‘Are you not entertained?’: Mammoth pull off massive win against big, bad Oilers

Here’s what the Mammoth need to keep in mind if they meet the Oilers in the playoffs

Published: April 8, 2026, 12:20 a.m. MDT

Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) celebrates his goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period of an NHL game held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Brogan Houston covers the Utah Mammoth and trending news for the Deseret News.

Utah Mammoth head coach André Tourigny began his postgame press conference on Tuesday with one of the most famous movie quotes of all time.

“Are you not entertained?” he said with a smile.

The answer is yes, speaking for every person watching the game. Even if you cheer for the Edmonton Oilers, who lost the back-and-forth contest 6-5, you must have been on the edge of your seat all night long.

It had a little bit of everything: beautiful goals, hard hits, big saves and a wacky but awesome Zamboni. And those inside the Delta Center might need to visit the audiologist afterwards because it was as loud as it has ever been.

“You get the rally towels and the whiteout, or whatever it is, and it’s pretty fun. (The fans) are super into it and we want to bring a playoff series to Utah, so we’re doing everything we can,” said Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz, whose two goals on the evening pushed his point streak to five games.

The truth is that there’s a high likelihood Utah and Edmonton meet at some point this postseason, whether it’s in the first round or the second. Tourigny declined to comment on what the matchup would look like, but the two recent meetings between these teams have had the intensity of playoff games.

So, what have the Mammoth learned about the Oilers that could help them in April or May? Here are a few things.

Meet the ‘Zammoth,’ the Utah Mammoth’s new rideable Zamboni

Clayton Keller snipes one top cheese to win it.

What. A. Game.

Utah beats Edmonton for the first time in franchise history. Final score: 6-5 UTA.

Wow.#TusksUp #LetsGoOilers
— Brogan Houston (@houston_brogan) April 8, 2026

1. Keep the pressure on, no matter what

After the first period of Tuesday’s game, the Mammoth faced a two-goal deficit. Against a team like the Oilers, their odds at winning weren’t high.

But hockey games are not decided by betting odds.

Utah came back with a strong second period. They weren’t perfect, and found themselves facing deficits several times after tying it up, but they stuck with it to force overtime.

“It was 3-1, and (I) never felt our guys’ confidence went away,” Tourigny said after the game. “We were just resilient. They knew we were playing well.”

Now, they can learn from Edmonton’s mistake there as well. With a one-goal lead and roughly 10 minutes to go in the third period, the Oilers sat back and tried to defend, rather than killing the clock with offensive zone possession time.

Ironically, that’s the style of play that has gotten the Oilers past the Los Angeles Kings in the first round all these years in a row — except they were on the attacking side in those situations. The Kings would get out to a lead and then sit back, allowing the Oilers scoring chance after scoring chance, and it always seemed to be the difference.

So, whether you’re winning or losing, you can’t take your foot off the gas.

After 30 years, the Utah Grizzlies play their final games this week

2. Find a way to fend off McDavid

If there was a good way to guard Connor McDavid, every team would do it. But you won’t beat the Oilers if you can’t find a way to at least contain him.

Mikhail Sergachev became the latest of many high-profile defenseman to get beaten by the superstar. He bit too early and got caught chasing, allowing McDavid to add yet another highlight-reel goal to his repertoire.

CONNOR MCDAVID, ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? pic.twitter.com/YL6DCcTnvk
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 8, 2026

A Mammoth player mentioned in a conversation after morning skate on Tuesday that at one point, a teammate had decided to cover McDavid man-on-man, rather than playing zone defense. It didn’t work.

But the one team that has been able to beat the Oilers in the playoffs the last two years is the Florida Panthers. Kevin Stenlund was a major part of that for the 2024 Panthers squad, playing on the first penalty kill unit. Nate Schmidt and Vítek Vaněček were there last year, and while neither one was necessarily tasked with defending McDavid single-handedly, they both would have attended all the video sessions where they found strategies to minimize his effectiveness.

If they can pull out some of those stops in the event of a playoff matchup, they could do just enough to win the necessary games.

3. Don’t be afraid to shoot the puck

Between the four goalies dressed for Tuesday’s game — Tristan Jarry, Karel Vejmelka, Connor Ingram and Vítek Vaněček, none of them are above a .900 save percentage this season.

Put the puck on net and good things happen, as every youth hockey coach says on a daily basis.

That’s been a key focus of the Mammoth in this recent stretch, particularly on the power play, which is now on a six-game goal scoring streak after nearly a full season at the bottom of the league. The results speak for themselves.

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“We just have a different swagger on the PP right now,” said Clayton Keller, who scored the overtime winner on the power play on Tuesday. “Every single guy, when they touch the puck, it’s like we’re in attack mode.”

Schmaltz added his thoughts.

“They’re a veteran group that’s won a lot of playoff games, so it’s fun to play against those teams. It’s a good test to see where we’re at,” he said.

“And you know we’re probably going to be running into them at some point, so it’s a fun matchup.”