The battle predates mankind, yet it featured two of the NHL’s newest teams: the saber-tooth tiger versus the mammoth; the Nashville Predators against the Utah Mammoth.
The prehistoric battles were bloodier than this one, but that doesn’t mean the hockey game wasn’t a heated battle. The two teams combined for 26 minutes worth of minor penalties. These teams are divisional rivals, meaning the war is far from over.
Dylan Guenther capped the game off Saturday night in Nashville with an overtime winner, but it took an array of peaks and valleys to get there. Here’s the story.
Quick catchup
It took just 2:21 for Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka to connect the game-opening goal. That was likely the first of many years worth of goals with those three players’ names attached to them.
Before the end of the period, Filip Forsberg tied the game after benefiting from a neutral-zone turnover and Erik Haula gave the Predators the lead in the second period after one of the strangest bounces you’ll ever see.
Roman Josi doubled the Predators’ lead on the power play, sneaking in behind Utah’s defense and placing a shot perfectly — but a coach’s challenge from the Mammoth overturned the goal, as it was deemed offside.
In the past, Utah has struggled to find clutch goals when needed. That was part of the reason it missed the playoffs last year. But this time, with about half a period left in regulation, Jack McBain banged home a rebound, and the game eventually went into overtime.
There, Guenther was, yet again, the overtime hero. It was his fourth OT goal in a Mammoth uniform, extending his franchise record in that category (Mikhail Sergachev is second with two).
Takeaways
Jack McBain, the NHL first-line center
It raised some eyebrows around the league when the Mammoth gave Jack McBain a five-year deal worth $4.25 million this summer. There’s no doubt he’s an impactful player, but a lot of teams have gotten in deep trouble by giving depth players long term contracts.
He’s only two games into a possible 418 that he can play under this deal, so any judgement at this point is an overreaction. With that in mind, he seems to be worth his cap hit so far.
McBain is not a permanent first-line center, but in the absence of Barrett Hayton, who has been out on a “day-to-day” basis for nearly three weeks, he’s proving that he’s capable of filling in.
He seized his opportunity on Saturday by scoring the game-tying goal. If McBain were still playing on the third line, his job in that situation would have been to simply get the puck deep and change, killing time for the top lines to look for a solution.
But as a first-line center, he’s expected to find the solution — and he did.
No matter where in the lineup he’s playing, McBain always going to play hard-nosed hockey. That will prove useful if and when Utah eventually makes the playoffs.
“Being physical and working down low, getting to the net is a huge part of my game,” McBain said. “I like playing in those games, I like being gritty.”
Utah’s ‘B game’
Mammoth head coach André Tourigny said he thought his team brought its “B game” on Saturday, meaning it could have been better. But good teams find ways to win, even when they’re not at their best.
That’s a vast improvement from last season. In many instances last year, the team struggled to get momentum back after losing it, which ultimately contributed to their early start to the summer.
They needed just eight more points — which could have come from four more regulation wins or eight more overtime victories — to make the playoffs last year.
Part of the focus this year is to win more of those 50/50 games. Consider this the first of those eight points.
“I liked our resilience,” Tourigny said after the game. “We probably had our B game and we talked about mental strength and being tough mentally. We got in the (penalty) box a little bit too much in the second, and instead (of folding), we really bounced back and played better in the third.”
“It’s not always our A game — it’s how we react to adversity."
Sean Durzi injured?
Just before the overtime winner, Sean Durzi took a hard hit from Jonathan Marchessault, landing right-arm first. That’s significant because he missed the majority of last season after getting surgery on his right shoulder.
Durzi left the ice immediately and appeared to be in a great deal of pain on the bench.
Tourigny did not have an update after the game.
Goal of the game
Dylan Guenther’s OT winner
Guenther’s goal checks both boxes: important and pretty.
You’ve probably already seen the TV feed, but here’s another angle, courtesy of the Mammoth social media team.