Mammoth set tone in opener, show they're ready for high expectations

SALT LAKE CITY -- As the seconds ticked down on the Utah Mammoth’s season opener, the applause grew with players and fans alike celebrating as “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs blared overhead.

For the Mammoth, who come in with high expectations this season, Game 1 couldn’t have gone much better.

“It’s a good start. Obviously, the start you want to have, a big one like that and now we have to keep it going,” Mammoth captain Clayton Keller said after their 6-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Delta Center on Thursday.

“Short memory, learn from the mistakes in the game tonight and go on this road trip.”

Any mistakes the Mammoth made against the young Blackhawks were minimal. They looked sharp in just about every facet. Their skating was slick, their passes were crisp. They were also 39-for-54 (72.2 percent) on face-offs.

“I don’t know how many times we told you guys: this team, No. 1 in their culture is what? They’re obsessed with improving. They’re obsessed with, how can we get better? Those are the things: staying even-keeled, and we need to be better," Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. "It’s assessing that and now taking action and being serious about addressing that.

“We’re all about business. I liked our approach today, whether we were leading 2-0 or 5-0 or in the third. I didn’t see our team change our approach. I didn’t see us cheating, didn’t see us cutting corners. We just kept playing the way we should be playing.”

Oh, and the Mammoth's offense was clicking. Boy, was it clicking.

Fourteen different Mammoth players had at least one point. It was quite the performance against the Blackhawks, who defeated the Mammoth in all four of their games last season (0-2-2) and outscored them 13-5.

“It’s great to see,” said forward Dylan Guenther, who scored two goals. “Everyone’s anxious to get this season going, so to start like that is a good feeling. Hopefully we can take that momentum into the long road trip.”

The Mammoth are expected to be as good as, if not better, than last season, when they advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in just their second season in the NHL. They were eliminated in the Western Conference First Round in six games by the Vegas Golden Knights, who advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

Utah learned what it takes to get to that point and what it’ll take to find success this season.

“Leadership is one. Being connected as a team (is another)," Tourigny said. "It’s not something you can decide, like ‘OK, we’re connected.’ To all play in the same mindset, reading off each other and being able to apply the pace you want, etc., etc. You have players that have played together for so long, you see each other on the ice so well, they’re connected. They know what the next play is.

“(The) Carolina (Hurricanes are) an example. You can take them because they’re Stanley Cup champions. You could feel they knew right away what the next play was, they were so connected. Florida (Panthers) before that. I think the championship teams have that chemistry. I don’t think they have it for 84 games because there’s no human being in life that has only good days. You have days where it’s a little bit tougher, but they’re capable of, more than other teams, to be connected for a longer stretch.”

On the leadership part of that, the Mammoth got a veteran boost in the offseason when they signed free agent forward Anders Lee to a three-year, $16.2 million contract ($5.4 million average annual value) on July 1. That same day, they acquired forward Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers for defenseman Sean Durzi, forward Cole Beaudoin and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Both Lee and Trocheck made their mark in their Utah debuts. Trocheck had the primary assist on Nick Schmaltz’s goal at 9:47 of the second period, and Lee scored his first with the Mammoth at 13:06 of the second. 

“Great leadership by both of them,” Keller said. “Two very smart hockey players and they’re easy to read off and both of them are only going to get better, more comfortable. It’s a completely different system, team. They did a great job tonight and both had great games, for sure.”

Hockey is still relatively new to Utah, but there’s no doubt the Mammoth are making their mark on the League. They’re in the always difficult Central Division, where they’ll be jockeying for position with the likes of the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild, among others.

But the Mammoth are off to a flying start. High expectations? Yep, they’re there, and the Mammoth are ready to live up to them.

“It feels good,” Guenther said. “We want to be a good team in this League and we want the expectations. I think that’s a good feeling. You want people to get up for these games and be ready for it, so we’re excited for that.”