3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 5-2 Loss to Oilers

While Jack Roslovic scored a couple of minutes later, the score was tied at one. The Mammoth hadn’t played great during that period, getting outshot 8-3, but the team did find a way to keep it close.

On a power play opportunity in the second period, Matt Savoie scored shorthanded, the second time the Mammoth have given up a shorthanded goal in the past three games. However, Lawson Crouse came to the rescue shortly thereafter, jamming in a puck to tie the game up.

That would be where the last of any positives that would come from the Mammoth during the game. Seconds after Crouse’s goal, Connor McDavid scored to put the Oilers on top, and that’s how it would stay for the rest of the game.

“I thought (the) first half of the game was good, showed some compete, and then obviously the power play goal that we tied up was big,” MacKenzie Weegar said. “Then they scored right after that, and then again quickly right after that, and then I thought we lost the momentum. We didn’t have the energy after that. 

Funny enough, the second period was the only time the Mammoth were even close to the Oilers in shots, with the two teams registering seven shots each. We’ll get into the offense and the lack of it for the Mammoth momentarily, but it was hard to find any sort of momentum for the team in this game.

When the Mammoth did have any momentum, the Oilers quickly shut it down. They did a good job at keeping the younger, faster players contained and away from Jarry.

Kerfoot and Crouse’s goals showed signs that the Mammoth very well could’ve been in this game. They have the offensive capabilities to keep up with the Oilers. Yet, none of that was on display on Tuesday.

Falling Flat

What was on display on Tuesday was how non-threatening the Mammoth can be when they face a team that knows how to shut down their speed and be physical as well. Especially in the third, they were clearly out of energy and motivation. The Oilers coasted to a 5-2 win and embarrassed the Mammoth in front of their home crowd. Not a great look, especially against a team that is also fighting for points.

“We obviously just didn’t have enough of a pushback in the third, especially,” Kerfoot said. “We’re down two goals in a game, fighting for a playoff spot against a team who’s also fighting, and we didn’t even make them work for it, didn’t make them earn it. Disappointing. It’s on us.”

Something the Oilers did well during the game was getting past the Mammoth’s defense. They had partial breakaways and extended zone time. The Mammoth struggled to get any of those things going.

The Mammoth never challenged anyone on the Oilers. They didn’t really challenge the defense. They certainly didn’t challenge Jarry, who faced 18 shots, a lot of which weren’t good quality chances. Call it a lack of energy or whatever you want, but the Oilers were the better team on Tuesday.

“I thought we just spent a lot of time defending, and we didn’t necessarily grind them down as much,” Weegar said. “We were watching them do circles in our D-zone, they’re putting shots through, and we just didn’t have the energy to get up ice to create more, sustain more. They won the battles down low in their D-zone, and then they brought it back to us. A lot of the load management stuff that we’ve talked about, I don’t think was there for the second half of the game.”

As mentioned, the Mammoth’s offense didn’t do a whole lot on Tuesday. Obviously, without any other context, that makes sense why it’s so worrisome. However, the Mammoth’s offense didn’t do a whole lot against one of the worst goaltenders in the league right now. They gave Jarry momentum, and it could very well haunt them. These two teams play again in April. What if that confidence for the goaltender continues into that game and the Mammoth lose again? It’s not an ideal situation at all.

However, the most disappointing aspects of the game were the defense and goaltending. The defense just wasn’t good enough on Monday. They allowed the Oilers to find rebounds and breakaway opportunities. It was honestly a mess from what is on paper, one of the best bluelines in the Central Division.

“Defensively, we were in contain mode,” head coach André Tourigny said. “I have talked about that before, and I will repeat it. Your biggest enemy when you trail is when you think you want to score, so instead you keep your tank, your energy, to go on offense. So what happens is you don’t have the puck, so you defend because you don’t have the same aggression…We did not have the right aggression without the puck, so we had to defend away too much, and that took our offense away. That’s the period we generated the least, because we’re waiting for the offense instead of making it happen.”

In net, Karel Vejmelka wasn’t his usual self. He made a few good saves but gave up a bad goal or two, more specifically, Roslovic’s second goal of the night. Down 4-2 at the end of the second, Tourigny decided to bench Vejmelka for the rest of the game and put in Vítek Vaněček.

You can’t blame the loss on Vejmelka, but he didn’t make it any better. After being benched, if you’re the Mammoth, you’re really hoping he can rediscover his winning form from a couple of weeks ago.

Since their game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the usually highly productive, defense-oriented, and rock in net Mammoth have disappeared. Yes, they got the win against the Kings, but it wasn’t a pretty one as the Mammoth allowed Artemi Panarin to score late, giving their opponents a point. 

The Mammoth need to refind their game because playing as they did on Tuesday against the Oilers and against the Anaheim Ducks a couple of games ago won’t do them any favors. That’s especially true with everything that’s been going on in the Western Conference.

Letting the Door Reopen

Somehow, the Predators have returned. Everyone thought they were dead in the water, especially when they chose to sell off some depth pieces during the trade deadline. However, since then, the Predators have been one of the hottest teams in hockey. In their past 10 games, they have a record of 7-2-1, one of the best in the NHL.

You might be asking, why does this matter for the Mammoth. Well, with the Predators playing so well recently, they have taken control of the second wild card spot in the west with 77 points. They have a three-point lead over the Kings, a five-point lead over the Seattle Kraken, and a seven-point lead over the San Jose Sharks.

The Predators have also come into striking distance with the Mammoth. They trail them by three points now for the first wild card spot. Leads are never safe unless you protect them. The Mammoth didn’t do a good job at that, and now they have found their nearly 10-point cushion diminished, all thanks to an upstart Predators team.

Bad games happen to teams. It’s not uncommon at all. However, bad games can’t be happening consistently if you want to make the playoffs. The Mammoth have now had two not-so-great games in their past three games. They know they didn’t play their normal brand of hockey, and it cost them.

“We didn’t have our usual aggression and our pace, and we gave up too much time and space,” Tourigny said. “Not that it cost us defensively, but it cost us offensively in a sense that we didn’t recover any puck play, we didn’t have the puck enough, so that we let them maneuver too much with the puck. I would have loved us to be more aggressive on the puck carrier and generate turnovers or generate takeaways and stuff like that. So that’s what I think of the game.” 

The Mammoth have 10 games left, which means they can get a total of 20 points. If they got all 20, they would be at 100 points in the season. Now, winning their last 10 games probably isn’t feasible at all. However, getting a good majority of those points is crucial for the Mammoth, especially if they want to retain the first wild card spot.

It’s simple, the Mammoth need to stop having these dud games so late in the season. If they don’t, they open up the door to their wild card spot for the approaching teams. If they do, the Mammoth could find a way to regain their cushion in the standings and head into the postseason on a high note. The choice is theirs alone to make, just as the loss on Wednesday is on the team alone. With only 10 games left, the decision needs to be made quickly before the team finds itself in a bad position.

“That’s definitely look yourself in the mirror type stuff, but I trust in this group, and we’ll bounce back the right way,” Weegar said.

The Mammoth will play the Washington Capitals next on Thursday. The Capitals are 35-28-9 this season and are coming off a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues. These two teams last played each other in March, where the Mammoth won 3-2.