On Friday night, the Utah Mammoth got their first look at the New York Islanders, the other team that shared a lottery draft win with them, and who were able to draft prized prospect Matthew Schaefer first overall.
The Mammoth came into this game off a convincing 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres, which snapped a three-game losing streak. As for the Islanders, they entered play on three straight victories, winning each of their last two in overtime.
Game Recap
The scoring kicked off just over seven minutes into the contest, with the Islanders breaking the ice on Emil Heineman’s eighth goal of the season, his second straight game scoring the Islanders’ first goal.
However, that lead would not last long as J.J. Peterka opened the scoring for the Mammoth with his sixth of the season, and his second in as many games after tapping in a beautiful backdoor pass from Lawson Crouse.
Then, another five minutes later, Dylan Guenther gave the Mammoth the lead, scoring his seventh goal of the season, slapping home a one-timer on the power play from the left circle. Something Mammoth fans have become quite accustomed to seeing. It was the final goal of the opening frame, and after one, the Mammoth went to the locker room with a one-goal lead.
After a wide-open first period, both teams tightened up defensively, leading to a goalless middle frame.
The Islanders finally got their second of the game, with just over six minutes remaining in regulation time, on a goal that was initially disallowed with the refs saying Jonathan Drouin kicked the puck into the net. The refs were correct in thinking that he kicked the puck. However, after review, it was seen that the puck never crossed the goal line, with a Mammoth defender keeping it out of the net before it was redirected again off Vejmelka, and then went in the net.
This goal forced overtime, where Schaefer scored the game-winning goal after he and Barzal played a great two-man game, making a couple of passes back and forth before setting up the goal.
Off the loss, the Mammoth get the rest of the weekend off before heading to California for a short two-game road trip with games against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks on Monday and Tuesday. The Islanders will be back in action on Sunday, looking for their fifth straight win and sixth straight win on the road in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.
