‘I don’t think anybody was good’: Mammoth suffer toughest loss of season

Less than 48 hours after bullying the elite Minnesota Wild 5-2, the Utah Mammoth suffered a 4-0 loss to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at the Delta Center.

Mammoth players and coaches alike were left scratching their heads after the game. The consensus was simply that nobody did a good enough job.

“I don’t think anybody was good,” said head coach André Tourigny. “... JJ (Peterka)’s line was alright, but I don’t think — from the goaltenders to our (defense), our forwards, our forecheck, our back-check, our (defensive) zone, our power play, our (penalty kill) — I cannot find you a bright spot.”

It culminated in perhaps the worst insult a professional athlete can receive: booing from their home crowd.

Here’s a quick diagnosis of the Mammoth’s shortcomings, as well as the Blackhawks’ triumphs.

What went wrong for the Utah Mammoth?

Too many penalties

Before the end of the first period, the Mammoth committed four penalty-invoking infractions. A tip-top performance from the penalty killers allowed them to keep their heads above water for the bulk of the time, but the inevitable happened with less than two minutes left in the period: Teuvo Teräväinen scored.

“Obviously not ideal,” said Ian Cole, whose kneeing penalty on Nick Foligno began the parade to the penalty box. “We almost got out of them. Obviously the late goal there was not good, but that shouldn’t dictate the rest of the game.”

Utah came back with discipline in the 40 remaining minutes, the only penalty being a 10-minute misconduct to Sean Durzi in the final minute of the game — a common way for the officials to nip aggression in the bud without penalizing the team as a whole.

But after giving away all that momentum early, the Mammoth struggled to get it back.

Not enough diversification

Seemingly every opposing coach says the same thing about the Mammoth: They’re one of the top teams in the NHL in terms of rush and slot chances. Credit to Jeff Blashill and the rest of the Blackhawks’ coaching staff for finding a way to thwart that.

All game long, the Mammoth’s top offensive players attempted their typical short passes through sticks to get scoring chances from in tight, but the Blackhawks were watching for that exact thing, allowing them to make interception after interception.

When the usual game plan isn’t working, it becomes immediately necessary to change things up. In this case, the Mammoth needed to put pucks on net with traffic in front, looking for screens, deflections and rebounds.

“Give Chicago credit. They played a hell of a game. They’re a good, fast team,” said Mikhail Sergachev.

Disconnection

Sergachev, who played more minutes in the game than any other Mammoth, repeatedly used the word “disconnected” in his postgame interview.

“I think we were just disconnected all over the ice,” he said. “With the puck, without the puck, on our breakouts, on our (offensive) zone play. We just felt disconnected.”

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He said getting the connection back comes through work, video and learning.

Sergachev again used the word connection when contrasting this game with Friday’s win over Minnesota.

“We just felt connected against Minnesota. We were trying to get open for each other. We were working for each other in the D-zone.

“When one guy got beat, a second guy would always be there to help. Today, it just didn’t feel like that throughout the whole game.”

What can the Mammoth learn from Sunday’s loss?

Utah’s next home game is a rematch against Chicago on March 12. Between now and then, the two sides will also meet at the United Center. Sunday’s game gives the Mammoth plenty of video to analyze so that they can come back stronger in the next two meetings.

While it’s up to the video coaches to pull specific things to improve, the main takeaway should relate to the parity in the NHL. No matter where a team is in the standings or who their starting goalie is, they are capable of beating anyone.

“At the end of the day, we’re serious about our business,” Tourigny said. “(No matter) who’s on the other side, we need two points every night.

We’re in the hell of a (playoff) race. ... We need to take that game and learn, and that has to hurt big time so we make sure that doesn’t happen again."