3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 6-1 Win Over Maple Leafs

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Talk about a statement win. Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs were coming off a hard-fought game against the Colorado Avalanche just a day ago, but Tuesday’s game for the Utah Mammoth was a massive win because of the way they played and beat one of the hottest teams as of late in the NHL.

The Leafs were riding a 10-game point streak going into Salt Lake City, but the Mammoth, on a point streak of their own, played one of their best games of the season. Four unanswered goals resulted in an eventual 6-1 win for the Mammoth. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s game.

A Great Start for Utah

Something good that the Mammoth have done in most games lately is have a great start to games. Tuesday’s game featured one of the best first periods the team has played all season, and it started early.

Right off the bat, the Mammoth started attacking Dennis Hildeby with shots. By the first couple of minutes, they had quite a few good shots while the Leafs were scrambling, looking for any way to force the Mammoth out of their zone.

With almost five minutes off the clock, the Mammoth capitalized on their pressure and opportunities. After forcing Hildeby to make a big save on Jack McBain, the puck got back to the blueline and eventually to Nate Schmidt. The defenseman slid the puck across the zone to Michael Carcone, who one-timed the puck into the back of the net.

“He’s (Carcone) a really good player,” Dylan Guenther said. “I think he’s had success at every level, and he’s produced at every level. He’s worked for everything. So he’s a great guy to play with, and super fast. He’s a really big part of our team.”

Carcone now has three goals in the past six games. Similar to a lot of players who struggled last season on Utah, he’s on pace to beat most, if not all, of his offensive stats from last season. Carcone already has two more goals (9) than last season. He’s two points away from tying his point total from last season. He’s also on pace to play more games than the 53 he appeared in.

Despite having an early lead, the Mammoth kept pushing. They continued pelting Hildeby with shots until the period ended. After the end of the first period, the Mammoth were outshooting their opponents 12-6. While the Leafs showed some life at the end of the period, it was obvious who had the better start.

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Just because the Mammoth have had quite a few games as of late where they’ve had a great first period doesn’t mean they don’t know how crucial it is to start well early on. In Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, they found themselves in a similar situation that the Leafs were in on Tuesday. While the Mammoth managed to fight back and send the game into overtime, you don’t want to crawl back to try to tie or get a lead.

As mentioned repeatedly throughout this season, one of the biggest assets the Mammoth have is their speed. Players like JJ Peterka, Clayton Keller, and Dylan Guenther are really fast and can use that to their advantage to get to the net. It’s not just those three, either. There are quite a few players throughout the lineup who can really do some damage with their speed.

The Mammoth used that to their advantage on Tuesday, crashing the net repeatedly and opening up the zone. They were focused and locked in. All their passes were connecting. It was a huge reason why they eventually got to six goals.

“We liked the pace of our game; the speed we had offensively and defensively,” head coach André Tourigny said. “We knew (Toronto) was on the back-to-back; they played a big game yesterday. After the game against Columbus, I talked to you about the mindset. I said it’s not about focus, it’s not about execution. It’s the mindset we had in that game and the way we tried to play the game tonight.”

Complete Dominance by the New Lines

One of the reasons why the Mammoth were humming on Tuesday was because of the one tweak to the second and third lines. Daniil But was placed on the second line with Peterka and Barrett Hayton, while Guenther was placed on the third line with Carcone and McBain.

The move paid off in big ways. Guenther, on the rush set up by former roommate McBain, quickly sniped a shot that went into the net just below the crossbar for the second goal of the game for the Mammoth around six minutes into the second period.

Three minutes later, the new third line struck again. McBain streaked into the Leafs’ zone and dropped the puck back to Guenther, who lasered it past Hildeby for his 23rd goal of the season and his second of the game.

That wasn’t the final goal from the Carcone-McBain-Guenther line. In the third period, the puck was flung into the Leafs’ zone, and Carcone retrieved it. He quickly passed it to Guenther, who headed to the net. The forward then made a quick cross-crease pass to McBain, who deposited the puck into the net.

“I think they played hard and fast,” Tourigny said. “They were really fast in everything they did. They never slowed down. They were coming really fast. That’s three good skaters. I think it clicked. Sometimes, it’s tough to explain why; it just happens. I think (Guenther) and (Carcone) had success last year when they played together. Same thing with (Guenther) and (McBain). They had success when they played together last year.”

Dylan Guenther Utah Mammoth
Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther celebrates a goal (Rob Gray-Imagn Images)

While the chemistry between Guenther, McBain, and Carcone was the main talking point of the game, Peterka and But played really well together as well. Late in the second period, But slid the puck over to Peterka from behind the net. On the boards, Peterka carried the puck looking away from the net until a second before he released a shot on net that beat Hildeby through traffic.

The sixth and final goal from the Mammoth came in the dying minutes of the third period. Peterka managed to steal the puck away from the Leafs and pass it to Hayton. A couple of seconds later, the puck got back to Peterka, who shot it at Hildeby. The goaltender stopped the shot, but But then grabbed the rebound and shot it into an open net for his third NHL goal.

While you’d probably like to see more chemistry from the trio of Hayton, Peterka, and But, you can see something beginning to grow, especially between the latter-mentioned players. While it’s only one game, the simple swap of Guenther and But seems to be a great adjustment made by Tourigny. There’s been a lot of slack placed on the coach recently. However, you have to give him credit where credit is due, and his coaching on Tuesday from puck drop onward earned his team a big 6-1 win.

A Big Win As the Point Streak Continues

This homestand has been a blessing in disguise for the Mammoth. They have now earned seven out of eight points in the four games they’ve played at the Delta Center since the turn of the new year. While there are still three more games left to play in Salt Lake City before they head east on their next road trip, they’ll come out of this homestand with at the very least, a .500 record.

2026, in its entirety, has been very kind to the Mammoth. They have a 5-1-1 record since their Jan. 1 game against the New York Islanders and are riding a five-game point streak. Yes, they’ve played some easy games like against the St. Louis Blues, but they’ve also played some pretty tough teams like beating the Islanders 7-2 on Long Island and, of course, ending the Leafs’ 10-game point streak on Tuesday, crushing them 6-1.

“It’s been a good stretch,” Guenther said. “I think we’ve talked about this stretch for a little bit, and have been looking forward to getting a little bit of time at home. So it’s nice to be getting points.”

Something the Mammoth have done well in most of their games in 2026 is continue playing hard, even into the late periods, no matter the score. Even on Tuesday, despite being up 3-0 going into the third period, the Mammoth played hard and continued trying to score. They ended up outshooting the Leafs 17-5. It’s a mentality that helped run up the score against the Leafs, obviously, but has been beneficial repeatedly in January.

“It’s more of a mindset for us, and sticking with that mindset regardless of what happens, whether we go up, whether we go down, whether it’s tied,” Ian Cole said. “Regardless of what the situation is, sticking with that and keeping that mindset, I think we’re getting better as we go here, but we have to keep building. That’s a good team to beat, but it’s not going to matter two days from now, so we have to do it again.”

Cole is right. The next game is one Guenther foreshadowed as well. The Mammoth’s next game will be against the Dallas Stars, one of the best teams not just in the Western Conference but the whole NHL. Luckily, the Stars have looked a little more human recently with a 2-4-4 record in their past 10 games, but that doesn’t mean the Mammoth should underestimate them.

Getting two points over the Stars would be massive for the Mammoth. As of right now, the only viable path for the Mammoth to get into the playoffs is through the wild card. They are 11 points back of the Minnesota Wild for the third spot in the Central Division and 13 points back of the Stars. Don’t even think of the first-place Colorado Avalanche, who lead the league with 74 points.

With the wild card being the only postseason option for the Mammoth, they’ll need to keep racking up points to keep all the Pacific Division teams at bay, like the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. They are now in the first wild card spot with 50 points, but they can’t stop. Until there’s an X next to their name, it’s do or die for the Mammoth.

“Accruing points is kind of the name of the game,” Cole said. “We’re disappointed in how we let some points slip away early in the year, but as of right now, it’s kind of do or die. If we wait to find our game or we wait to turn this corner, we’re going to run out of time. There’s only eighty-two games in the season. We need to play well and play well right now. I think we’re making some great strides there.” 

Tuesday’s win against the Leafs, though, is a great statement win for the Mammoth, showing they can dominate the best teams in the league. They’ve shown flashes of it throughout the season, like beating the Avalanche in overtime back in October, but Tuesday’s game was proof they can do it. If they can do that, they can put up a fight against the Stars as they look to continue their point streak and create more of a gap between them and their opponents for a playoff spot.

The Mammoth will take on the Stars on Thursday night. The Stars are 27-11-9 this season and are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. These two teams last met in November, when the Mammoth lost 4-3 in Dallas.

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