Tampa Bay’s first power play goal was in the final three minutes of the second period when Darren Raddysh scored his 14th of the season. Utah had back-to-back penalties and after killing off the first one, Tampa took advantage on the second opportunity. Anthony Cirelli’s 15th of the season made it 2-0 in the final 46 seconds of the game. Despite the pair of power play goals, it was a strong defensive effort from the Mammoth.
“We’re trying to take away time and space,” defenseman Ian Cole said of Utah’s defensive effort. “Trying to get over guys. We are trying to take away their options, and we know what they like to do. We’re able to kind of shut down a lot of that. They’re a good hockey team. They are highly skilled. They make a ton of great plays; they have a lot of great players. It’s going to be impossible to shut them down completely, but I think overall, we did a pretty good job. The margins are very thin in terms of what wins the game or not and unfortunately it didn’t go our way tonight.”
Utah’s goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced. His strong performance was highlighted by timely saves and great puck touches.
“He played great,” Cole said of Vejmelka. “He played awesome for us. Not only did he play (great), but his puck touches were great too. He was getting out there, stopping pucks for us. It really helps us in the breakout, not having to go all the way back and turn it up (ice) a little quicker. Enough can’t be said for how he’s played recently, and how he’s been our backbone here through this positive stretch.”
There’s a lot that goes into playing a competitive game against a team like the Lightning. The Mammoth had to be focused and driven. Tourigny was happy with the group’s effort and concentration.
“That was great,” Tourigny said of the team’s mentality. “I think the guys were focused. They were urgent. I’m happy about their focus on the game. That team on the other side, for the last two months, they dominated everybody. We arrived here in their building, and we played a good game at 5-on-5. I’m happy about what the guys did. I’m not happy about the result obviously. I would have loved to have a little bit more (opportunity) offensively. But, they have a good goalie.”
It’s a quick turnaround for the Mammoth who will play the second half of their back-to-back tomorrow against the Florida Panthers. Game time is 5:00 p.m. MT.
