‘There’s nothing to be worried about’: Mammoth’s impossible comeback extends point streak to 8 games

It’s a good month to be a Utah Mammoth fan. And it’s a bad day to be Garnet Hathaway.

The Mammoth had a nightmare start to their game on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Within the first 30 seconds of the game, they were down by one. Four minutes later, the deficit doubled to two.

Slow starts to periods became a trend for Utah. Less than a minute into the second period, they allowed another goal, turning the hole into a chasm. In their seven-game home stand, this was the only game in which they’d ever been down by more than a goal.

But insert your favorite cheesy quote about believing in yourself, because that’s what it took for the Mammoth to get it done.

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JJ Peterka started his team on the path toward a comeback, finding the puck through a jungle of sticks in the crease after a significant effort from Daniil But sent it there. It took Lawson Crouse 36 seconds to tack another goal on, bringing the score to 3-2, with the Flyers still in the lead.

Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet called his 30-second timeout in an attempt to slow the momentum, and it worked: Utah took a penalty two and a half minutes later, and longtime Arizona Coyote Christian Dvorak scored his second of the game on the ensuing power play.

To Utah’s disadvantage, the chaos leveled off after that. Back-and-forth play dictated the following 21 minutes with nothing but a few minor penalties to break up the monotony.

Something had to change, and Jack McBain took it upon himself to cause that change.

With a little less than 12 minutes to go, McBain steamrolled Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale, sparking a response from Noah Juulsen in the form of the fight. Not only did McBain’s eight right hooks and one upper-cut awaken the crowd — he also drew an extra penalty, as it was a clean hit that instigated the fight.

The Mammoth took advantage of the power play, as Barrett Hayton tipped a Dylan Guenther shot past Samuel Ersson to pull his team within one.

With time draining off the clock, the Mammoth resorted to the last-ditch effort of pulling the goalie in favor of an extra skater who could possibly contribute to a game-tying goal.

It’s well-documented how poor Utah’s 6-on-5 play has been. They didn’t score a single goal with the extra attacker in their inaugural season, and they got more than halfway through season two without doing it. For context, they were the only team in the NHL without a goal in that circumstance last year, and they were one of three without one so far this year.

The game was all but over when Garnet Hathaway found himself with the puck on his stick in the Mammoth’s zone with a clear path to the net. But as the thoughts of victory filled his mind, a determined Nick Schmaltz snuck up behind him, stripping him of the puck and preventing a sure goal.

“That was the play of the game, really,” Guenther said. “I mean, we’re not talking here if he doesn’t do that.”

A shift later, McBain picked up where Schmaltz left off, blocking another bid from reaching the empty net and sending the puck the other way.

It bounced to the Flyers’ blue line, where Travis Sanheim — who will play for Team Canada at the Olympics next month — was waiting to begin another rush. But Team USA’s “Clayton Clutch” thwarted that plan, poking it away, carrying it wide, driving to the net and roofing a backhander.

Tied game: 4-4.

To the best of my knowledge, the NHL doesn’t keep decibel meters running at all times, but I’d be willing to bet that was a top-five loudest moment in franchise history. Also in the running, of course, would be Guenther’s last-second OT winner the last time the Flyers were in town.

In the 26 games the Mammoth have won this year, the game-winning goal has come from either Guenther or Keller in a remarkable 10 of them. And when they’re on the ice together for 3-on-3 overtime, their odds are pretty good.

Owen Tippett let his scoring chance slip on one end of the ice, creating a 2-on-1 for Guenther and Keller. The former passed it to the latter in prime slot real estate, and Keller knew exactly what to do with it.

“I think a lot of it’s belief and the mental talk that I’m saying to myself in my head,” Keller said when asked why he responds so well to big opportunities. “I think I’ve always just trusted my training. I know I’ve done everything possible to leave myself in a good position and let the rest take care of itself.”

He explained that he practices those situations every day — winter and summer — to be prepared for when they come up in actual games.

“There’s nothing to be worried about or second-guess,” he said. “That’s just second-nature to me, and something that I want to continue to get better at, even throughout the season — before practice, those little touches. I think it really does make a difference."

Keller followed it up with one of the flashiest celebrations the NHL has ever seen: throwing your stick into the crowd. Jack Hughes, whom Keller surely knows from one Team USA event or another, did it in 2021, and Keller did it on Wednesday.

What also can’t go without mention is Karel Vejmelka’s save of the year on the red-hot Trevor Zegras. How many 6-foot-4, 29-year-old men do you know who can do the splits? And when you tack on the perfect glove positioning, it becomes a piece of art worthy of the best galleries in the world.

Without that save, this game is probably too far out of reach for a great comeback story.

A learning opportunity

It takes teams time to learn how to win. The Mammoth’s eight-game point streak suggests that they’re figuring it out, but truthfully, it’s in the moments of perseverance when you learn the most — on the ice and off it.

This is the type of game that these young guys can look back on. In future years, when they’re down by a couple of goals late in a playoff game, they might remember Schmaltz’s back-check or Vejmelka’s save and dig in to make the extra effort. And who knows? Maybe it pays off again.

“It’s a good development (opportunity) for our team, to understand the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny after the game. “When we didn’t do what we had to do, what should happen happened. We got what we deserved. And when we did what we had to do, we were successful.

“So, we need to learn (from) that. I think it’s part of a long season, a process, a grind. It’s great to do it in victory, get the two points, but we need to learn from it.”