The Utah Mammoth’s path through the playoffs will officially run through the Pacific Division. With a big 5-3 win on Tuesday over the Winnipeg Jets, the team officially clinched the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. It’s a big deal for the Mammoth as they won’t have to run into the Presidents’ Trophy winner, the Colorado Avalanche.
While the win wasn’t an easy one to get for the Mammoth, some of the usual things went right for them. Goaltending was stellar, the power play clicked, but the biggest thing that helped them get the win is something that hasn’t happened recently: a great start. Win 43 was truly a big one. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s game.
A Good Start, a Resilient Finish
The Mammoth have not had great starts to their past two games. Against the Carolina Hurricanes, they were outshot 13-8 in the first period. Against the Calgary Flames, they were outshot 14-4. The Mammoth ended up losing both games, and because of that, lost their gap between them and the LA Kings in the standings.
To win Tuesday’s game and officially clinch a playoff spot, the Mammoth needed to avoid having another bad start and really pressure the Jets early. That’s exactly what they ended up doing. In the first period, the Mammoth outshot their opponents 14-6 and didn’t allow the Jets to score at all.
In fact, it was the Mammoth who struck first. Off a faceoff draw at center ice, Nate Schmidt found Logan Cooley with a long stretch pass. Cooley, now on a breakaway, went five-hole on his backhand to open up the scoring. Despite missing an extended amount of time, the goal was the forward’s 24th in 53 games. Quite impressive, also considering the injury he went through.
You ain’t stoppin’ that one 👀
Cools makes it 1-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/K3fC1Lq42p
— x – Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) April 15, 2026
“We’re just trying to play North every time,” JJ Peterka said. “I think seeing another goal from (Logan Cooley) is the best example of that. We don’t hold it back there; we just move it up. I think no team can handle us if we play with that pace.”
That great play continued into most of the second period. Nick Schmaltz scored early on during a power play opportunity to make it 2-0. The Mammoth would once again hold the Jets to only six shots while they had 15 of their own. Kyle Connor scored late in the period on the power play to cut the lead in half, but it felt like the Mammoth had complete control of the game.
It seemed like that was the case less than halfway through the third period. Some fantastic pressure and passing on the power play led to Clayton Keller and Cooley getting the puck to Schmaltz in front of the net, who fired it home for his 33rd goal of the season and second goal of the game.
World class skill, world class puck movement. pic.twitter.com/XLBSNEXSkm
— x – Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) April 15, 2026
The Mammoth’s power play now has seven goals in the past six games. It seems like the team continues to improve on the man advantage. You look at the Schmaltz goal in particular and just watch with amazement at the Mammoth rifle the puck to each other with such ease. It’s the team’s biggest weapon, and it seems like they’ve found a way to utilize it on the power play.
“We’re a better team when we move the puck quickly and use our speed and catch them off guard a little bit,” Schmaltz said. “When we try to drag it back, and teams get set, it’s hard to beat all five guys. We need to move the puck up quickly in transition and use our speed. We’re pretty difficult to play against.”
Peterka scored seconds after Schmaltz, thanks to a great backhanded pass from Alex Kerfoot, making it 4-1. However, the Jets didn’t give up. Mark Scheifele and Isak Rosén both scored, closing the gap.
Related: Utah Mammoth Players Share Thoughts on Clinching Franchise’s First Playoff Berth
The Mammoth stood strong. Thanks to that strong first half, the team was able to protect the lead rather than chase it. Guys like Brandon Tanev were deployed, making great two-way plays. Karel Vejmelka in net stood strong, making some key saves. Time slowly passed until Kerfoot managed to fling a puck into the empty net to put the game away.
Overall, despite the Jets coming back in the third period, it was still a strong performance from the Mammoth. They utilized their greatest weapon, their speed; they had strong offensive performances from the key guys, and they corrected their errors from prior games. It was an identity performance for the Mammoth, one that showcased some of their best traits.
“I’m really happy about the way we played,” head coach André Tourigny said. “When we talk about our identity, we talk about how we want to play, and we talked about that this morning. We talked about the speed we played at, the battle we have, the net-front presence there, and the tempo we have, and I am really happy about that. Obviously, in the third period, we made it tougher than we should have, but it will be good learning for us.”
That’s the type of hockey that really could earn the Mammoth some wins in the postseason if they play like that. Outpacing and outscoring their opponent works, and it showed on Tuesday.
Injuries are Piling Up
There is one bad thing about Tuesday’s show. Towards the end of the second period, Sean Durzi blocked a shot with his hand. The blocked shot looked like it did a number on the defenseman as he exited the game and went to the locker room.
Later, the Mammoth put out a statement saying that Durzi was questionable to return after only playing 9:46 of the game. The defenseman didn’t end up returning, leading the team to roll with five defensemen. Tourigny didn’t offer any updates postgame as well.
Durzi isn’t the only Mammoth player who has left midgame and was labeled as questionable to return recently. Both Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain were also injured midgame in the past couple of weeks. Both are considered week-to-week.
The Mammoth might end the regular season and start the postseason shorthanded. While Hayton, McBain, and Durzi are massive parts of the team, they are important depth pieces and crucial to the locker room. The Mammoth will be counting down the days until they’re back in the lineup. It seems like Hayton is getting closer, attending a practice earlier with a non-contact jersey on. Tourigny did say that he remains week-to-week.
This is where the Mammoth’s depth is going to come up big, especially some of the younger players. It helps that the Tucson Roadrunners won’t be making the Calder Cup playoffs, meaning the Mammoth won’t need to worry about keeping their minor league team filled.
The Mammoth will have a few options for both forwards and defense. Kevin Rooney, Daniil But, Cameron Hebig, and Ben McCartney are the best options up front. On the back end, Maveric Lamoureux, Max Szuber, and Scott Perunovich can be utilized. Dmitri Simashev is already in the NHL, ready to play.
Injuries happen, especially this close to the playoffs. The Hurricanes, who recently visited the Mammoth, are a great example of this. Over their past couple of games, players like Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, and others have been scratched, leading to the Hurricanes icing a roster mainly consisting of players from their American Hockey League (AHL) team.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Mammoth follow a similar route for Game 82. With everything locked up, the team could rest some of their starters and instead, give the game to AHL players to see how they do. With injuries beginning to pile up, it might be the smart move for the team as they prepare for a postseason run.
The Road Goes Through the Pacific
As mentioned, the Mammoth’s playoff journey will go through the Pacific Division. While the team has held the first wild card spot in the Western Conference for quite some time and clinched a playoff spot nearly a week ago, the Kings caught up to the Mammoth in the standings, threatening the spot they’ve held for what seems like forever.
With the two points accumulated in Tuesday’s game, the Mammoth have ensured that even if the Kings catch up to them, they would instead pass up the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the division, which would drop them to the second wild card spot.
The win wasn’t just important to put the Mammoth in the best position in the playoffs, but also to not go into the playoffs on a bad note. After losing two straight games, the Mammoth couldn’t afford to lose another for so many reasons. Fortunately for the team, that didn’t happen.
“I think we were just trying to play as best we could these last two games,” said Schmaltz. “We had two losses in a row, so we wanted to bounce back at home and put ourselves in the best position we can…We just don’t want to be limping into the playoffs. We want to be rolling. We want everyone to feel confident and hit the ground running right from Game 1.”
If the goal is to hit the ground running right after Game 82, Game 81 was certainly a great start. You look at most of the Mammoth’s stats, and you can see why this is a playoff team. The power play went two-for-five, they outshot the Jets for two of the three periods, Keller continued a nine-point streak, and the Mammoth held together towards the end of the game despite knowing what was at stake and the pressure their opponents were putting on them.
It was a great prelude to what’s to come in a couple of days, and the Mammoth played well in that situation. While it was a bit tighter towards the end, the team continued to play hard and protect their lead, something they might find themselves doing in the playoffs.
“We made it tougher than we should have,” Tourigny said. “But when push came to shove and when it was tight, we played solid. No, we didn’t give much; we were stingy. Even when they had a shift around four minutes, they had the puck in our zone a lot, but nothing other than that. The guys were rock solid.”
One last game left. That’s all that stands in the Mammoth’s way of playing their first playoff game in history. While they still don’t know their first-round opponent, they know they’ll get the opportunity to go through a division that has been described as a pillow fight by players. That’s thanks to their play, especially across April, including on Tuesday against the Jets.
The Mammoth will complete their regular season campaign on Thursday when they take on the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are 36-33-12 this season and are coming off a 7-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. These two teams last met in January, where the Mammoth won 4-2. They lead the season series 2-1.
