Utah Falls to New Jersey, 4-1

NEWARK – The Utah Mammoth fell 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon. Michael Carcone scored Utah’s goal in the third period. Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Nico Hischier (PPG), and Dougie Hamilton had New Jersey’s goals.

“Puck management early in the game cost us a lot,” head coach André Tourigny explained postgame. “I think it’s a game with a tight gap and we try to play in front of them, and we paid for it. Then when we were trailing they played good defense and we had good opportunities, but we could not bury it.

“The thing we could have done better is for sure, it’s more traffic at the net,” Tourigny continued. “We were a little bit light in front of their net. (Devils goaltender Jacob) Markstrom played good, but he saw most of the shots so we could have done a much better job.”

The Devils scored a pair of goals in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Bratt opened the scoring 12 and a half minutes in with his ninth of the year before Meier made it 2-0 two minutes later with his 12th of the season.

New Jersey scored twice in quick succession in the second period when Hischier (PPG) and Hamilton scored a minute and a half apart. Carcone’s goal 12 and a half minutes into the final frame got Utah on the board. Barrett Hayton and Sean Durzi had assists on Carcone’s seventh of the season.

The Mammoth have a close-knit group, and the players are committed to working through this adversity.

“Look at the effort, it's not like guys don't want to win,” Durzi explained. “There's a lot of heart in the room, a lot of character. We're wanting it. There's no separation within the group, there's no pointing fingers this, that. We're owning it. We know we got to be better. We have the right leadership. We just have to do it, and that's what it comes down to."

“The guys care a ton,” Tourigny shared. “I always say that there’s a lot of pride in that room and guys care and they love each other. So, they’ll stick together, no doubt about it.”

Utah is focused on bouncing back with their final game of the road trip on Monday night against the New York Rangers.

“Every night in the NHL right now is a battle,” Durzi said. “Points are as critical as ever. We got to try to get on a run here. Can’t have one good game and then one bad game, (then) one good game. We got to string together a lot of good ones. Not that we haven’t been doing good things, but it’s just getting points and get wins.”

Upcoming Schedule

• Jan. 5: UTA vs NYR
• Jan. 7: OTT vs UTA
• Jan. 9: STL vs UTA