3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 6-2 Loss to Canadiens

The third line of Crouse, McBain, and Carcone has been really effective as of late. The trio has begun to form some good country that has led to the passing that was put on display on Saturday.

“They play really good,” head coach André Tourigny said. “They play both sides of the puck. They play with a lot of energy, physicality, speed, and commitment. They bring good leadership to our team.”

Yamamoto himself has been no slouch. He has three points in his past five games. Giving him another contract has so far been one of the Mammoth’s best moves of the offseason. He’s been a big part of helping the bottom six be as effective as they have been.

While the Mammoth are still waiting on some other depth players to start producing like Brandon Tanev, most of the support players have done a great job at keeping the team afloat while the stars struggle to produce. It’s a testament to how deep the Mammoth are.

The Line Juggling Didn’t Work

Outside of the Mammoth’s win over the Buffalo Sabres, the top two lines have been quiet. In the past two lines, only one goal has been scored from either line, which was a late goal by Dylan Guenther against the Leafs, but by then, the game was already over.

Heading into Saturday’s game, Tourigny decided to shake up the lines to try to spark something. Logan Cooley was sent onto the top line to center Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. Meanwhile, Barrett Hayton centered Guenther and JJ Peterka on the second line.

Unfortunately for the Mammoth, it didn’t change much. Once again, the top six failed to score or generate opportunities. The entire top line ended the game each as a minus-two.

Perhaps worst of all is that these players make up a majority of the power play, which also wasn’t great on Saturday. While the Mammoth only had two power play opportunities, neither one produced much. It’s an area where Tourigny wants to see his team really improve.

“We need to capitalize on our power play as well,” Tourigny said. “That is an area where we need to improve. I think we had good looks on our power play, but we need to have that killer instinct and score a big goal, and it’s the same thing at five and five.”

Tourigny liked what he saw from his new lines. We’ll see if he rolls with the same combinations in their game on Sunday to try to keep finding some sort of spark to reignite the once-hot top six. However, while offense from their biggest names has been a big problem, it’s not the only issue that has kept the Mammoth from winning.

The Usual Problems Popped Up Again

As mentioned, the power play and the top six both failed to do much to help the Mammoth out. There are other issues beyond that as well.

The big one was that the Mammoth took their foot off the gas in the third period, allowing the Canadiens to score four unanswered goals that capitalized on poor and lazy decisions by the team. Of course, this is after allowing two straight goals in the second period.

“From there on out, it snowballed and got away from us too quickly,” Crouse said. “I think that’s a message for our group. It can go quick in this league if you’re not on your details. We’ve got to find a way to start coming out with some wins here.”

The 6-2 score doesn’t represent the fight and compete level that the team had in the first two periods. Similar to the Leafs game, the Mammoth kept up with the top team in the Atlantic Division. They even ended up outshooting the Canadiens 15-7 in the second period.

“I don’t think the result is a reflection of what happened on the ice,” Tourigny said. “I think they’re a good team. They executed, and they were really opportunistic. I think that’s what changed the outcome. I liked a lot of stuff we did for the first 15 minutes.”

However, in the third period, they looked like a completely different team. One that once again felt flat. The defense didn’t look great, the Mammoth spent a lot of time in their own zone, they couldn’t generate any good chances in the Canadiens’ zone, and they left Karel Vejmelka out to dry.

It felt like Groundhog Day with how eerily similar it felt to the prior game. Flashes of that team that won seven straight games a week or two ago showed in the first two periods. Then they got rid of that feeling with a sloppy and lazy third period.

At this point, the Mammoth know what they’re doing wrong. It’s because it’s the same problem they have suffered before. They’ve admitted what they’re doing is wrong. Now they just need to change it. 

Frustration is now setting in, with four of their past five games now being losses. You could even see it a little bit on Vejmelka’s face during the Kirby Dach breakaway goal that made it 6-2. Consistency across all three periods needs to happen.

Getting a win against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday would give them a .500 road trip, but it’ll be less than 24 hours after the team played the Canadiens. It’ll be a big test for the Mammoth with hopes that a quick reset will get them a win.

“It would be natural to say we’re a little bit frustrated,” Crouse said. “Frustrated in a sense that we’re all competitors in that locker room, and we demand a lot out of ourselves. Quick reset here. It’s time to move on to Ottawa, and it’s a big way to end our trip. We can either go .500 or not, so we need to be ready to go tomorrow.”

As Crouse mentioned, the best thing to do here is quickly forget about this game. Sunday is a new day, and while their now piling up losses can’t be forgotten, a win against the Senators would soften their record in the past five games. Playing a full hockey game will have to happen, though, which is something we haven’t seen the Mammoth do in a while, including on Saturday.

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Mammoth as they play the Senators on Sunday. The Senators are 7-5-3 this season and are coming off a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. These two teams met twice last season, with the Mammoth losing both games, including most recently 3-1 in January.