3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 6-3 Win Over Kraken

Scoring on the penalty kill was pretty good, but the Mammoth weren’t out of danger yet. Jack McBain took a cross-checking penalty, which forced the Mammoth to be shorthanded by two players for almost two minutes. Luckily, the Mammoth held on and fended off the Kraken. 

The five-on-three kill was one of the biggest moments in the game for the Mammoth. If the Kraken had scored during that extended chance, the score on Saturday would’ve been pretty different.

“The moment they scored the goal in the PK, it wasn’t just scoring a goal on the PK,” head coach André Tourigny said. “At that moment, we were a little bit on our heels, to say the least. The kill of the five-on-three was absolutely huge.”

By the end of the first period, the Mammoth came back in the shot totals, tied with the Kraken at 12. The Mammoth’s ability to get shots on the net, especially in the later part of the period, showed the resilience of the team. Even the first goal alone showed that the Mammoth aren’t a team that will give up. Despite being down in the first minute and on the penalty kill, they still managed to score shorthanded and push the Kraken to the next 40 minutes.

The second period, however, was the Kraken’s turn to respond. After the Mammoth scored twice in the first five minutes, Matty Beniers and Chandler Stephenson both scored in the final five minutes to tie the game at three at the end of the second period. On top of that, the two teams once again tied in shots, this time at seven.

At some points during times like these during the season, the Mammoth have gone into the third period shaky and unprepared. Their opponents have capitalized on that, and the team has lost games solely due to that. Just like how they’ve been playing as of late, the Mammoth stayed confident and dialed in.

“As the years’ gone on, we’ve gotten into situations where we’re not panicking,” Nate Schmidt said. “We’re a little more poised with pucks late in games. It’s something you have to have. As you grow as a team, that’s got to be something that grows with you. That was a really big part of today’s game.”

The preparedness of the Mammoth paid off. The third period ended up being their best 20 minutes of the game by far, and part of that has to be because of a certain defenseman.

Nate Schmidt’s Mammoth of a Game

If you look at the Mammoth’s offseason additions, the one most people will tell you that was the best was the signing of Schmidt. Coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Florida Panthers, the defenseman was everything the Mammoth needed. A veteran champion who can help shore up the blueline. 

Not only has he been just that, but he’s been one of the best defensemen on the Mammoth. Schmidt now has 18 points in 49 games. His current career high in a season is 36 points, which he could break if he keeps having games as he did on Saturday.

The big thing that stands out, though, is the plus-minus category. Schmidt has benefited greatly from playing with John Marino. The two have been the best players on the blueline, and it shows with Schmidt’s plus-26 rating.

“He (Marino) is such a calm, poised, cool, collected guy back there,” Schmidt said. “We really do a lot of chatter and a lot of communication, whether it’s on the ice or off the ice. I feel like he always says he can hear me on the ice, which is always a plus. Sometimes it’s too much, but I tell him it’s never (too much).”

That stat only improved on Saturday. Schmidt got his first point of the game early in the second period. The puck bounced back to him after a McBain failed scoring attempt. Schmidt took a slapshot with it, sending the puck into the back of the net with no screen in front. It was his third goal of the season and his first of the game.

Schmidt ended up getting an assist on Nick Schmaltz’s goal just a few minutes later. It gave the Mammoth a 3-1 lead. As mentioned, the Kraken roared back late in the third period to once again tie the game up, this time at three. However, Schmidt wasn’t done yet.

In the third period, the Mammoth had the momentum. They were getting quite a few shots on net, and by the time there were around five minutes left in the game, shots were 25-20 in favor of the home team. It was just a matter of time before the Mammoth broke through.

Once again, it was Schmidt who came up clutch. Clayton Keller, on the boards to the right of Philipp Grubauer, slid a perfect pass to Schmidt, who was unusually right in front of the net. Schmidt quickly launched the puck at the net and scored the go-ahead goal and his second of the game.

Schmidt had one more point via an assist on Crouse’s goal that made the score 5-3. His four-point night was his highest scoring game since 2019 with the Vegas Golden Knights. It was also the most points scored by a Mammoth defenseman in a single game.

Seeing Schmidt have a big game got the entire team excited and hyped. The defenseman is a big locker room player who has always put the team first above himself. You can’t help but be happy when a guy like Schmidt has one of the best nights of his career, especially if you’re a leader like Crouse.

“He’s a wise veteran who brings a lot to our locker room, and a very hard-working, team-first guy,” Crouse said. “Obviously, very happy to see him get rewarded, and we were all cheering for him to get that empty-net at the end there.”

From Schmidt’s second goal, the Mammoth took off. As mentioned, Crouse scored less than a minute later, and then Barrett Hayton scored an empty net goal to finalize the score at 6-3.

The third period really saw the Mammoth return to the game they’ve been playing all homestand long. They dominated the Kraken, outshooting them 11-2 in the third. The Mammoth stuck to their basics and played simple, yet effective hockey.

“We talked about coming into the third, and we came back to our game, and we did that,” Crouse said. “There were parts throughout the game that we didn’t love, but (we) came away with a big two points.”

The win wouldn’t have been possible without the Mammoth refinding their game in the third period and playing how they did. That really started when Schmidt scored his second of the game. He was the Mammoth’s best player on Saturday and ultimately, a key reason why they won the game.

The Point Streak Gets to Lucky Number Seven

This win wasn’t a perfect one nor a clean one; maybe you could say that about the one prior over the Dallas Stars. However, the important thing was that the Mammoth corrected their mistakes in the third period. They got the goals they needed to get the crucial two points, especially against a team that could find itself competing with the Mammoth for a wild card spot.

“A big win,” Tourigny said. “It’s a team we’re racing with, so it’s an important win. It’s a big two points. I liked the way we were opportunistic, and we found a way to score a big goal in that key moment. We didn’t start the way we wanted. They scored, and then we scored a big goal on the PK. That settled us a little bit because we didn’t have the best start. Early in the second, we scored a big goal to loosen up our game a little bit, and in the third period, obviously, we had a good push.”

Here is the stat you’ve been waiting for: the Mammoth are now 2-0-0 in Next Gen games. It is a cool stat to have. Both times, the Mammoth have scored six goals as well. Scoring that many goals in front of kids is always cool because what do young hockey players love more than goals? Well, winning is the one thing. The team has now done that twice during these matinee games targeted to the youth.

In a more serious tone, the 6-3 win over the Kraken extends the Mammoth’s point streak to seven. They are on a three-game winning streak and are 5-0-1 on the homestand. The Mammoth also have a three-point lead over the San Jose Sharks for the first wild card spot in the Western Conference (the Sharks do have two games in hand).

There’s obviously a lot of good in there, especially with the wild card spot. However, the Mammoth can’t slow down, which is something the whole team has been reiterating. Every single team behind the Mammoth in the wild card hunt has games in hand.

On top of that, the Mammoth go on a four-game road trip after Wednesday’s game, where they’ll face off against the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes, all of which are teams that are desperate for points as they are all in or around a playoff spot. Slowing down is not an option despite the strong results in January so far.

“There’s so much hockey to be played,” Tourigny said. “You know, it’s, ‘we have a good stretch.’ In two weeks, that stretch will mean nothing if we don’t do what we have to do every day. It’s every day. We need to keep pegging and staying in the present, staying in the process, and trying to get better.”

With the win, there’s one last game left on the schedule to complete the longest stretch of home games this season. The Mammoth will have a three-day break. It will be a much-deserved one, especially with the way this homestand has gone.

The Mammoth will welcome the Philadelphia Flyers to the Delta Center on Wednesday. The Flyers are 22-17-8 and are coming off a 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers. They will play the Golden Knights before Wednesday’s game. These two teams last met in February, when Utah won 3-2 in overtime thanks to a game-winning goal from Dylan Guenther.