Through two games at Ball Arena this season, the Utah Mammoth have scored just one goal. They probably won’t be the first team to do that this season, though: The Colorado Avalanche are one of the best teams in the league for a reason.
“That team, they’re number one at everything offensively, so to defend them the way we defended them, that’s a lot of effort and a lot of commitment,” said head coach André Tourigny after the game.
The Mammoth now go into a five-day hiatus for the holidays. Three of those are due to the CBA-mandated Christmas break, but the folks who create the schedule gave Utah an extra couple days.
But first, here’s the story of their 1-0 loss to the Avalanche.
Quick catchup
Colorado Avalanche: 1
Utah Mammoth: 0
It was probably the most wide-open 1-0 game you’ll ever see. Both teams had multiple breakaways (which is exactly how the sole goal was scored), but the goaltenders at both ends of the ice erased a lot of mistakes.
“Both goalies were really, really good,” said Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt. “If that’s your brand of hockey, you came to the right game tonight.”
The Mammoth made a push in the waning minutes of the third period, and while they had a few good chances after pulling the goalie for an extra attacker, they failed to convert. Of course, that’s nothing new. They were the only NHL team without a 6-on-5 goal last season and they’re one of three teams that hasn’t scored one this year.
It’s their third time being shut out this season, and all three have been decided by just one goal (excluding the empty-netter in Calgary earlier this month).
Tidbits and takeaways
The emergency
At morning skate, all signs pointed to Karel Vejmelka being the starting goalie — but just before warmups, the Mammoth sent out a memo stating that Vejmelka had suffered an upper-body injury and that Vítek Vaněček would start instead.
Mammoth head coach André Tourigny said after the game that he wasn’t sure whether the injury occurred at morning skate or at some other point, but both Vejmelka and the team thought he’d be good to go.
“I’m no doctor. They will figure it out, but they seem to be positive about it,” Tourigny said. “But I didn’t have (an) in-depth conversation, so I don’t know.”
The Mammoth didn’t have nearly enough time to fly in a goalie from their farm team — Vaněček said he found out 20 minutes before warmups. Luckily, they travel with a practice goalie, whom they were able to sign to an amateur tryout contract, rather than using the league-provided emergency backup goalie.
Colten McIntyre is his name. He’s 21 years old and he hails from Park City, Utah. He’s the first Utah native to ever sign with the Mammoth.
McIntyre was not available for comment after the game, but his teammates were more than happy to rave about him.
“It’s a special moment for him, for sure,” Vaněček said. “He can tell his kids when he has them, you know, he was a backup in the NHL. I’m really happy for him.”
He also noted that it’s nice having a Utahn around the team every day because of how well he knows the area.
“I was fired up for him,” Schmidt said. “That mustache can be seen from a mile away.
“During the year, you find ways to get yourself up, and for me, that’s what got me up tonight. ... He was all smiles. Wish we could have gotten him a win, but, hey, I think it was a pretty cool experience for him.”
A close call and a smart decision
Speaking of the goaltending, Scott Wedgewood had yet another massive game for the Avalanche.
Over a short stretch in the second period, he stopped a Dylan Guenther breakaway, followed by a pair of Clayton Keller bids from point-blank range.
Keller’s second shot on that sequence was the cause of a lengthy video review — it looked like the puck may have entered Wedgewood’s glove, and if the video clearly shows that it’s in the net, it’ll be ruled a goal.
But Wedgewood made a decision before the season even started that may have helped him greatly here: Using an all-black glove.
Black is, of course, the color of the puck, which makes it difficult to distinguish the leather from the rubber — even on slow-mo video replay. There wasn’t conclusive enough evidence to overturn the “no goal” call on the ice, so it remained a goose egg on the Mammoth’s side of the scoreboard.
Had he used a white glove, the puck might have been visible through the netting of Wedgewood’s glove.
The hockey community has long believed that using black stick tape conceals the puck. It’s somewhat up for debate, but plenty of guys do it for whatever advantage it may provide. Using a black glove, though, should be a no-brainer.
Bleeding chances
Considering the amount of high-danger chances the Mammoth gave up, they were fortunate to not be down by several goals in the first two periods. They have Vaněček to thank for a large part of that survival.
“I was feeling good in the game, you know? It’s what it is. We didn’t score a goal, but we played well for sure,” Vaněček said.
“Both teams have a lot of breaking ability,” Schmidt added. “We give one up in the first and they give up in the second. Both teams really got a lot of speed and stuff like that’s going to happen.”
The Avalanche managed a number of breakaways throughout the game. Nathan MacKinnon, the league’s leading scorer, hit the crossbar on one of them, so the Mammoth were also fortunate to have a bit of puck luck.
That was just the sixth time this season MacKinnon has gone without a point, and it’s the second time the Mammoth have held him off the scoresheet. He ended an eight-game point streak, during which he registered 15 points.
The one goal they did allow came on one of those breakaways, this one at the hands of Sam Girard. It was a strange goal, with a defenseman on a breakaway and Keller, a forward, being the one chasing him.
Playoff probability
The Mammoth go into Christmas break with a playoff spot in their grasp — the San Jose Sharks’ loss on Tuesday helped them out on that front.
In each of the last two seasons, 14 of the 16 teams in playoff spots at Christmas ended up making the postseason. That gives Utah good probability of accomplishing their stated goal for the season, though there’s still plenty of work to do to make it actually happen.