MORNING SKATE NOTES
- All expected players participated in the Mammoth’s morning skate.
- Lines stayed the same from last game; however there were some changes to the d-pairings.The new pairings include Mikhail Sergachev and Dmitri Simashev, Nate Schmidt and John Marino, and Ian Cole and Olli Määttä. Head coach André Tourigny said this about the changes following skate.
- “I think the communication with (Sergachev) is really good so far. We liked the pairing between (Schmidt) and Marino last game. They were really, really good, so that led to that decision.”
- Utah’s power play units remained the same. Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Sergachev made up PP1 while JJ Peterka, Barrett Hayton, Jack McBain, Kailer Yamamoto, and Schmidt were PP2.
No Place Like Home
There was a buzz around the building today as it’s finally the Home Opener. Everyone got a taste of how home games will be this year during preseason; however, players, coaches, and staff are ready for the real deal.
“It’s going to be great to see the fans again for real, super exciting,” Keller said after skate. “The building’s changed a little bit. The view and just how fans are kind of on top of you is really cool so I’m super excited for that, and I can’t wait to get a win at home.”
“First season was a blast,” Guenther shared about the fans. “They showed (up) every night and I know how excited they are, so we’re pumped to get out there.”
The Next Steps
The Mammoth have been strong defensively to start the season, limiting their opponents to the sixth-fewest goals and second-fewest shots in the NHL. The team wants to build off of the strong defensive effort and elevate the offensive side of their game. Part of that is using the team’s strengths like speed.
“Just flying fast,” Keller said about using the team’s speed. “That’s the biggest thing for our team, we have a lot of guys that can skate, make plays, and I think recently we haven’t gotten to the inside enough. We talked about it and it’s something that if we want to score goals, that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
“Right now, we do a lot of good stuff defensively,” Tourigny shared. “If you look at the way we track, the space we give to our opponent is second to none, we (gave) up 64 shots (total) in three games … I think we do a lot of good stuff, we need to duplicate that offensively. We need to have the same pace, the same relentlessness, the same way to attack. I think we generate off the rush so far, but we need to be more dominant on the forecheck, a little bit more inside in our o-zone.
“Basically it’s all about speed for us, quickness, quickness to attack, quickness to be on top of our opponent, quickness to fourcheck. That’s what makes our team special.”
