Mammoth 'dialed-in mentally' on quest to clinch playoff berth

CHICAGO -- The Utah Mammoth are determined to wash out what Ian Cole called "a real sour taste in our mouth" from last season.

"We thought we should've been in the playoffs," the defenseman said in Chicago last week. "We thought we should've been a playoff team and we boiled down the reason that didn't happen was to us shooting ourselves in the foot too many times."

"We're playing well. We're dialed-in mentally, which has kind of been our biggest thing. I think our ability to stay mature and focused through the undulations of the season is what we've gotten a lot better at."

That's helped the Mammoth (35-27-6) grab the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference entering their game at the Vegas Golden Knights (31-23-14) on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+). They lead the Seattle Kraken by five points one season after the then-Utah Hockey Club finished seven points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card after the NHL Board of Governors approved the establishment of the former Arizona Coyotes franchise in Salt Lake City. 

"We went into the (2026 Winter Olympic) break in a playoff spot and that's what we wanted to do, and I thought we made good time of it," Utah forward Dylan Guenther said. "We came back, we practiced hard, it was like a little training camp, we cleaned up some areas that I felt like we've gotten better at, like the power play's been better. We just used the time and just have to keep going. It's still a tight race. We've been playing well, but any team can get hot, so just keep playing well."

So, what do the Mammoth need to do to ensure a postseason berth?

"It's really about coming in and focusing on one game at a time," general manager Bill Armstrong said. "Worrying about the process, the preparation and not looking too far ahead and going, 'Oh, we're in,' or 'We're not in.' It's just winning that one game." 

"There's a maturity level, a good calmness about our group. Doesn't mean we won't go through ups or downs the rest of the way, but we've bene better this year than in the past with going too up, too down."

The younger players took steps. Forward Dylan Guenther, 22, has 58 points (33 goals, 25 assists), two shy of the NHL career-high 60 he had last season. Forward Jack McBain, 26, has steadily provided depth scoring and is four points from tying his career-high of 27 from last season.

Forward Logan Cooley, 21, missed nearly eight weeks with a lower-body injury sustained in a 4-1 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 5, but has 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists) in 40 games.

"Anytime you can add a first-line center with high skill who can get a chance or two chances and buries most of them, it's hugely important for us and our team," Cole said of Cooley.

On defense, the Mammoth added a veteran when they acquired MacKenzie Weegar in a trade the Calgary Flames on March 4. There was some familiarity there for the 32-year-old: Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny was his coach for Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Championship. 

"There's a lot to digest, but what helps is 'Weegs' played in that kind of a structure for us at the World Championship, so there's a part of the language he understands," Tourigny said. "He heard the D-zone coverage was the same, the 1-1-3 in the neutral zone, so those are the things he knows a little bit without being super familiar, but it helps a little bit."

"What helps the most is he's a veteran, so he has experience and we tried to not overload the information, but obviously there's some and the fact that he's a veteran, he's been around, he knows how to play the game."

The Mammoth, playing their second season in Salt Lake City, are enjoying their surroundings and success on the ice. Bringing playoff games to Delta Center is the next step.

"It would mean a lot to the group," Armstrong said. "We're focused on one game at a time but it's truly up to them. They put themselves in a position to fight to get in, so it's really in that dressing room. It's up to them. They have to make that decision every night to play the right way."