For the second time in the past week and the third time in the past month, the Utah Mammoth and the Chicago Blackhawks faced off against each other. After losing their past two games, the Mammoth were looking to get a win to start their mini homestand on a good note. On top of that, the team needed to win good graces back from their fan after being embarrassed in their most recent home game, ironically enough against the Blackhawks.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for the Mammoth. Despite the game being a closer one than the 4-0 loss a couple of weeks ago, the team couldn’t find a way to win against the Blackhawks, losing 3-2 in overtime. With the win, the Blackhawks have secured a season sweep against the Mammoth, something that not many people anticipated would happen. Here are some takeaways from Thursday’s loss.
The Kid Line Reunites
Heading into Thursday’s game, the Mammoth needed to switch things up. During the 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, there wasn’t a lot going on for the team. The Mammoth couldn’t produce and didn’t generate much of anything.
Head coach André Tourigny decided the best way to try to generate offense was by changing the lines. The coach returned Lawson Crouse to the top line with Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. In doing so, he also reunited Dylan Guenther with JJ Peterka and Logan Cooley, restoring the “kid line.”
Peterka, Guenther, and Cooley have played with each other before, earlier this season, before the line was broken apart. Putting the three young players on a line together was something many Mammoth fans were excited to see because of their skill and speed. During the game, that’s exactly what they provided.
It took until the second period for the first goal to be scored, but there was no surprise which line for the Mammoth got the opportunity to break the scoreless tie. A failed drop pass by a Blackhawks player was poked ahead by Mikhail Sergachev, which ended up on the stick of Cooley. The center and Guenther escaped on a two-on-one opportunity that Guenther eventually scored on.
Make that goal #31 for Gunner!
Guenther is the first player in Utah franchise history to score 31 goals in a season. pic.twitter.com/BS5aFoK1TB
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 13, 2026
That goal just screamed a kid line goal. It was a display of the speed each member of the trio has, along with Cooley’s elite passing and Guenther and Peterka’s good shots. While Peterka wasn’t a part of that goal, he expressed his excitement to be playing with Guenther and Cooley and how well they clicked throughout the game.
“It’s nice to be back with them,” Peterka said. “Just so much speed. Both of them are such good players. Just trying to get open when I’m playing with those two.”
While Peterka didn’t get to help score the first Mammoth goal, he was the finishing piece of the second goal. Down 2-1 halfway through the third period, the Mammoth needed a goal. With their opponents exiting their zone, in came Michael Carcone, fleecing the puck from a Blackhawks defenseman right before he got past the blueline, and making a U-turn heading for Spencer Knight. Carcone slid the puck to Peterka, who unloaded his shot, scoring and tying the game for his team.
Peterka ties this one up at two! pic.twitter.com/eIBxWU1TbV
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 13, 2026
The goal was obviously scored by Peterka, who had a great game, especially on that line with Guenther and Cooley. However, that goal does not get scored without Carcone, who made such a smart play to disrupt the Blackhawks right before they exited their own zone. It made sure the goal wasn’t going to be offside while giving Peterka a good opportunity.
After a mediocre 2024-25 season, Carcone decided to hit free agency in pursuit of a brand new team that could give him more ice time. However, a couple of weeks later, the forward resigned with the Mammoth. Perhaps it was because he knew he could produce more than 19 points in a season. Whatever it was, Carcone bet on himself coming back to the Mammoth, and it’s worked out.
“[Carcone] is a good player, he’s feisty, he gets into battles, he’s really good on the forecheck, he’s obviously really fast, and he’s a fun guy to play with,” Jack McBain said. “I thought he had a strong game tonight. He made a great play on the backcheck there. It’s a huge point for us, obviously, two would’ve been better, but we’re going to be proud of the effort and carry on.”
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Going back to the kid line, they were the best line on Thursday. Each of the three forwards walks away with a point, which isn’t bad at all considering that the Mammoth only scored twice. Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins will be a big game for the team, which means they’ll need their best roster on the ice. Perhaps after how they played on Thursday, Tourigny will consider keeping the Mammoth’s most electric line together.
Punished with Physicality
Thursday’s game had playoff-game vibes. That’s weird considering the Blackhawks won’t be anywhere near the playoff line when the season ends. Yet the game’s tightness revealed a budding rivalry between the two. The physicality further amped that up.
One player who was causing havoc all over the ice was McBain. In total, he had 10 hits, which is the second most ever in a single game by a Mammoth player. He brought a massive physical presence that also resulted in a roughing penalty with Ilya Mikheyev
For McBain, it’s been a rough two months offensively. He hasn’t scored a goal since late January. However, being physical like he was on Thursday was his way of bringing energy to his team and trying to get them going.
“It’s about getting the team involved and also myself involved, gotta get energy out there and get the guys going,” McBain said. “We’ve had some tough games against them and just trying to come out physical and change this one, but I thought everybody was physical tonight and hard on the puck, so that was good.”
The Mammoth stayed pretty disciplined throughout the game, too, something which has hindered the team in the past. They let the Blackhawks have only one power play all game long, though Tyler Bertuzzi scored on that opportunity.
The game didn’t result in a win for the Mammoth, but they didn’t play badly. They outshot the Blackhawks in the first, third, and overtime periods. They also arguably had the better opportunities and two-way play.
“No game will ever be perfect, but it was as close as it can be, in the pressure, in the pace, in the physicality and the bump, and we were in the battle,” Tourigny said. “We won more battles. We talked this morning off camera. We need to get back at getting inside, putting pucks at the net, bodies at the net, having speed off the rush, having speed off the forecheck, creating stuff on the forecheck. There’s no complaint on my side on that.”
That being said, the Mammoth failed to find a way past Knight. The game went into overtime, and ultimately, all it took was one weird goal for the Blackhawks to steal the additional point.
Windy City Sweep
There were probably very few people before the season started who predicted the Blackhawks would sweep the Mammoth in the four-game season series. Yet, that became reality in overtime on Thursday night.
With less than two minutes left in overtime, Schmaltz cut to the front of the net to try to score and found himself tumbling to the boards. The Blackhawks jumped on the opportunity with the Mammoth being down a man and hurried towards the other side of the net. Alex Vlasic took a shot that bounced off the net’s pipe. However, Karel Vejmelka, with time to make a second save, had no clue where the puck was. Connor Bedard picked up the loose change and put it into the empty net for the game-winning goal.
CONNOR BEDARD WINS IT IN @ENERGIZER OVERTIME‼️ pic.twitter.com/k1jc22d6Pw
— NHL (@NHL) March 13, 2026
With the win, the Blackhawks officially swept the Mammoth across four games this season. It’s quite an interesting collection of losses for the Mammoth, which includes a 4-0 shutout and two overtime losses. However, more than anything, the four losses are incredibly disappointing. In total, eight points were available for the team, and they only got two of them.
Give the Blackhawks some credit. They are building a solid team. There are obviously guys like Bedard and Frank Nazar who have incredible skill and speed. There’s also Knight in net, who might be one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL. However, the Blackhawks have players surrounding those younger guys who can produce, but also be a thorn in the side of their opponents.
“They play with a lot of speed, they’re obviously a highly skilled team,” Peterka said. “They make a lot of good plays. I think they had very good chances. I think that’s what we’ve been struggling with.”
A quick look at the Blackhawks, and the casual viewer isn’t impressed. They’re seven points back of the playoff line and have a below .500 record. Despite that, they’ve pulled off some scrappy performances throughout this season. That includes an overtime loss to the Dallas Stars, who are the second-best team in the NHL before arriving in Utah. The Blackhawks aren’t a great team, but they’re not the bottom-dwelling team they were a season or two ago.
Tourigny agrees with that statement. He’s not trying to give excuses because there’s no excuse for being swept. Rather, he’s giving his opponents credit for their play.
“They’re a better team than people think,” Tourigny said. “Look at their game, before they played us last game, they had just lost in overtime against Dallas. They’re in the game every night…There are no excuses. We are capable of beating that team. I don’t want to use excuses. I want to give them credit, and I know tonight, we played well enough to win. It was not like that during all the games against them, but tonight, I liked our effort.”
Tourigny added that he liked most of what he saw from the game on Thursday besides the score. However, I’m sure the team and the fans are all happy they don’t have to play Chicago again for the rest of the season.
Three games in the span of two weeks against the same opponent created two really fun and intense games against two teams that could be really good rivals in the next couple of years. When the Blackhawks finish their rebuild and are competitive, these games will look like nothing in comparison to those future battles. Even now, though, the feeling between the two teams is clear. The Blackhawks don’t like the Mammoth and vice versa. That will not change in the foreseeable future.
“It’s a division rival, we don’t like them, they don’t like us,” Bedard said.
The Mammoth will next play the Penguins on Saturday. The Penguins are 32-18-15 and are coming off a 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. These two teams last met in December, with the Mammoth winning that one 5-4 in overtime.
