The preseason is a time of evaluation and development, rather than stats and wins. And that was evident for both teams in the Utah Mammoth’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night.
Neither team iced anything close to an NHL roster, instead opting to see what their fringe players could prove. There are still cuts to be made and jobs to be won, after all.
This was a neutral-site game located in Boise, Idaho — at least the second time the NHL has tested that market (the Arizona Coyotes faced the Vegas Golden Knights there in 2022).
The league puts on a number of these games throughout the league each preseason, sometimes to evaluate the cities as future NHL markets and other times just to engage fan bases that might otherwise be too far from big-league buildings to frequently go to games.
Here’s a full breakdown of the game.
Game recap
Los Angeles Kings: 3
Utah Mammoth: 2
Allowing the opponent to take a 2-0 lead is never the game plan. But in two consecutive Mammoth preseason games, the team on the down side has rallied back to tie it up.
Unfortunately for Mammoth fans, their team lost both games, both by a score of 3-2.
It started with a wicked cross-zone pass from Jeff Malott to Andrei Kuzmenko, who wasted no time hammering the puck past Karel Vejmelka. Clayton Keller didn’t play in this game, but you may have thought he was wearing Malott’s jersey — the pass was right out of the captain’s playbook.
Andre Lee doubled the Kings’ lead a minute into the second period with a solid shot from the slot.
Cameron Hebig began the Mammoth’s later that period, picking up a rebound to pull his team within one. Less than two minutes later, Daniil But absolutely blasted a shot past Pheonix Copley. He spends time practicing his shooting every day, and for the second time this preseason, it paid off.
Near the end of the second period, Tij Iginla got caught with his head down. Just as he looked up, Joe Hicketts caught him with what may have been the hardest hit Iginla has ever received. It was the type of collision that can easily cause serious injuries, but the 2024 sixth-overall pick finished the game just fine.
As the hit happened in the neutral zone, a fight broke out in the Mammoth’s defensive end. Ben McCartney and Taylor Ward dropped the gloves in the type of bout that mainly happens when two guys are trying to prove themselves.
Vejmelka stole a few would-be goals, but he can’t be happy with the one he allowed late in the third. Streaking down the right wing, Ward fired a low-percentage shot, which beat one of the league’s only right-handed goalies and decide the game.
“There’s a lot of positives,” Mammoth head coach André Tourigny said of his team’s game. “Our PK was really good, we had good O-zone possession. We checked really hard, we didn’t give them any time and space.”
Goal of the game
Daniil But’s wicked shot
When I asked Daniil But who his favorite players to watch were as a kid, he gave two names: Russian superstar Pavel Datsyuk and 6-foot-6 goal scorer Tage Thompson. On his goal Tuesday evening, he looked like the latter.
But still has some work to do before he’ll be able to make a big, consistent impact in the NHL regular season, but as long as he can shoot the puck like this, he’ll get his opportunities. If he doesn’t make the team out of camp, look for him to terrorize AHL goalies with shots like this one.
Tourigny had high praise for the 20-year-old.
“He made a mistake on their second goal and he reacted the right way: It did not phase him. He did not crawl back from there. It’s the reverse: He really pushed back and had a good assist, and then he scored a big goal, so that was good to see that.”
Takeaways
Just keep swimming
The Mammoth have yet to win a preseason game, but they’ve hung into the last couple. As long as losing doesn’t become acceptable in the locker room, it’s OK to lose every preseason game.
Does that mean they want to lose them all? Absolutely not. They’ll play at the new-and-improved Delta Center for the first time on Thursday, where Tourigny said there will be more veterans in the lineup in front of the home crowd as they play a rematch with the Kings.
Both teams will have “close to” full lineups on Thursday, according to Tourigny.