3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 1-0 Loss to Avalanche

It was a dream come true for McIntyre despite not playing a single minute in the game. The Mammoth players were excited for the goaltender, and it gave them some energy heading into Tuesday’s game.

“We were fired up for him,” Nate Schmidt said. “That mustache can be seen from a mile away today, and I love it. During the year, you find ways to get yourself up. For me, that’s what got me up tonight…He was all smiles, and I wish we could have gotten him away. But hey, I think it was a pretty cool experience for him.”

Moving on to the hero of the night for the Avalanche, Wedgewood was perfect on Tuesday, recording his second shutout of the season and his third straight. He turned away all 32 shots, including in the third period, where his team was outshot 12-4. 

It’s incredible to see how well Wedgewood has played this season. He has 16 wins and a .924 save percentage. He ranks near the top of the league in every goaltending category and has been a big reason for the Avalanche’s success this season.

After watching him shut down the Mammoth, especially after how solid their offense was on Sunday, I believe that Wedgewood deserves an invite to the Winter Olympics for Team Canada. It makes sense since he’s been one of the best, if not the best, goaltenders in the league this season.

Team Canada likes Jordan Binnington a lot. He did help win them the 4-Nations tournament last season. Despite his struggles this season, he’ll more than likely go overseas. Same to Logan Thompson. Team Canada has probably learned from their mistakes from last year and will bring Thompson due to his great play with the Washington Capitals in the past handful of years.

That leaves one spot open, and it should honestly go to Wedgewood. After that game against the Mammoth, he deserves it. He’s arguably playing the best out of any Canadian goaltender currently.

It was a terrific goaltending duel on Tuesday. It probably sucked for the big goal-scoring fans, but for the goaltending fans, Schmidt said it best.

“Both goalies were really good,” Schmidt said. “If that’s your brand of hockey, you came to the right game tonight.”

Odd Man Rushes and a Dried-Up Offense

It wasn’t a horrible game for the Mammoth at all. They had some really solid chances, including shots from Dylan Guenther and Clayton Keller, the latter of which had to be reviewed to see if the puck crossed the goal line. After review, it was deemed that the puck didn’t cross the goal line, a very questionable call. It helped that Wedgewood’s glove is black, making it harder to see if he saved it.

The defense was ok as well. The biggest problems were takeaways and odd-man rushes. The Avalanche capitalized on a lot of Mammoth defensive misplays, which eventually resulted in Sam Girard scoring the lone goal of the game on a breakaway.

“Both teams got a lot of game-breaking ability,” Schmidt said. “Both teams really got a lot of speed and stuff. That’s gonna happen. Both goalies played really well.”

Yes, the odd man rushes sucked for the Mammoth, but their offense hit a dry spell as well. The team couldn’t figure out how to solve Wedgewood, and as a result, they failed to score a goal.

Now, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Finding out a weakness for a goaltender can be difficult, especially if it’s someone like Wedgewood. However, the defense cannot be held solely responsible for the game’s outcome. It takes offense as well to win hockey games.

“We’ve been talking a ton as a D-core, and we need help from our forwards,” Schmidt said. “They’re the ones that set the gap, and we are able to execute our squeeze at the blue line. Our guys are believing in what they can do with their partners right now. There’s really good continuity in our group.”

More traffic in front of Wedgewood probably would’ve been better for the Mammoth to try to shield his vision from shots. Even then, Wedgewood was on a whole different level on Tuesday. Who knows if anything was going to stop him from having a game as he had?

Perfection is hard to come across. Sure, being shut out is not fun. However, the Mammoth went up against a really tough opponent, and they did a solid job of keeping them contained to one goal.

“We work really hard defensively,” Tourigny said. “That team, they’re number one at everything offensively. To defend them the way we defend them, that’s a lot of effort and a lot of commitment, and that leads to some counterattack, some transition, where we create good chances. I would have loved a little bit more traffic and a little bit more shot volume. But we will never be perfect.”

You Can Rest Now

Speaking of keeping the Avalanche contained to a single goal, they and the Mammoth have now played three straight games where the victor won by a single goal. Sure, for the Avalanche, they don’t really care. They have the most wins in the NHL.

However, for the Mammoth, it shows they’re playing a pretty solid game. Not every team that comes into Ball Arena keeps the game within one goal. The Mammoth have now done that twice this season.

“Winnipeg came here a week ago, and if you look at their number, they lost 3-2, and they put Colorado through adversity as well,” Tourigny said. “We won against Winnipeg. We played really well against Detroit, and we can go on and on…We played one of our best games of the year. If you look at the way that those guys fight, fought in the last 10 games, really proud of them.”

Tourigny does have a point here. The Mammoth have done well against top teams in the league recently. They beat the Detroit Red Wings, who are at the top of the Atlantic Division. They beat the Anaheim Ducks, who are second in the Pacific Division. They kept the Florida Panthers within one goal, who are the defending Stanley Cup champions and are currently in a playoff spot.

Add this game to the conversation, and the effort doesn’t look so bad. It shows the Mammoth are so close to consistently beating these good teams. Consistency is still the issue as the Mammoth have yet to win more than two games in a row since October and have lost to bad teams this month, including the Calgary Flames.

One goal away from beating the best team in the league isn’t too shabby. While it’s unfortunate not to get the win, this is a result you just can’t be too disappointed in.

Now the Mammoth will finally get some rest. Since Nov. 17, they have not gotten longer than a day’s break from playing a game. That month-long stretch has included multiple back-to-back games. In fact, the Mammoth have played the most games out of any Western Conference team and are tied with the New York Rangers for most games played in the league (39). 

This team is tired. They need some rest. Fortunately, that’s exactly what they’ll be getting. The Mammoth will be off until Dec. 29 and will only play one more game in 2025. It should provide time for everyone to rest up and recover.

If you look at the past couple of weeks, there have been a lot of ups and downs. However, in a majority of those games, the Mammoth have been one goal away from winning. Considering their condensed schedule filled with back-to-backs and constant travel (the Mammoth have played the second fewest home games in the NHL, only appearing at the Delta Center 16 times), the team’s effort has been solid. They’ve put everything on the ice, concluding with Tuesday’s game. Now, they can finally rest.

“We just finished 21 games in 37 days,” Tourigny said. “There will never be excuses, but I’m proud of the resilience of the guys. I’m proud of how our group fought in the last stretch when we had adversity. When you’re tired mentally, it’s easy to let down or to give up. Our group never gives up.”

The Mammoth will play the Nashville Predators next on Dec. 29. The Predators are 16-16-4 and are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild. They’ll play the St. Louis Blues before traveling to Utah. These two teams met back in October, where the Mammoth won 3-2 in overtime.