After Rangers forward Will Cuylle’s hit sent forward Dylan Guenther into the boards headfirst, every skater on the ice jumped in to protect their teammate. At the start of the third period, center Jack McBain fought Cuylle to stand up for his teammate. The Mammoth are a close brotherhood, and that was evident tonight.
"It's huge. It's something that I always thought was a big thing for team morale, sticking up for each other as a group of five whenever you're on the ice,” center Vincent Trocheck said following the game. “Bainer (McBain) going in there was part of that."
“The guys care,” Peeke said of the culture in the locker room. “Guys want to protect each other and care for one another, and ultimately want to win games. When you have a fight like that sticking up for your teammate, that makes its way around the bench and obviously the guys feel that and respect it.”
In his first game back at Madison Square Garden, Trocheck was honored with a video tribute during the game’s first TV timeout. Despite wearing the opposing team’s jersey, Trocheck was celebrated and cheered on by New York’s fan base.
“It was awesome,” Trocheck shared. “Obviously very classy of them. Obviously I loved my time here, it meant a lot.”
Goaltender Karel Vejmelka had a solid game and came up with big saves throughout the game. He finished the night with a .857 save percentage after he stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced. Peeke discussed his goaltender’s effort following the game.
“Just a little sloppy on some execution things,” Peeke shared. “Thought we made (Vejmelka) have to stand on his head and he obviously kept us in the game, and obviously we couldn’t get one there at the end, but we put too much pressure on him that game.”
Utah’s power play remained red-hot as the Mammoth scored for the third-straight game. Schmaltz’s second period goal was his second on the man-advantage in as many games. Utah went 1-for-2 against the Rangers and is 6-for-8 to start the year. On the other half of special teams, Utah’s penalty kill came up big and stopped New York from scoring on any of their four power plays.
Sunday was Utah’s first loss of the regular season, and it’s an opportunity for the Mammoth to improve their execution, and refocus ahead of Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Tourigny discussed the learning lessons from tonight’s game.
“For us, we need to learn to win those games,” Tourigny explained. “We need to embrace when that happens. We need to be excited when that happens. It's not just playing well when everything is going well and now you're executing and shooting pucks and stuff like that. That's too easy. When we have nights like tonight, we need to embrace it and play the game that's in front of you. There's learning there.”
Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)
- Schmaltz has extended his season-opening goal streak to three games (4G), with his third in two nights. He has now matched Guenther and Barrett Hayton (both in 2024-25) for the longest season-opening goal streak in franchise history.
- Captain Clayton Keller tallied the lone assist on the goal, extending his own season-opening assist streak to three games (5A). Keller has posted 11 points (6G, 5A) in nine career games at Madison Square Garden, including four points (2G, 2A) in three contests with Utah.
Final Stats
Total Shots: UTA 30, NYR 22
Power Play: UTA 1/1, NYR 0/4
Hits: UTA 29, NYR 23
Blocked Shots: NYR 23, UTA 17
Face-Off %: NYR 54.2%, UTA 45.8%
