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 18, 2025
Speaking of McBain and Carcone, that line has been consistently good over the past couple of games. Carcone has three points in his past three games, and McBain has two goals in his past five games.
“We complement each other really well,” McBain said. “I think you look at Carcs’ (Carcone’s) game is so fast, and he can put the puck in the net. Butter (Daniil But), he’s a big body, skilled, can make plays. He’s good on the forecheck. That’s what I pride myself on, too. It’s being big on the forecheck and trying to get pucks back, and being really responsible defensively.”
As mentioned, Finnie scored halfway through the third period to make it 2-1. However, the Mammoth offense wasn’t done yet. Barrett Hayton shot the puck, which got past Talbot and almost past the goal line. A Red Wings player tried to clear it, but it bounced off Talbot. Dylan Guenther grabbed the puck and jammed it into an open net to make it 3-1 Mammoth.
Team-leading 16th goal of the season for Gunner! pic.twitter.com/2gQMDTc1oe
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 18, 2025
It was Keller’s second point of the game that capped it off for the Mammoth. After charging into the Red Wings’ zone, he was patient in waiting for his teammates to enter the zone to create sustained pressure. A few seconds later, Keller was the one who passed it to Kevin Stenlund, who shot it home for the fourth Mammoth goal of the game.
“Our first line scored the first goal and a key goal at the end as well,” Tourigny said. “4-0 at five on five against the second team in the Eastern Conference. We’ll take that at the end of the three games in four days on the road. I’m really proud of the effort and the character of our guys.”
Tourigny brings up a good point. The Mammoth didn’t allow a five-on-five goal on Wednesday. It’s actually pretty impressive considering the Red Wings outshot the Mammoth in the first two periods.
Overall, it was great production from all four lines on Wednesday, especially from the bottom six. Schmaltz, who got his 300th NHL assist on Keller’s goal, was thrilled that guys like Stenlund and McBain got onto the scoresheet.
“It’s fun to see those guys get rewarded,” Schmaltz said. “They do a lot of stuff that goes unnoticed. It’s not on the score sheet, but they do a lot of stuff, PK, faceoffs. They play against top players. They’re physical. It’s always fun to see those guys chip in. It’s a team game, so we’re gonna need everyone.”
Taking Ownership
Especially in the third period, the Mammoth looked rejuvenated. They had great shots, and certain players had a good bounce-back game. Karel Vejmelka, in particular, had a very good game, finishing with a .964 save percentage.
After the 4-1 loss on Tuesday, Tourigny preached about taking ownership of the loss and being better. On Wednesday night, Tourigny’s message obviously got to the players. They were better and more attuned to the game.
“They were tuned in,” Tourigny said. “I saw a group that has a lot of pride. There’s a lot of pride, there’s a lot of character. There’s nobody perfect in the world, but those guys care a ton, and they want to be successful together. They showed it tonight.”
This is a Mammoth group who have struggled more than they were expected to. They’re only one game above .500 and aren’t even in a wild card spot. They have been scrutinized for their play and rightfully so. This team is expected to make the playoffs.
It’s not just the media that has said that. The general manager and players have all said they expect to be a playoff team this season. They’ve done a lot of talking, but outsideof October, not a lot of showing. Wednesday was a game where they showed they can walk the walk and be a winning team.
“We’ve had a lot of talks this year, and talking is one thing,” McBain said. “Being able to do it is another. It was really good to put it into action.”
Even when the Red Wings scored, the Mammoth didn’t stop fighting as they’ve done in the past. Instead, they kept fighting and scored a third and fourth goal. It’s a good look from this team and shows that winning is still on the team’s mind.
“Our mindset was better,” Schmaltz said. “I thought we weren’t phased when they scored. I thought we kept digging and to get that third one there, that’s kind of a back breaker for them. We didn’t let off the gas at all in the third, and little adversity there with their goal, but we fought back and kept pushing.”
Don’t look now, but the Mammoth have won three of their past four games. They still have yet to win more than two games in a row since October, but three wins in four games, especially considering Wednesday’s game was the second game in a back-to-back, is the right track.
Skepticism is still a feeling in the air around this team. As a fan told me on X after Wednesday’s game, this team is very bipolar. Today was a great game, but on Friday, will they repeat the same successes or repeat the same failures from Tuesday? No one knows at this point what Mammoth team we’ll get.
I would say this is a win that the Mammoth could really build off of. However, I said that after their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they proceeded to lose to the Bruins. They need a good, consistent stretch to restore some faith to the fans and some confidence to others. Until then, every win can be taken with a grain of salt.
This game alone, though, was a solid one for the Mammoth. Penalty kill was awesome, the offense was going off, and the goaltending was stable. It’s the best way to end their three-game road trip. Two points in the team’s pocket and with some sort of confidence restored.
“Tonight, we played a really mature game,” Toruginy said. ‘Yesterday, we talked about taking ownership and having consistent and staying even, kill whatever… We did not wave today. That was 60 minutes of good play.”
The Mammoth will now head home and face the New Jersey Devils on Friday. The Devils are 19-14-1 this season and are coming off a 2-1 shootout win over the Vegas Golden Knights. Last season, the two teams met twice. The Mammoth lost both games, including the most recent outing in March by a score of 3-1.
