Preseason doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t be surprising if Utah Mammoth fans are currently telling themselves right now, as their team lost its third straight preseason game in 24 hours. A quick trip to Southern California gave fans their first glimpses of some of the star players on the team for the season, but not much else.
While the Mammoth lost horribly to the Colorado Avalanche in their first preseason game on Sunday afternoon, the one on Monday night to the Anaheim Ducks felt worse as more players like Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther occupied the lineup. Here are some takeaways from the 6-1 loss.
Dylan Guenther Gets His First Goal of the Preseason
The one positive takeaway from the third game of the preseason was Guenther scoring his first goal. The goal displayed Guenther’s resistance and determination despite being knocked down and stripped of the puck, and perhaps a little bit of extra speed that he gained over the summer.
Heading to the Ducks’ net with the puck, Guenther was knocked down to the ice after getting a good chance in the crease. After the Ducks failed to clear the puck twice, it found its way back to the Mammoth forward, who didn’t waste any time. He used his speed and skill to maneuver the puck back to the net and deposited it past Petr Mrázek on his backhand.
Gunner gets Utah on the board! pic.twitter.com/sDSnophq4e
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) September 23, 2025
During the game against the Ducks, just a glance at Guenther and you could tell that he got faster during the offseason. That’s saying a lot because he was already one of the faster players on the Mammoth. However, he used that speed to his advantage throughout the game.
Part of that speed has to be credited to his leg strength, which also clearly improved. Guenther was knocked down a couple of times throughout the game, but was able to quickly get to his feet and continue playing. The 2021 first-round pick looked really solid. It’ll be interesting to see if he can beat his 60 points from last season, and if he does, how many points he can surpass it by.
Related: Biggest Questions Surrounding the Utah Mammoth Entering the 2025-26 Season
Nick Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev had the assists on Guenther’s goal. No surprise that it was two NHL regular contributors leaving a mark on the scoresheet alongside Guenther, despite it being early in the preseason.
Sloppy Play and Turnovers Lead to a Blowout
Let’s get the record straight first. The Mammoth had seven full-time NHLers in their lineup on Monday. The Ducks had 12 and one of their best prospects in Beckett Senecke. The Ducks did play on Sunday evening like the Mammoth, but not a back-to-back.
Additionally, the Ducks played in Ontario against the LA Kings, which isn’t far from Anaheim. Meanwhile, the Mammoth played two games in Denver, flew back to Salt Lake City, and then flew to Anaheim. A lot was going on for the Mammoth in the past 24 hours.
Most importantly, though, and I cannot stress this enough, it is preseason hockey. The team’s record doesn’t matter. Having a fantastic preseason record doesn’t mean much. It’s more about figuring out who is going to be part of the NHL lineup.
However, something that does translate over to preseason, along with every single event where you wear your team’s logo, is the culture. Fixing mistakes, not getting lazy despite a game not meaning anything, and continuing to progress are things that matter. Monday’s game was not a good representation of that for the Mammoth, and head coach André Tourigny noticed that.
“There are some guys we like, there are some guys we expect more from, but at the end of the day, it’s in their hands to show what they can do,” Tourigny said. “A lot of guys played in the back-to-back. It was a long day yesterday. We understand. But I think when you’re fighting for a job, you need to make sure you dig deep and you find a way.”
Tourigny was visibly mad after a couple of the Mammoth’s goals, and he has the right to be. The Mammoth were embarrassed at the Rookie Showcase a couple of weeks ago, which included an 8-1 loss. On Sunday, the team was once again blown out in the first game, this time 5-1. It’s okay to lose these games, but being blown out repeatedly is not.
There were a couple of bad habits on display throughout the game. The big one was the third Ducks goal. The Mammoth turned the puck over at center ice, which led to Senecke grabbing it and charging in on Karel Vejmelka. Maksymilian Szuber was on him and had the chance to steal the puck from the Ducks prospect. However, Szuber instead bumbled it repeatedly, and Senecke got a shot off that went in.
The fourth Ducks goal showed similar poor defensive plays. Maveric Lamoureux turned the puck over behind his own net, and the Mammoth could not get it back. It led to Troy Terry shooting the puck from the point, which was tipped by Ryan Strome into the net. Once again, Szuber wasn’t in a good defensive position as he allowed Strome to get his stick into a good position.
These are habits that need to be corrected. It’s a good learning experience as of right now, but stuff like this cannot happen in the regular season, even in the American Hockey League or juniors, when some of these players depart for those leagues.
The Notables From Preseason Game 3
There weren’t a lot of positive notables from the Mammoth’s third preseason game. The scoresheet certainly reflects that.
As mentioned, Guenther looked decent out there. So did NHL regulars like Sergachev. Tij Iginla didn’t have a really noticeable game. His first game was certainly better.
Curtis Douglas, Ben McCartney, and Montana Onyebuchi looked good due to their ability to stand up for their teammates and provide physicality to try to spark their team. Onyebuchi’s fight was the one that was clearly a one-sided tilt, as the defenseman was challenged by Judd Caufield after a hit on Alex Killorn. Caufield certainly regretted doing that, as the AHL veteran took him down in seconds.
Douglas’ fight was more to try to get the Mammoth going. It was a long and good fight against Noah Warren. It was also Douglas’ second fight of the preseason and in the past 24 hours. That’s a pretty impressive feat in itself.
McCartney’s fight with Tyson Hinds was in response to a hard hit on Cameron Hebig. This one is notable because McCartney and Hebig have played together for the past couple of seasons with the Roadrunners. It shows the bond the two have and the willingness to do anything to defend a teammate.
Jaxson Stauber was in net for the third period, marking the second straight game that he’s played. He looked decent considering that he gave up three goals, which was definitely more to blame on the Mammoth’s defense.
Yes, it’s preseason. Yes, the Mammoth have had a rough two days. Yes, the Ducks had way more NHLers than the Mammoth had, probably because they wanted to get an early win in front of their fans. That is acceptable. However, what isn’t acceptable is allowing sloppy and poor traits to emerge early in camp. That’s what happened on Monday. Looking forward, Tourigny expects more out of his team with breaks between most of the upcoming games.
“You want your veterans to get the rhythm and just crank it up a little bit more every day and to arrive at the right speed when the season starts,” Tourigny said. “For the young guys, they need to show us they want a job. They want to steal the job from someone. We’re there. We’re looking, and it’s up to them to do that.”
With Tuesday and Wednesday not featuring any games for the team, cuts are coming for the Mammoth. When they do, AHL guys and rookies need to work even harder because they could be next. There are more than a few players that fall into that category for the Mammoth who need to start having standout preseason games; otherwise, it could be an easy opening night roster to make for Tourigny and the coaching staff.
The Mammoth are now 0-3-0 in the preseason. They’ll continue their preseason on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights played their first preseason game on Sunday, which resulted in a 3-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
