Thousands of fans lose their hats in Mammoth’s 6-2 win

The groundhog may have seen its shadow on Monday, but the Utah Mammoth don’t anticipate six more weeks of metaphorical winter.

After following up a franchise-best home stand with a few tough losses, the Mammoth needed a big win. They got it Monday in the form of a 6-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Here’s the story.

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Quick catchup

Utah Mammoth: 6

Vancouver Canucks: 2

When Nick Schmaltz scored a hat trick against the San Jose Sharks earlier this season, he’d accomplished the first two goals in the first 13:31 of the game.

On Monday, he bested that by more than six minutes.

He completed the hat trick in the third period both games. It’s one of the only situations in hockey when fans are permitted to throw things on the ice, and they did not disappoint.

In addition to Schmaltz’s four points (he had an assist, too), John Marino had a big game. For the second time this season, he finished with three points — and this time, he set a new career high in that category.

“He’s very calm under pressure on the breakouts,” said fellow defenseman Mikhail Sergachev of Marino. “I think that’s what makes him one of the greats back there.

“I like his game a lot. Defensively, too, he’s very smart. Knows his position well. He’s very good.”

The Canucks fired back with a pair of goals over the course of the game, but it ended the same way two thirds of their game have this season — with another tally in the “L” column.

Their management recently used the “rebuild” word for the first time in many years, so in an odd way, the game worked out for both teams: Utah moves back into a playoff spot and Vancouver gets one step closer to a lottery pick.

Tidbits and takeaways

Special teams pull through

The fault for all of the Mammoth’s recent losses has been hung on the special teams.

Going into this game, their power play was on track to be in the 11th percentile all-time (since they started tracking power play data in 1977-78). Needless to say they needed a win.

It’s just a start, but they went 1 for 2 with the man-advantage on Monday — Sergachev scored on a drive from the point.

The talk around the locker room the last few days had emphasized simplification. The Mammoth weren’t getting enough shots on net, which creates fewer rebounds, deflection opportunities and straight-on goals like Sergachev’s.

“I just took a shot,” Sergachev said. “... It went in. It was kind of lucky, but it’s a big goal for our power play and kind of gives us confidence that we can shoot and go get rebounds and score goals.”

They were better on the other side of the puck, too. The goal is always to stay out of the box as much as possible, but they managed to kill off all four of their minor penalties.

“I think, PK, we did a good job pressuring,” said Schmaltz, who plays on Utah’s second penalty-killing unit. “We talked about that going into the game. We wanted to make them execute plays and be all over them.”

“I liked our special teams,” Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny said. “We were really opportunistic.”

Add him to the list

In the 33 days since the calendar flipped to 2026, the NHL has seen 32 hat tricks.

Schmaltz is the second Mammoth player on the list — remember, Dylan Guenther scored one on New Year’s Day.

As mentioned, it was Schmaltz’s second three-goal game of the year, meaning the Mammoth join the Chicago Blackhawks as the only teams in the league who have multiple players with multiple hat tricks this season (Logan Cooley has two as well). That stat comes courtesy of the NHL PR department.

It’s been a career year for Schmaltz. He’s on pace for 32 goals and 74 points, and it couldn’t come at a better time: He’s due for a new contract this summer, and he’ll get paid accordingly.

“I feel confident, especially playing center,” he said. “I feel like I can use my speed a lot and facilitate and make plays through the middle of the ice. (I’m) playing with some great line mates, so it’s been a lot of fun and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Schmaltz has won the hearts of a fan base that wasn’t quite sure about him last year. Remember, it took him 23 games to score his first goal with the franchise — and with his quiet demeanor, many interpreted it as apathy.

But make no mistake: Nick Schmaltz is a phenomenal hockey player and he cares as much as anyone.

“I often say if you want to know what’s going on on our team, talk to Schmaltzy. He knows,” Tourigny said. “He knows who’s in, who’s out; who’s doing what he has to do, who’s not; who’s happy, who’s not; whose wife is not happy, whose wife is happy. ... I don’t think you will find any player, not just this year — ever — who will say a bad thing about Nick Schmaltz."

Goal of the game

Marino —> Schmaltz —> Goal

Some goals are just not fair for opposing goalies. This was one of those goals. What a pass from John Marino.