3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 2-1 Loss to Avalanche

During the game, Simashev had a solid debut. He logged 14:25 of ice time and had two shots on goal. He also had a block and a hit. Sure, there were a couple of times where he got out-muscled, but he didn’t look out of place during the game, which is what you want to see from your top prospect.

“I think he progressed during the game,” head coach André Tourigny said. “I’m happy about his game. I think it’s good and he will get more comfy every day.”

Tourigny is right. Over time, Simashev will adjust to the NHL and look more and more like the standout defenseman he was in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It’ll take time, and every party involved will have to be patient, but it will come.

Being his first NHL game and all, Simashev was a little bit nervous. Anyone would be defending against the best defenseman in the league: Cale Makar. However, being paired alongside a veteran like Ian Cole helped his nerves a bit, especially with Cole giving him advice after every shift.

“He’s a good guy,” Simashev said. “After every shift, he spoke with me. I like conversation on the bench. It’s amazing. He has good experience in this league. 17, maybe 18 years in the NHL. He has experience.”

It was a memorable night for the Mammoth organization, and it’s one Simashev will never forget. It’s only up from here for the young defenseman.

Dylan Guenther Scores the Opening Goal of the Season…Again

For the second straight season, it’s Dylan Guenther penciling his name in as a trivia question. After scoring the first goal in franchise history last season, he scored the first goal with the team named the Mammoth in Denver.

Off the faceoff with less than three minutes left in the period on the power play, Clayton Keller grabbed the puck and slid it over to Guenther. The forward was already ready for his vintage shot, which he unleashed on Scott Wedgewood to score the first goal of the season for the Mammoth.

With the goal, he is the 11th player in NHL history to score in each of a franchise’s first two season openers. 

Another unique stat goes to Keller, who obtained the assist. He now has 33 power-play points in his past 56 games. Only one player has more than him in the span: Nikita Kucherov with 34 points. 

Both Guenther and Keller had solid games for the Mammoth. Guenther had the most shots in the game between either team, with seven. Meanwhile, Keller led the entire Mammoth forward group in ice time, racking up 22:17. 

Both players had big impacts on the game. Going forward, the two with Logan Cooley are expected to be the top producers on the Mammoth. It was a great start for them on Thursday, despite facing a goalie who ended the game with an unbelievable performance in net.

The Mammoth Got Wedgewooded Among Other Things

Yes, there were multiple things that caused the Mammoth to lose. The big reason was a remarkable performance by Scott Wedgewood.

Wedgewood saved 32 of the 33 shots he faced while recording a .970 save percentage. They weren’t easy shots, either. Some of the highlights included stopping both Lawson Crouse and Dylan Guenther on breakaway opportunities and robbing Brandon Tanev on a great rebound opportunity.

The frustration of running into a hot goaltender could be seen on the ice. JJ Peterka, after Wedgewood stole a goal from him, let his frustration be known to Brent Burns after they tussled on the ice. The Mammoth tried their best to stay composed, which Crouse attributed to the team’s maturity.

“We’ve talked about that a lot, about playing consistently and to keep going,” Crouse said. “When he makes those big saves, it can be depleting, but we’re human. At the end of the day, you’ve got to play the odds; if you keep putting the pucks on, they’re going to go in eventually. That’s the mindset we’ve got to continue to have.”

However, there were other issues, too. The Mammoth were awful in the faceoff circle. The Avalanche won 69% of the faceoffs, which equates to 50 out of the 72 matchups. 

The Avalanche were also clearly the better team in the first period, outshooting the Mammoth 14-11. It wasn’t a great first 20 minutes of the season for the team, especially with the Avalanche flexing their dominance with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play that ended in Ross Colton burying the puck in the net.

“We didn’t like our first period very much, but I think we got our legs under ourselves and played really good in the second and the third,” Tourigny said. “Their goalie came up big. We had good chances, but Wedgie (Wedgewood) on the other side did a good job.”

The six-on-five opportunity once again failed for the Mammoth. Despite not surrendering an empty net goal, the Mammoth still could not score with the goaltender pulled. It’s a trend that has lasted since the team’s first chance last season, and it’s one the players are aware of.

“I know that was a big topic last year,” Crouse said. “It’s one game right now. We try and get more pucks than that, more bodies than that. I think when you look at around the league, at the six-on-five goals that are scored, they’re not really pretty. You get a chance to shoot the puck, and you go to the net, and you outnumber at the net. I think Gunner (Guenther) had a couple of good looks there. He’s an elite shooter. It’s one that barely missed going in. Then we’re in OT, and it’s anyone’s game.”

Finally, at times, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar became impossible to defend against. It makes sense since they’re two of the best players in the league, but it caused MacKinnon to eventually get the game-winning goal on the power play, sending Ball Arena into a frenzy. 

With the goal, MacKinnon has scored a game-winner against every team in the NHL (other than his own), plus the Arizona Coyotes. He is the only player in the league to do that.

There’s one more bad thing to note. Olli Määttä played only one shift before taking a hit that seemed like nothing, but he didn’t play the rest of the game. It’s something to keep an eye on, especially after signing an extension last season to stick in Utah for the foreseeable future.

There was a lot of good for the Mammoth, though. They outshot the Avalanche in the second and third periods, generating a lot of good chances against Wedgewood. The Mammoth did end the game as the better team.

The penalty kill was also effective, going three for four against an Avalanche power play that is known to be a formidable unit. Karel Vejmelka, of course, stood strong during that time, but it was a full team effort.

“They have a lot of talent on that side when it comes to their power play,” Crouse said. “It seemed like everyone was locked in, dialed in. Veggie (Vejmelka) played incredibly, and he’s a big reason why we were in that game. On the PK, your goalie needs to be one of your better players. He was tonight and gave us a chance to win the game. The PK came up huge, with only one goal against. We just seemed like we were all connected.”

A lot of players making their Mammoth debuts had strong games as well. As mentioned, Simashev had a decent NHL debut. Nate Schmidt had 30 shifts, the most of any Mammoth defenseman besides Mikhail Sergachev. Tanev almost had a goal.

Andrew Agozzino, who appeared in his first game since the 2022-23 season, also had a strong game, albeit in a limited role. Despite only playing around seven minutes, he was a real physical presence and was a good two-way player.

Overall, it was a pretty good performance against a team that is a real threat to be the Stanley Cup champions this season. If Wedgewood didn’t play as dominantly as he did, the Mammoth could’ve easily pulled off the victory.

“We attacked them with a lot of speed, but we were above them,” Tourigny said. “We had a lot of pace, and we were good on both sides of the park offensively, defensively. I think that’s a hell of a team on the other side, and I like the way we reacted.”

There are plenty of things to work on in the next couple of games and improvements to be made, but considering the Mammoth came out and held a Stanley Cup contender to one goal in Game 1, it’s not a bad start to the season.

“It’s Game 1 of the season,” Tourigny said. “I did like the urgency in the second and the third. That’s how we want our team to play. I think we proved we are a good team. I don’t know if we have to prove it. I know we know it. I think we played a good game.”

The Mammoth will be on the road for the next two games against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season. If there’s an opportunity to clean up mistakes early, it’ll be in those two games heading into their home opener against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

The Mammoth will next fly to Nashville to take on the Predators on Saturday. The Predators are coming off a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Last season, the Mammoth went 1-1-1 against their Central Division opponents, most recently beating them 7-3 in April.