With a minute and a half left in the second period, while shorthanded, Guenther was inches away from scoring his second of the game. The forward showed his strong skating and skill; however, Mrázek made the save.
To start the third period, Jaxson Stauber replaced Karel Vejmelka in net, something that is common in preseason games. Vejmelka finished his night with 14 saves on 17 shots through 40 minutes.
The Mammoth were back on the power play to start the third period and had 56 seconds left from a late second period penalty; however, the team was unable to convert. Five and a half minutes into the final frame, the Ducks increased their lead once again. Ryan Strome’s goal made it 4-1 with Terry and LaCombe each picking up their second assists of the game.
With traffic in front of Stauber, Ross Johnston redirected Jan Mysak’s shot and scored. Johnston’s goal increased the Ducks lead to 5-1 halfway through the third period. With five and a half minutes left in regulation, Phillip’s second goal of the night made it 6-1 for the home team. Mikael Granlund and Helleson had assists on the final goal of the night. Stauber finished the night with seven saves on 10 shots through 20 minutes.
When it comes to what the coaching staff takes away and evaluates from preseason games, Tourigny gave some insight post game.
“First, evaluation,” Tourigny said. “Second, you want culture, you want the effort to be there … The third part is the progression, the structure, and what we’re teaching.”
Utah’s bench boss also shared what he wants his players to take away from this first stretch of preseason contests.
“You want from your veterans to get the rhythm and just crank it up a little bit more every day, and to arrive at the right speed when the season starts,” Tourigny explained. “For the young guys, they need to show us they want a job, they want to steal the job (from) someone, and we’re there, we’re looking, and it’s up to them to do that.”
After finishing a busy stretch of three games in two nights, the Mammoth will have Tuesday off before returning to practice on Wednesday. Utah’s next preseason game is on Thursday, Sept. 25 when the Mammoth travel to Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights. Game time is 8 p.m. MT.
Some Additional Notes:
- Nine players in tonight’s contest also participated in Sunday’s split squad games: Tij Iginla, Andrew Agozzino, Ben McCartney, Cole Beaudoin, Curtis Douglas, Cameron Hebig, Artem Duda, Maveric Lamoureux, and Maksymilian Szuber.
- Utah had five total power plays in this contest: two in the opening frame, two in the second, and one in the third. Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev, and Andrew Agozzino were the first power play unit for the Mammoth tonight. Tij Iginla, Maksymilian Szuber, Ben McCartney, Cameron Hebig, Artem Duda, Kevin Stenlund, and Maveric Lamoureux also recorded power play time in tonight’s contest.
- Utah had 19 penalty minutes in tonight’s game. Brandon Tanev, Kevin Stenlund, Mikhail Sergachev, and Maveric Lamoureux were the Mammoth’s top penalty kill unit while Guenther, Agozzino, Duda, McCartney, Szuber, Beaudoin, Schmaltz, and Ryan McGregor also saw time on the PK.
- Things were chippy in this preseason tilt. Defenseman Montana Onyebuchi and Judd Caulfield dropped the gloves in the final five minutes of the first period, Curtis Douglas and Noah Warren fought in the first six minutes of the middle frame, and Ben McCartney and Tyson Hinds squared off for the third fight of the night early in the third period. The Mammoth have seen two or more fights in each of their three preseason games this year.
