3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 4-3 Loss to Panthers

That was a tough game to lose. It feels like that’s been the usual response for most of the recent Utah Mammoth games, but Wednesday’s game against the Florida Panthers takes the cake for the title of toughest game to lose because of the final minute of the game.

Give credit where credit is due; the first two periods for the Mammoth were solid periods against the defending Stanley Cup champions. In the end, though, this game just looks like another loss on the Mammoth’s calendar. Here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Panthers.

Dylan Guenther, the Breakaway Master

If it wasn’t for Dylan Guenther’s speed, this loss would’ve been way worse for the Mammoth. His ability to capitalize on misplays has scored him quite a few goals in the NHL. He collected two more on Wednesday.

A shot that went wide of Karel Vejmelka went to the right of him and to a couple of Panthers players. John Marino was in a good spot, and he poked it forward. It went to the neutral zone for an approaching Guenther, fresh off the bench. Niko Mikkola tried catching up to him, but Guenther sniped it to beat Sergei Bobrovsky and score the first goal of the game.

Shortly after the Panthers took a 3-1 lead in the second period, Guenther struck again. Off a center ice faceoff, Marino collected the puck from near the Mammoth’s blueline. He quickly found Lawson Crouse on the center ice logo, who then instantly found Guenther, who was once again behind the Panthers’ defense. Instead of sniping it, the young forward kept skating towards Bobrovsky until he unleashed a smooth backhanded dish that went right between the goaltender’s pads.

Gunner scores his second of the game! pic.twitter.com/o4RNAW9dtP

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 11, 2025

“I try to use my speed and get above guys,” Guenther said. “They’re (his goals) man-on-man, pretty much all over the ice, so I just try to beat my guys up the ice.”

Guenther is now second on the Mammoth in goals. Interestingly enough, this was only his first multi-goal game of the season. Finally, nine of his 13 goals have given the Mammoth the lead, which means he is now tied for the fifth most go-ahead goals in the NHL.

Heartbreaker in the Last Minute

A couple of games ago, it took the Calgary Flames 16 seconds to win the game against the Mammoth. On Wednesday, it was the exact opposite. It took the Panthers 59 minutes to win the game.

Yes, the Mammoth were behind by two goals at one point because they could shut down Sam Bennett. Yes, the Mammoth had a horrible third period where they had to be carried by Vejmelka. However, it took the Panthers almost the full 60 minutes to finally get the game-winning goal. It was heartbreaking indeed.

After winning a faceoff in the Mammoth zone, the puck was passed to Sam Reinhart. Reinhardt, at a weird angle, flung it towards the net. It glanced off Eetu Luostarinen, and Anton Lundell tapped it into a wide-open net to score the game-winning goal with 50 seconds remaining.

THE PANTHERS TAKE THE LEAD LATE!! ???? pic.twitter.com/T1r9iYJ4Cg

— NHL (@NHL) December 11, 2025

To be fair, it wasn’t a great final 20 minutes for the Mammoth. The Panthers killed an early penalty and never looked back. They outshot the Mammoth 19-4 in the period and simply looked like the better team. The Panthers had all the momentum, and nothing was breaking that.

“After losing momentum for a period of time, if you can break the momentum, have some neutral shift, and then have some good shift where you gain traction and momentum, now there’s a momentum change, a confident change,” head coach André Tourigny said. “We could not do that in the third. We could not break their momentum.”

Vejmelka is not to blame for this one. He was outstanding. Ignore the .889 save percentage; there were multiple times where his defense let him down. He made some great saves; the most memorable of all was making four saves in a row in the third period.

The goaltender first stopped Seth Jones’ shot from the blueline. He then stopped at least three attempts from Mackie Samoskevich and Luostarinen right in front of the net, including a final glove save on the goal line, robbing the Panthers of their fourth goal.

HOW MANY SAVES DID VEJMELKA MAKE THERE?! ????

Incredible. pic.twitter.com/UmiBRZlV6y

— NHL (@NHL) December 11, 2025

“He played really well,” Guenther said. “I feel for him. We wanted to get that win for him. He kept us in it, especially in the end. I think they had 19 shots in the third. That comes with power plays, but still too many.”

It was also unfortunate that a solid second period from the Mammoth was wasted for nothing. The team came back from down 3-1 to tie the game off a Jack McBain backhanded goal. They almost had their fourth goal too, off a Clayton Keller shot, but Bobrovsky somehow came across his crease to rob the Mammoth captain of a goal with his glove.

“We showed good character coming back in the second there,” McBain said. “Probably could have done a little bit more in the third, but that’s a good team. We hung in there for a while. It’s an unfortunate outcome.”