3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 4-3 Loss to Canadiens

It’s been a horrible couple of weeks for the Mammoth’s power play. The team is currently sitting 30th in the league when it comes to power play success rate, which is currently at 14.5%. They have scored only 10 man-advantage goals this season.

“Us as a group were not happy with our production there,” Hayton said. “We had a couple of games where we talked and got back to the foundation and what made us good in the past—just having that attack mindset, winning battles that compete, and letting our skill take over from there.”

Getting a power play goal was massive for the Mammoth. It started their comeback, but more importantly, it was a prime example of how the team’s power play should look. They put a lot of pressure on Jakub Dobeš and the Canadiens’ defense and scored. It’s something the Mammoth need to be consistent about.

Funny enough, the opposite unit has been strong for the Mammoth. The penalty kill for the Mammoth currently sits at 11th place in the league, operating at an 81.8% rate. However, it was the PK that cost the Mammoth the game.

Entering the zone, Brendan Gallagher fired a shot on Karel Vejmelka, who saved it. Then Bolduc fired away a chance, but like Gallagher’s shot, the Mammoth goaltender saved it. It was the third shot from Suzuki that Vejmelka had no chance of saving as the puck went into the wide-open net.

Suzuki’s goal was an early one in the third period that completely shifted momentum into the Canadiens’ favor. It was at the hands of a usually strong penalty kill as well.

“I think we played a good game, but unfortunately, we got beat on our strength,” head coach André Tourigny said. Our (penalty kill) has been our strength since the start of the season. Tonight, we were not as sharp on our PK. [To have a] power play score and a big goal was important for us. (Montreal) It is a good team defensively, and we generated a volume of shot quality and inside game. We had a lot of traffic there. I think (Montreal) scored two goals off of their rush; that’s unfortunate.”

It was a mixed bag between the special teams on Wednesday. It’s an area where the Mammoth have to keep trying to find a way to become consistently good at scoring on the power play and keeping the puck out on the penalty kill.

Hard Workers Get Rewarded

There were three players on Wednesday who stood out for the Mammoth because of their hard work over the past couple of weeks. Those players were rewarded in their own ways throughout the game, including a pair of goals from some lesser-known players.

The first notable player was Sean Durzi, who played his first game since getting injured in the Mammoth’s second game of the season against the Nashville Predators. It was his second straight season with a major injury at the start of the season. However, Durzi wanted to get back in the lineup and worked hard to rehab and get back to playing hockey.

“Watching the guys all year, you see how they go through the ups and downs,” Durzi said. “You try to be in all the meetings you can be, but when I’m rehabbing, they’re on the road and can’t see it all. You try to see the guy’s ways in warm-ups, things like that. Routines change so much throughout the year. I just wanted to contribute, whether it’s on the ice or off the ice, bring some energy. Do something.”

The second player was Kailer Yamamoto. All season long, the forward has consistently been one of the best players for the Mammoth night in and night out with his two-way play. He was finally rewarded with his third goal of the season.

It came from Dylan Guenther, who moved the puck to near the net. Guenther connected with Yamamoto with a pass. He then shot it home with a quick shot to tie the game at two.

The third goal came from some hard work around the net. Kevin Stenlund quickly passed the puck to Michael Carcone, who used his speed to outpace a defender and create a wrap-around chance. It took a second shot, but Carcone got the puck into the back of the net to score the third goal of the game.

Carcone is another guy who has worked hard this season. He’s already looked better than how he played last season. He’s engaged, skating hard, and getting in the dirty areas to score. Just like Yamamoto, Carcone earned that goal on Wednesday.

Overall, the second period was just a great period for the Mammoth. They outshot their opponents 13-5 and came back in the game thanks to some of the lesser-known players on the team. It’s how you want to see your team perform, especially with the questionable November the Mammoth have had.

“We went through a stretch of a bunch of games that we didn’t manage well,” Hayton said. “You saw that in a lot of the outcomes of the game. Or even the games in the last two. We found a way, and we dug ourselves a bit of a hole in the second period, so I think we did a good job with that tonight, but it wasn’t good enough.”

Revenge of the Third Period

It wasn’t a good enough game for the Mammoth, indeed. After Suzuki’s second goal tied the game at three, the Mammoth were looking for a response. Clayton Keller went into the Canadiens’ zone looking for an opportunity.

Unfortunately for Keller, he turned the puck over to Ivan Demidov, who rushed the other way. After a couple of passes, Demidov regained the puck and unleashed a wicked wrist shot on Vejmelka to score the go-ahead goal.

Despite outshooting the Canadiens 15-5 in the final frame, the Mammoth didn’t create many good opportunities. Dobeš held on to win the game for the Canadiens, causing the Mammoth to lose their fifth game in the past seven.

Two big things went wrong with the Mammoth, and both have plagued the team. The first was poor goaltending. After a solid game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Vejmelka put up a lousy .765 save percentage after recording 13 saves on 17 shots. It’s not good enough, especially with his new long-term extension in place.

The second problem is that the Mammoth still can’t score with their goaltender pulled. They had some really good chances with Vejmelka pulled, but they still couldn’t make history. It needs to be figured out. It’s getting ridiculous.

It wasn’t a bad game for the Mammoth. They outshot the Canadiens 34-17. Their power play finally woke up. Guys like Carcone and Yamamoto got on the scoresheet. Yet they just weren’t good enough. It’s tough to drop this one for this team because of how bad their November has been. However, there’s nothing left to do other than move on.

“I don’t think we lost focus,” Durzi said. “We, as a group, are mature enough to kind of control what we have to control. I thought we did a lot of good things. It was an emotional game; we all care so much that sometimes it’s tough. The maturity in here never wavered, and confidence never wavered. I thought we did a good job of keeping our focus. We’ll move on to the next.”

The Mammoth played decently on Wednesday. However, the play needs to keep elevating. The team needs to continue working on their mistakes and getting better. The loss against the Canadiens was nowhere near the worst loss they’ve suffered this month. The goal, though, is to get wins. Everyone needs to take a step up to do that. With that, improvements will continue to come, and wins will eventually follow suit.

The Mammoth head back on the road starting on Friday. They will first travel to Texas to face off against the Dallas Stars. The Stars are 15-5-4 this season and are coming off a 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken in which former Mammoth defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok scored the game-winning goal. Last season, the two teams played four games against each other, with the Mammoth losing three of those contests. They did win the most recent outing by a score of 5-3.