Utah Blanks Colorado to Wrap Preseason

SALT LAKE CITY - In their final game of the preseason, and first at the Delta Center, the Utah Mammoth shutout the Colorado Avalanche, 2-0. Utah worked hard in Saturday’s game, and although there’s areas the team would like to improve, the Mammoth are happy with the effort.

“I liked the effort, I think we worked hard,” head coach André Tourigny said following the game. “Obviously, there's still a lot to clean up. Our reaction on what we call dirty puck or not loose puck, It's more fumbling puck and stuff like that, I think we can be better at stopping on the puck and different stuff like that, I thought they created a little bit out of it.

"We need to keep working on our special teams. Still some work to do, but the power play early was good," Tourigny continued. "They were putting pucks on the net. They were playing fast. I think a little bit later in the game, we start to overhandle and complicate things. Our entries have always been good. Now it's been two games where we try to be a little bit too cute on our entry in the power play, so we'll clean that up. But great training camp, great effort by the guys, a lot of focus. We threw a lot of stuff at them on teaching and systems and different stuff. There was a lot of thinking, I like what the guy gave us, I’m really happy. They made it really tough on us on decisions and what we should do, who we should keep, what the cut should be, and who should be on the roster when the season starts, and who should play in each role? They did what they had to do, so really good job.”

In the first period, Utah scored twice in four minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Jack McBain started the scoring six and a half minutes in. Four minutes later, on the power play, Logan Cooley scored and doubled the Mammoth’s lead. Barrett Hayton and Nate Schmidt picked up assists on McBain’s goal while captain Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther had the helpers on Cooley’s tally.

Goaltender Karel Vejmelka had a strong performance in his second preseason game this year. Vejmelka stopped all 25 shots he faced. His teammates complimented the goaltender after the shutout.

“It was special,” center Jack McBain said. “He's a great goalie. Had a lot of games for us last year, and he made some big time saves for us tonight and kind of kept us in there. So yeah, great performance.”

“Awesome. He's such an incredible goalie,” Cooley shared. “He's the reason we win a lot of games, and we need him to be. When he’s in tip-top shape, when he's playing well, we are winning games. Great showing by him; in the second we gave up a lot of chances, it felt like, and he was huge for us, and was able to get that shutout.”

Saturday was Utah’s first preseason game with their full NHL roster, and the Mammoth tried out some new line combinations. Captain Clayton Keller, center Nick Schmaltz, and off season acquisition Vincent Trocheck, made up the top line. Anders Lee joined Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther on a line. Jack McBain, Barrett Hayton, and Lawson Crouse were together for today’s game while Michael Carcone, Kevin Stenlund, and Daniil But rounded out the team’s lines. Utah kept their top two d-pairings from last season, Mikhail Sergachev with MacKenzie Weegar, and Nate Schmidt with John Marino. Today’s third pairing was Dmitri Simashev and free agency signing Andrew Peeke. Here’s what head coach André Tourigny thought of how today’s lineup fared.

“I really like Hayton’s line," Tourigny said. "I think that line had pace, drive, purpose, they were connected, they were playing the same way. I really like that line. I think Cooley’s line was all right. You could see Trocheck with Schmaltz and (Keller). They see each other, they try to read off each other. They will need a little bit of time to build chemistry. I think they had one game and one practice together, so obviously they need a little bit more runway than that. But I see the upside in the way they play. I liked (Stenlund's) line. I think they had a slow start, but with all the special teams, it was tough for them. It cut their rhythm. (Stenlund) at some point in the back half of the first period, they had only two shifts, so it was tough to get in the rhythm. I really like the way (Stenlund) played in his two preseason games. I think he had more pace and he did a really good job. Too bad he didn't get his goal today.”

Utah’s penalty kill came up big late in the second period. The Mammoth were on the power play; however, 22 seconds into the man-advantage, Utah was called for a tripping penalty. With 34 seconds left in Utah’s initial penalty, the Mammoth took a bench minor for too many men. The Mammoth stayed strong through this adversity, even when they were down two men for 22 seconds, and killed off both penalties. The penalty kill was successful throughout the game and killed off all four of their penalties. 

All in all, the Mammoth were happy to be back in front of their fans and back at the newly renovated Delta Center.

“That was fun,” Tourigny said. “It's cool to be back home. It's cool to be in front of our fans, and now that the camp is behind us, I’m looking forward to Thursday for sure.”

“Yeah, it’s sick actually, it’s cool to see the fans,” Cooley said of the North End renovations. “It kind of feels like they’re on top of you and I’m sure once it’s the regular season, big games start to happen, so it’ll be rocking but it’s cool. It’s also cool how quick they put that up there, can’t wait to see when it’s all done.”

“A lot of fun,” McBain said of Saturday’s game. “Preseason game, but fans still showed up and it was loud in there. Great to be back and get into it.”

Final Stats

Score: 2-0 UTA

Shots: UTA 35, COL 25

Power Play: UTA 1/9, COL 0/4

Hits: UTA 19, COL 16

Blocked Shots: UTA 12, COL 12

Face-Off %: UTA 59.6%, COL 40.4%

Upcoming Schedule

• Oct. 1: CHI vs UTA – Home Opener – Get your tickets here!

• Oct. 3: UTA vs CBJ

• Oct. 4: UTA vs NYR