After Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Utah Mammoth needed some sort of response to kick off their five-game road trip. Every game is a crucial one now, with around 20 games left in the season, but this trip is a big one. The Seattle Kraken and the Edmonton Oilers have caught up to the Mammoth in points. Obtaining the more favored first wild card spot in the Western Conference has become that much more difficult.
Fortunately, the Mammoth refound their game on Tuesday, putting up a great performance against the Washington Capitals. A great first period and an unusually effective power play helped guide them to their 32nd win of the season. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s 3-2 win.
A Fantastic First Period
We’ve been over this in numerous other takeaway recaps. A great start can mean everything, including the win. It’s been in favor of the Mammoth before and has also plagued them. Tuesday’s game showed why it’s so critical to begin the game with a bang.
Less than halfway through the period, Clayton Keller sacrificed the body, colliding with two Capitals players, including Tom Wilson, to get the puck into the offensive zone and slide it over to Dylan Guenther. All Guenther had to do was unload his fantastic shot to put it into the back of the net for the first goal of the game.
Gunner tallies his career-high 28th goal this season.
1-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/VInATEsO43
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 4, 2026
That goal was Guenther’s 28th goal of the season, surpassing the 27 he scored last season. It is a new career high for the forward.
This was also Guenther’s first game on a line with Nick Schmaltz and Keller in a while. Head coach André Tourigny juggled the top six before Tuesday’s game, putting Guenther on the top line and pairing Lawson Crouse with Logan Cooley and JJ Peterka. The top line had a really effective game and looked incredible paired with each other.
“I haven’t really played with them a ton besides on the power play, but so it’s just exciting,” Guenther said. “Two really good players, really good with the puck, really good away from the puck too. I think when we just played correct and try to outwork the other team, then our skill can take over.”
Related: Breaking Down the Mammoth’s Top Storylines Heading Into Trade Deadline
Keller knows it can be difficult sometimes to get chemistry between new linemates right away, especially when you break up a line that has played with each other frequently, as Schmaltz, Crouse, and he have. However, Keller liked what he saw from Guenther
“It’s tough sometimes to get chemistry right away,” Keller said. “I think we just tried to be simple. He’s an easy player to read off of, and he can score from anywhere, so I thought he did a good job.”
The Mammoth continued to pounce on the Capitals for the rest of the period, and just a few minutes after the Guenther goal, it paid off. On the power play, the team made some nice passes to set up Mikhail Sergachev near the blueline. Sergachev fired a nice shot past Logan Thompson and put the Mammoth up 2-0.
Sergy power play goal! 😎
2-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/8RBOwv68gD
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 4, 2026
We’ll talk about the power play momentarily, but it was truly a great start for the Mammoth. They almost went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. However, Pierre-Luc Dubois spoiled the nearly perfect period with a goal with seconds left. Despite the goal, the Mammoth outshot their opponents 9-6 and looked like the better team.
For the rest of the game, the Capitals chased the Mammoth. It allowed the Mammoth to defend hard in the final minutes of the third period rather than fighting and aggressively trying anything to tie the game up. The solid start was one of the two big reasons why they won this game. The other was something no one could have predicted.
A Statement Game for the Power Play
It’s been well documented at this point how horrible the Mammoth’s power play has been. At one point, it was the second-worst power play in the league, nearly beating out the Colorado Avalanche (for some reason).
Recently, there’s been quite a turnaround. The Mammoth have scored four power-play goals across their four games back from the Olympic break. Two of those came from Tuesday’s game.
As mentioned, Sergachev got the unit started with a first-period power-play goal. On the goal, it was clear the power play was looking better. Passes were connecting, and the Mammoth were staying patient and calm.
“We were attacking, less predictable, shooting it more, and it just worked,” Guenther said. We were trying to play like a five-on-five mindset, but on the power play.”
The Mammoth’s power play had one more trick up their sleeve in the second period. Late in the second period, the power play went to work again. On this opportunity in particular, the Mammoth did a great job at creating open space, allowing Cooley and company to move around freely.
Ultimately, it allowed Cooley to dish the puck to Peterka, who fired a perfectly placed shot that bounced off of Thompson and into the back of the net, giving the Mammoth a 3-1 lead. The Capitals wouldn’t allow the power play to operate again, meaning the Mammoth went 100% on the power play. An extremely rare stat for this team.
Peterka on the power play! 🔥
3-1, Utah. pic.twitter.com/OkBV3IkgRu
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) March 4, 2026
When asked what went differently today for the power play, Tourigny jokingly responded that the puck finally hit the back of the net. After laughing it off, the head coach credited the aggressiveness of the unit for the success.
“The most important thing is we are aggressive where we’re attacking,” Tourigny said. “Sometimes when you attack, it’s not always the right decision. Maybe you should have been more patient in that moment, but I would rather us to be overly aggressive, overly quick, attacking, quick putting pucks at the net, chasing loose pucks, trying to make plays inside, than being too passive, staying on the outside, passing the puck, being too easy and too predictable to play against.”
Whatever exactly the Mammoth have been doing has worked. They are now 26th in the league in power play success rate, operating at 16.9%. That’s up five spots from just a week ago.
Tuesday was by far the best game for the power play of the season. Everything just connected well. Keller says that when the Mammoth are connected like that, it’s simple.
“(We’re successful) when we’re moving it quickly,” Keller said. “There have been parts of the year where I’m holding it too much. I think just everyone kind of has that attack mindset, just not letting the PK really get set up, just kind of snap it around. That’s baseball at the end of the day.”
A Great Start to the Trip
This was a must-win game for the Mammoth. Again, it feels like every game from this point on is a must-win, but this one was important. Not only did the Mammoth need to rebound from Sunday’s game, but they also needed to start the road trip off on a winning note, giving them momentum heading into the next couple of games.
Despite the Capitals swarming the Mammoth in the final couple of minutes of the game, they held on to get the win. The Capitals are desperate for wins as well, as they fight for a playoff spot, and it showed with all of the scrums throughout the game. This was no easy win. A big achievement for the Mammoth for sure.
“Love the response,” Tourigny said. “Love the speed of our game. Veggie (Karel Vejmelka) made key saves at the end. There are a lot of positives in our game. They had a push at the end, which was expected. But I like the pressure we applied on them, on their six-on-five, so they had to execute really quickly, and they did a good job, but they could not get high-quality chances. I’m happy about that.”
As Tourigny mentioned, Vejmelka played outstanding against the Capitals, a big difference from Sunday’s game. The third period especially saw Vejmelka make save after save as the Capitals outshot the Mammoth 12-6.
After the loss on Sunday to the Blackhawks, players had a lack of words to describe the performance of the team and were overall disappointed. It was one of the team’s worst games of the season. The main message, though, was that it can’t happen again.
Tuesday’s game was the exact opposite of how the Mammoth played that game. It was closer to how they played against the Minnesota Wild nearly a week ago. There was great defense and goaltending, the power play was clicking, and everyone was invested in this game. That’s what you want to see consistently out of the Mammoth, and that’s how you want to see this team bounceback.
“It was a good bounce-back right from the start,” Keller said. “We talked about how it wasn’t the way we wanted to play last game, and how we want to flush it. I thought we did a great job, and everyone contributed tonight. That was a great effort. Veg (Vejmelka) was great. Made a huge save at the end there. It’s good to see that response for sure.”
The Mammoth continue to pull away from some of the Pacific Division teams as they hit 68 points. They hold the first wild card spot by one point over the Kraken. Now, they have some serious momentum heading into the rest of the trip.
While a majority of the upcoming games are against teams that will not make the playoffs, it’s still important for the Mammoth to play their brand of hockey. Beating a hungry, physical Capitals team will surely continue the energy they brought in their big statement win on Tuesday.
“It’s a five-game trip, a long trip,” Guenther said. “We’re playing some teams we don’t see a ton, and then playing some divisional matchups. So a little bit of everything. It’s nice to get on the road, be with the guys, have some fun and win some games.”
The Mammoth will travel to Philadelphia to play the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The Flyers are 28-21-11 this season and are coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. These two teams last met in January, when the Mammoth won in epic comeback fashion, ending with a 5-4 overtime final.
